Coaching News: Millikin's Olivia Lett departs Decatur for new head coaching opportunity
Olivia Lett leaves Millikin after three straight NCAA Tournament appearances and a stellar six-year run in the CCIW
Yet another high-profile head coaching job has opened this offseason, as Millikin head coach Olivia Lett will be departing for another head coaching position, per a press release from Millikin University this morning.
Lett departs the program after six seasons at the helm. In her time in Decatur, she took the Big Blue back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2004-05 campaign (the year Millikin won the national title) and posted a 105-48 overall record. In that six-season span, Millikin twice won the CCIW Tournament, in addition to a pair of CCIW regular season titles. The Big Blue made three straight trips to the NCAAs, advancing to the Second Round on all three occasions, including in 2021-22, when they reached the Sweet 16 before falling to eventual national champ, Hope.
Per the report, Lett’s next head coaching stop will be announced next week, as Millikin begins its search for the program’s next leader.
Millikin's Director of Athletics Dr. Craig White was quoted in the Millikin press release, saying, "We are extremely grateful for the impact Coach Lett has had on the Millikin's women's basketball program over the last six years. We wish Olivia well in her new endeavor. I am committed to finding a head coach that will be able to continue the great tradition of the Millikin women's basketball program."Â
This is the 41st D-III women’s basketball head coaching job that has come open within the last four months, but only the fifth coaching change involving a program that reached this past year’s NCAA Tournament. The others being: Trinity (CT) (Emily Garner named head coach at D1 Cornell), Transylvania (Juli Fulks named head coach at D1 Marshall), St. John Fisher (Melissa Kuberka named head coach at D3 RIT), and Washington & Lee (Christine Clancy resigned).
Additionally, Lett’s time at Millikin will be remembered for her recruitment and development of Elyce Knudsen, one of the most dynamic scorers we’ve ever seen in D-III women’s hoops. Knudsen, who will play her fifth year at Division I Illinois State, scored 2,310 career points in four years for Millikin, won the 2023 Jostens Trophy as the top player in D-III, and was a four-time All-America selection. Lett’s exceptional ability as a recruiter helped her identify Knudsen and bring the standout point guard to Millikin, with the streak of three straight NCAA Tournament appearances beginning in Knudsen’s sophomore year (there was no tournament in 2020-21).
An outstanding coach, leader, and recruiter, I have no doubt Lett will find success wherever her career takes her. Congratulations to Coach Lett on this new opportunity!
We now have a few different high-profile positions open in the D-III ranks. Millikin certainly stands out, considering the strength of the CCIW in women’s basketball, especially in recent years. It’s a program that posted three consecutive seasons of 20+ wins from 2021-2024, and has gained some added notoriety within Illinois basketball circles, especially with the large crowds they are drawing for home games. The commitment to success and investment from the university in women’s basketball should attract top-tier candidates, even with some of the challenges that come with recruiting to a somewhat remote area of Illinois.
Other recent news from the D-III women’s basketball coaching carousel
Carnegie Mellon hit a home run with its hiring of Kathy McConnell-Miller, whose background is both extensive and accomplished. I’m really impressed by this coaching move from CMU, as it might be what is necessary to elevate that program to the point where the Tartans are regularly contending at the top of the UAA.
McConnell-Miller, who played four years at Virginia, began her time on the sidelines in stints at Pitt, Rutgers, and Illinois—all power conference programs. Then came a head coaching job at Tulsa, where she spent six years from 1999-2005 and turned the program around, going 91-88 at the helm after the Golden Hurricane had won just 23 games over the span of three years prior to her arrival. That led to the head coaching job at Colorado in the Big 12, where she spent five years, followed by a stint on the staff of the WNBA’s Tulsa Shock. Her most recent college coaching experience came at Pitt from 2013-18 as an assistant, and she takes over at CMU after quite a bit of success in the high school ranks at Trinity Area HS in Western Pennsylvania. This past year, her squad went 20-7. (Link)
Trinity (CT) also made a massive hire with Maria Williamson, who led UChicago to quite a bit of success in her four years leading the Maroons. Trinity, who has been strong in the NESCAC in recent years under Emily Garner (who is now the head coach at Cornell) will look to keep that going with Williamson at the helm.
