Sports: Tammy Millsaps named New London girls’ basketball coach
Former Capital Prep coach Millsaps hired by New London
As the head girls' basketball coach at Capital Prep in Hartford for the past nine years, Tammy Millsaps reshaped the Trailblazers into a national power.
There was a nonconference schedule which included teams from all over the Northeast, plus tournament matchups with opponents from Florida and Oregon. There were four straight state championships, the first Connecticut team to accomplish that feat since Southington in 1989. There was a national ranking.
And in the midst of all that, Capital Prep forged a rivalry with New London High School, occasionally contentious — the Trailblazers topped New London in the Class L championship game in 2016 at Mohegan Sun Arena — always competitive.
On Monday, Millsaps was hired as New London's girls' basketball coach, announced by athletic director Phil Orbe.
"I love New London's rich tradition," Millsaps said, asked of her desire to switch sides among the basketball rivals. "I think I can go in there ... I think I can take my work ethic, my enthusiasm, my drive, my championship experience and bring that to New London.
"When you've been at a place like Capital Prep, those kind of situations are not easy to walk away from — that was something out of the record books. I thought I would at least put my name out there. I'm definitely excited, excited about a new start, change, bringing my experience to another school."
Millsaps, who also has significant experience coaching at the collegiate level, was 149-34 at Capital Prep.
"Any time you step into something new, you're always going to be a bit nervous," Millsaps said. "Then you meet the administration, meet the parents . ... You realize, 'I'm a coach. I've been doing it for 20 years.'"
"Our girls' program is extremely fortunate to have one of the truly exceptional and most successful coaches in the state as its new coach," Orbe said in a press release. "Tammy Millsaps brings a wealth of playing and coaching experience to this position. Her body of work speaks for itself. Most importantly, the hiring committee was impressed with coach Millsaps' ability to instruct, motivate, lead and provide post-secondary opportunities for her student-athletes. Past, present and future Whalers should know their girls' basketball program
“I love New London’s rich tradition. I think I can take my work ethic, my enthusiasm, my drive, my championship experience and bring that to New London. TAMMY MILLSAPS
has a leader that will sustain past success and is dedicated to the New London community."
Millsaps, also the director of college admissions at Capital Prep, arrived at the school as coach prior to the 2011-12 season. The Trailblazers were the 2012 Class S runners-up, falling to Coginchaug, and that was the last time they would lose to a Connecticut team until the 2016-17 season.
Loads of success
Capital Prep won the Class S title in 2013 and the Class L championship in 2014-16, finishing ranked first in the GameTimeCT state poll for four straight seasons.
New London, meanwhile, responded to the difficult loss to Capital in 2016 by winning the Class LL championship in 2017 and earning the state's No. 1 ranking under coach Holly Misto.
New London and Capital Prep, among the state's elite teams, then played two regular-season games against each other with New London winning both.
The Whalers won 54-48 on Dec. 20, 2017, at New London and opened the season against Capital Prep the following year in Hartford, with New London taking a 58-50 victory behind 27 points from then-freshman Joniyah Bland-Fitzpatrick.
The Whalers made another state championship game appearance in 2018, their fourth in six years, finishing second to Norwalk. Misto, who went 123-12 in her five seasons at New London, resigned after that season.
Misto was replaced by David Kohn, who coached the Whalers to an 18-5 record with a share of their seventh straight Eastern Connecticut Conference regular-season title last season, but Kohn resigned after one year, creating an opening once again.
Jayden Burns, who will be a senior guard next season for the Whalers, was part of the selection committee, Orbe said.
"I strongly believe coach Millsaps will help us reach our goals and push us to a point which no one expected us to reach," Burns said in the press release. "My teammates and myself are excited for this upcoming season. We look forward to putting our all into this season and the new coach in order to succeed."
Millsaps said in a telephone interview Monday that she would like to work with Orbe to create a nonconference schedule at New London similar to the one Capital Prep has had. During the 2014-15 season, Capital Prep played against perennial power Christ the King of New York City, Potter's House Christian Academy from Jacksonville, Fla., and against South Medford, Ore., in the Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Mass., run by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
"The more exposure the kids have, the more opportunities they have to display their game, the more opportunities they have for athletic scholarships," said Millsaps, who had one former Capital Prep player, Kiah Gillespie, drafted in the third round recently by the WNBA's Chicago Sky following a career at Florida State.
She always appreciated her matchups against New London.
"Every game went down to the last minute or so," Millsaps said. "Those types of games prepare you for the playoffs, prepare you how to win up two with a minute left. You learn from those games."
Millsaps graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in communications/TV broadcasting and also played for the women's basketball team there. She got her master's degree in sport leadership/coaching, also from VCU.
She worked for an NBC affiliate for three and a half years, she said, before basketball "just grabbed a hold of me."
Millsaps, originally from Statesville, N.C., went on to serve as the head coach at Division II Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania and she has experience as an assistant coach at Bloomsburg, Virginia Union, New Jersey Institute of Technology and Southern Connecticut State University.
She coached at Southern for three years prior to being hired at Capital Prep.