Robert James McMillen, Jr. (born October 28, 1970) is a former

arena football Indoor American football, or arena football, is a variation of gridiron football played at ice hockey-sized indoor arenas. While varying in details from league to league, the rules of indoor football are designed to allow for play in a smaller ...

fullback/linebacker and head coach. He was most recently the head coach of the Los Angeles Kiss of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

(AFL). He played his college football at Illinois-Benedictine, and was an AFL fullback/linebacker from 1995 to 2007. He began coaching the sport in 2010, first serving as an assistant for the

Chicago Slaughter The Chicago Slaughter were an American professional football team based in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. Having been inactive since 2013, the franchise was a part of the CIFL from 2007 to 2009, winning the championship in 2009. The Slaughter joined ...

in 2010, as an assistant with the Rush in 2011, before being named head coach of the Rush in 2011. In 2013, McMillen was elected into the

Arena Football Hall of Fame The Arena Football Hall of Fame is the official Hall of Fame of the Arena Football League (AFL). The inaugural class was announced in 1998 and the Hall was not formally organized until 2011. Prior to 2011, there were four classes: 1998–200 ...

Early years

McMillen attended Immaculate Conception High School, which is now called IC Catholic Prep, where he lettered in football,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

. After

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, he attended the

College of DuPage College of DuPage is a Public college, public community colleges in the United States, community college with its main campus in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. The college also owns and operates facilities in the Illinois communities of Addison, Illinois ...

in Glen Ellyn, Illinois where he played football. He then transferred to Illinois-Benedictine where he

majored An academic major is the academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits. A student who successfully completes all courses required for the major qualifies for an undergraduate degree. The word ''major'' (also called ''conce ...

Sport management Sport management is the field of business dealing with sports and recreation. Sports management involves any combination of skills that correspond with planning, organizing, directing, controlling, budgeting, leading, or evaluating of any organiz ...

and he was a three-time All-America selection in football. He also earned All-Conference honors in football and baseball and won the Conference Player of the Year award in football.

Professional playing career

Arizona Rattlers (1995–2000)

As a

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

in , McMillen played in all 16 games for the Arizona Rattlers of the

, making his debut May 12 in a road game against the

San Jose SaberCats The San Jose SaberCats were a professional arena football team based in San Jose, California. The SaberCats had been members of the Arena Football League (AFL) since 1995 (the year in which the team was founded); and until 2015, they belonged to ...

. He was the Rattlers' First-leading rusher, carrying the ball 135 times for 378 yards and two receptions for 15 yards and one touchdown. He scored all five of his rushing

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

s in the first four weeks of the season. On defense, he recorded 24.5 tackles and one interception. In , McMillen only played in one game. In his only game of the season, he recorded nine carries for 30 yards and two touchdowns against the

Orlando Predators The Orlando Predators were a professional arena football team based in Orlando, Florida and member of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team was most recently owned by Orlando Predators LLC, a company owned by David A. Siegel, and played its ...

before

tearing Tearing is the act of breaking apart a material by force, without the aid of a cutting tool. A tear in a piece of paper, fabric, or some other similar object may be the result of the intentional effort with one's bare hands, or be accidental. U ...

the ACL in his right knee. In he returned from his torn ACL to play in 13 games for the Rattlers. He recorded 70 rushing yards and two touchdowns on offense while recording 13 tackles and one interception on defense. The Rattlers beat the

Iowa Barnstormers The Iowa Barnstormers are a professional indoor football team based in Des Moines, Iowa. They are currently members of the Indoor Football League (IFL). They play their home games at Wells Fargo Arena, known in indoor football circles as "The ...

55-33 to win

ArenaBowl XI ArenaBowl XI was the Arena Football League's eleventh ArenaBowl. The game featured two American Conference teams, the #2 Iowa Barnstormers (11–3) against the #1 Arizona Rattlers (12–2). Iowa was coming from losing ArenaBowl X to the Tampa Bay ...

. In , he played in just five games, recording 12 carries for 40 yards. He also recorded the first sack of his career May 9, on the road against the San Jose. However, his season was cut short due to a torn ACL in his left knee against the

Florida Firecats The Florida Firecats were a professional arena football team based in Estero, Florida. They played in the AF2, the Arena Football League's developmental league, from 2001 to 2009. They did not join the AFL following the leagues' reorganization i ...

