Nyla Milleson is in her 8th season (and the final season of a 3-year contract extension) as Mason women's basketball coach. Her overall record at Mason is 97-123 (44.1%), and she's 40-72 (35.7%) in the A10. Mason is picked to finish last in the A10 this season. The Patriots' current record is 2-2 after losing to JMU for the 19th consecutive time. Despite her program excelling academically, does anyone expect her to be retained after this season?
I am assuming that the handling of Women's basketball is not a predictor of how Men's basketball will be handled by the AD, but I find it interesting to note that they lame ducked coach Milleson.
Mason hired Coach Milleson after she was fired by Missouri State - http://www.the-standard.org/sports/no-more-nyla/article_413ca438-95b3-11e2-af65-001a4bcf6878.html: "With the dismissal of Nyla Milleson and her staff last week, it’s a new era of Missouri State Lady Bears basketball, and MSU President Clif Smart didn’t hold back when speaking about the decision. 'Our fans expect the Lady Bears to compete for conference championships every year, play and win postseason games, and play harder and smarter than their opponents. So do I,' Smart said at the press conference announcing that Milleson had been fired. 'It is part of thinking bigger and bolder and never settling for mediocrity. To achieve that standard in women’s basketball, changes are necessary. Sometimes that means making hard decisions.' The announcement of the firings caught a lot of people by surprise. There was initial shock and confusion, as Milleson orchestrated a 105-87 record in her tenure at MSU and led the team to a 2012 Missouri Valley Conference regular-season championship."
wait so we hired a woman who was fired from the MVC as our head coach?!? does this make any sense? Was that TOC hire or Baby Balls Brad?
From my very brief bit of research, it looks like she was a very solid hire at the time. 2017-18 was our best season in school history.
It should be noted that even with All-America Honorary Mention & A10 POY UConn transfer Natalie Butler and A10 ROY Nicole Cardano-Hillary, Mason lost to GW in the A10 quarterfinals and won just one game in the WNIT.
Obviously different standards, but Nyla was definitely given time under Brad and given the benefit of more time and some new facilities. But theres no chance she is renewed unless they really overachieve this year. She was hired around the same time as Hewitt and it seems like she also was in the "hire a retread" category.
Last year, MS lady bears, replaced Nyla's replacement. Thus their president and AD didn't hire anyone worth a crap after Nyla.
Did you look at their record and tournament experience in those years? I think you have jumped to the wrong conclusion. She is now the head coach at Tennessee.
Kelly Harper, who replaced Milleson, went to 2 NCAAs and 3 WNITs in 6 seasons, making the Sweet 16 in 2019.
FFS--it's COVID and Womens Basketball---- Tell Nyla she gets another year extension...at a 30% pay cut due to uncertainty in athletic budgets. She keeps the academics up for her end of the deal. Mason saves $ and she gets another year before she has to explain 2 consecutive "less than optimum results" tenures as she looks for another gig.