This hire makes a ton of sense, considering Williamson’s background at high-academic programs, including Navy and Dartmouth, where she was an assistant. She knows how to recruit at a high-level at top-tier academic institutions, and displayed that as head coach at UChicago. The Maroons had three straight winning seasons (there was no season in 2020-21, Williamson’s first year as head coach) and finished in the Top 4 in the UAA in each of the last two years. In 2022-23, Chicago, led by Grace Hynes, went to the Sweet 16 and won 23 games in the process, finishing second in the UAA standings. Overall, she posted a 53-24 record in the Windy City and had a number of especially notable victories, such as the Nov. 19, 2021 win over #22 Millikin, the Dec. 14, 2022 victory against #13 UW-Whitewater, and the 71-57 upset of #1 NYU on Jan. 13, 2023.
Also worth noting is the fact that Williamson played collegiately at Bowdoin, so there are some NESCAC ties in her background as well. The Polar Bears went to the NCAA Tournament four times and won the NESCAC on three occasions in her time on the roster, and individually, she led the league in assist-to-turnover ratio as a senior point guard (2.79). (Link).
William Peace announced Annalee Bollinger as its new head coach on May 15, as the program looks to gets back to contending at the top of the USA South Conference. Bollinger is a smart hire for a number of reasons, notably because she knows the league incredibly well, having previously spent time as an assistant at Averett and Brevard. She comes to Raleigh after three seasons on staff at Brevard, most recently holding the title of associate head coach and recruiting coordinator, as the Tornados went 48-30 in that span and reached the USA South Tournament semifinals twice. At Averett, the Cougars posted an 18-9 record during the 2019-20 season in her first year as part of the program. A Brevard alum, she still holds the Tornados’ program record (in their NCAA era) for 3-pointers in a career, with 188, and scored over 1,000 points in three years in the program. The fact that Bollinger has spent time in this conference as both a student-athlete and a coach will be invaluable as she turns the program around at William Peace, and her recruiting knowledge of the the Carolinas should help in a significant way as well. (Link)
Hendrix tabbed Wes Sullivan as its next head coach in an announcement on Saturday, as Drew Gaeng leaves the program after 12 years as head coach. Sullivan is a unique hire in the sense that he has never coached women’s basketball collegiately, but knows the Central Arkansas area extremely well, which should help in recruiting. He most recently spent the 2021-22 season leading the Arkansas Baptist men’s program in its transition from junior college to NAIA, and prior to that, led NCCAA Central Baptist College men’s basketball to a significant amount of success from 2013-17. In his final season, the team won 23 games and claimed the NCCAA Central Regional title.
As far as his background in girls basketball at the prep level, Sullivan was the Director of Coaching for Team Arkansas Elite girls basketball from 2008-2012. The organization won 14 AAU state titles under his direction, as well as an AAU national title.
Hendrix comes off a 4-22 season and is seeking its first winning season since 2017-18. (Link)
The head coaching position at Covenant College came open last week, as Kyle Yost announced his resignation after just one season leading the program. The Scots went 8-17 overall and 5-11 in league play this past year along with winning the Collegiate Conference of the South’s Sportsmanship Award. This marks the third instance this offseason of a head coaching change after just one year, with the other two being Lancaster Bible (Ryan Carpenter took the HC job at NAIA Mayville State) and Northland (Benjamin Kluzak announced resignation). (Link)
The Pitt-Greensburg job is also now open, with Darien Lantz leaving after two years at the helm. Pitt-Greensburg went 26-27 in her two seasons guiding the Bobcats and finished above .500 in AMCC play in both years, with a third-place finish in 2022-23 and a fourth-place finish this past year. This is a program that has finished in the Top 4 of the AMCC standings every year since 2019-20 (excluding the 2020-21 season when league games were not played), and will be a good opportunity for the next head coach, as all but one player (senior Kaylee George) is eligible to return for the 2024-25 season. That said, Pitt-Greensburg had just 10 on the roster this past year, so depth may be an early priority for the next leader of the program. (Link)
Wilson College also has an opening in its women’s basketball head coaching position, as Shane Rottier will take another head coaching job after three years with the Phoenix. Wilson was 13-13 in 2023-24 with a solid 12-6 mark in the United East Conference, and recorded a double-digit win total in conference play in each of Rottier’s three seasons. The 16-9 overall record in 2022-23 was the most wins in a season for Wilson since the 2000-01 campaign. (Link)