. In , McMillen returned and played in 11 games and led the league in rushing with 180 yards, he also scored eight rushing touchdowns. He was a Second-team All-Arena selection for his performance. He also led the Rattlers with 2.5 sacks. He scored 11 total touchdowns for the season. In , he played in 14 games. For the season, he led the team in rushing attempts, yards (143), sacks and fumble recoveries (4). His 143 rushing yards were the ninth-best in the league. He also recorded a career-high five sacks. He also earned First-team All-Arena honors.

San Jose SaberCats (2001–2002)

Before the season, McMillen signed with the team he made his professional debut against, the San Jose SaberCats. In his first season with the SaberCats, he played in 12 games. He carried the ball 31 times for 123 yards, ninth best in the league. He missed two games in early June due to an injured

ankle The ankle, or the talocrural region, or the jumping bone (informal) is the area where the foot and the leg meet. The ankle includes three joints: the ankle joint proper or talocrural joint, the subtalar joint, and the inferior tibiofibular joi ...

. In he played in 11 games, rushing for 101 yards and seven touchdowns and recorded 17 tackles on defenses. In his final game with the SaberCats, the team won their first, his second, ArenaBowl in ArenaBowl XVI.

Chicago Rush (2003–2008)

McMillen signed a three-year deal with the Chicago Rush on November 14, 2002. He played in all 16 games for the Rush, his first full season as a professional. He made his Rush debut on February 2 against the Orlando Predators and recorded four tackles and one sack. For the season he recorded a career-high 27 tackles and rushed for 113 yards and recorded eight receptions. He also recorded one sack, one interception. It was the fifth straight season that he has rushed for over 100 yards. In , McMillen became the first player in AFL history to rush for 100 or more yards in six-consecutive seasons after he recorded a career-high 285 rushing yards. He also recorded a league-leading 22 touchdowns - the second highest single-season total in league history. He finished the season second in the league in rushing and recorded 25 tackles and one sack on defense. For his performance, he was selected to the league’s All-Ironman team. He also became only the fifth player in league history to rush for 1,000 career yards. After the season, on November 1, he signed a one-year contract extension. In , McMillen played in all 16 games. He rushed for 178 yards and nine touchdowns and career-highs with 14 receptions for 126 yards on offense. On defense, he recorded 20.0 tackles, one sack and a career-high eight passes broken up. He moved into second place on the league's all-time rushing list on March 20 against the New Orleans VooDoo when he rushed for 10 yards in the game. The season was the first since 1998 in which McMillen rushed for less than 100 yards. He carried the ball 37 times for 89 yards and six touchdowns, he also recorded seven receptions for 36 on offense. On defense, he recorded 10 tackles and 1.5 sacks. That season, he also appeared on the cover of

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network ...

'' Arena Football: Road to Glory''. In his final season, in , he carried the ball 35 times for 86 yards and five touchdowns, he also recorded nine receptions for 84 yards and one touchdown on offense. On defense, he recorded three tackles. In April 2011, the Rush retired McMillen's #44 jersey.

Career summary

McMillen finished his career as the league's second all-time leading rusher with 1,514 career yards. He also ranked second in league history in rushing attempts (484) and fifth in rushing touchdowns (85). He is one of only two players in league history to win an ArenaBowl championship with three different teams. He was also named one of the league's 20 Greatest Players. On August 10, 2013, the Arena Football League announced that he was elected into the AFL Hall of Fame.

Professional coaching career

Chicago Rush

In August 2007, after retiring as a player, McMillen was hired by the Chicago Rush as a Fullback /

Linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

s coach. He spent the 2008 AFL season as the Rush's assistant coach. When the

ceased operations after the 2008 season, McMillen along with other Rush players moved over to the

. For 2009, McMillen was an assistant coach for the Slaughter, and he returned to the Rush when the AFL returned in 2010 as Chicago's assistant head coach. On September 14, 2010, the Chicago Rush officially announced that McMillen would succeed

Mike Hohensee Michael Louis Hohensee (born February 22, 1961) is a former professional football quarterback who played in the United States Football League, Canadian Football League, National Football League and Arena Football League. He most recently the hea ...

as the team's head coach. McMillen becomes the Rush's second head coach in team history. On August 15, 2013, McMillen was named Head Coach of the Year.

Los Angeles Kiss

McMillen was named the head coach of the Los Angeles Kiss on September 17, 2013.

Coaching record

Notes

External links

Chicago Rush bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:McMillen, Bob 1970 births Living people Sportspeople from Oak Park, Illinois American football fullbacks American football linebackers Arizona Rattlers players San Jose SaberCats players Chicago Rush players Indoor Football League coaches Chicago Rush coaches Los Angeles Kiss coaches College of DuPage Chaparrals football players