Liz Mills is an Australian

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach who, since 2011, has coached elite level men's club and national basketball teams in Africa. Mills is the former head coach of Bangui Sporting Club for the 2023 Road to BAL (Basketball Africa League). Mills is the first female basketball head coach to lead a men's national team at a

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...

continental championship, as well as the first-ever female head coach in the Basketball Africa League (BAL) after debuting in 2022. She is also the first female head coach of a men's club team in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, and subsequently in North Africa and the Middle East. Mills began her coaching career in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, in 2002 working with junior boys and girls teams, as well as senior women's teams. Since 2011, Mills has been a head coach and assistant coach in Africa of senior men's club teams, national men's university teams and national men's teams. In 2021, Mills was the head coach of the Kenyan men's national team, becoming the only woman in the world at that time in charge of a men's national team not only in basketball but in any major sport.Liz Mills Takes Big Step for Female Basketball Coaches
Gerald Imray ( U.S. News & World Report), 19 March 2021. Accessed 31 August 2021. When she coached Kenya at AfroBasket 2021, she became the first and only female head coach in a men's continental championship (Afrobasket) since the International Basketball Federation

was founded in 1932.Australian coach blazes a trail for women in African basketball

France 24 France 24 ( in French) is a French state-owned publicly funded international news television network based in Paris. Its channels, broadcast in French, English, Arabic and Spanish, are aimed at the overseas market. Based in the Paris suburb ...

, 24 August 2021. Accessed 31 August 2021.

Coaching career

Mills began her basketball coaching career in

Sydney, Australia Sydney is the capital city of the state of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about 80 km (50 mi) from the Pacific Ocean ...

in 2002 whilst still in high school (Willoughby Girls High). She has coached junior boys and girls club teams, as well as representative girls teams for Northern Suburbs Basketball Association (NSBA), a representative club in North Sydney, Australia. Prior to relocating to Africa she coached a senior women's representative team for NSBA. Whilst in Australia she completed an undergraduate degree in Sports Science and Sports Management (2008) at the

University of Technology Sydney The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is a public university, public research university located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The university was founded in its current form in 1988, though its origins as a Institute of technology, ...

(UTS) and in 2014 completed a Masters of Education in Sports Coaching at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

(USYD). Prior to 2011, Mills had never coached men. Mills started her coaching career in Africa in Zambia, where she was the head coach for Zambia's senior men's national league team Heroes Play United. Heroes went on to win the 2011/2012 national title, the first time the team had won in 8 years. She also coached the team the following season. She went on to win another national title in Zambia's senior men's league in 2015/2016 as head coach of team Matero Magic. Whilst coaching in Zambia, Mills was also named as head coach for the Zambian men's National University Team. This team competed in the 2012 CUCSA Zone VI University Games, finishing second and competed in All Africa University Games (FASU) later that year where the team finished third. At the club level, Mills worked with the Rwandan division 1 men's club team Patriots BBC for the 2019 Basketball Africa League Qualifiers. She led the team to the East Division Qualification Title, with the team going undefeated in the two rounds of qualifiers. The team went on to compete in the 2021 Basketball Africa League. Having served as assistant coach of the

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

men's national team for the 2017 Afrobasket Zone VI qualifiers and

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

men's basketball teams for 2019 FIBA World Cup African Qualifiers, Mills joined the Kenyan Morans as head coach in January 2021. She steered Kenya to qualifying for their first AfroBasket championship in 28 years, after beating 11-time African champions

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

74-73 in Cameroon in February 2021 at the 2021 FIBA AfroBasket Qualifiers. Previously Kenya had never beaten Angola. As head coach of the Morans at the 2021 FIBA Afrobasket Mills led Kenya to a 1-3 record. Kenya defeated Mali to pick up their first win at an AfroBasket and for the first time progressed past the first round group stage.

Basketball Africa League (2022–present)

On 12 February 2022, she was announced as head coach of AS Salé a club in the Division Excellence, the top professional men's league in Morocco. Mills was the first female head coach of men's team in Morocco and the

Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

, In March 2022, Mills became the first female head coach of a men's team in the Basketball Africa League. She left the team in May to pursue coaching opportunities with national teams in Africa. On 4 September 2023 Coach Mills was named as the head coach of Bangui Sporting Club for the upcoming 2024 Road to BAL. Road to BAL are the qualifiers for the 2024 Basketball Africa League. On 2 December 2022, Mills signed for Ivorian team ABC Fighters, who earlier qualified for the 2023 BAL season. In their first appearance in the BAL, Mills lead the team to the playoffs, where they fell to Angolan club team Petro de Luanda in the quarter finals. On 4 September 2023 Mills was announced as the head coach of Central African Republic club team Bangui Sporting Club for the upcoming 2024 Road to BAL. The Road to BAL is the qualifiers for the 2024 BAL season. On 5 November, Bangui Sporting Club won the Road to BAL Western Conference Finals and qualified for the 2024 BAL season. Mills declined to re-sign with Bangui Sporting Club for the 2024 Basketball Africa League due to the non-payment of her salary and bonus for the second round of the 2023 Road to BAL.

Personal

Mills grew up in

with a passion for coaching

since an early age. She and her identical twin sister, Vik, grew up playing multiple sports such as

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

, tennis, athletics and swimming. With Vik, she started playing basketball at the age of 15. They played club and representative basketball for Northern Suburbs Basketball Association at both the junior and senior level. Mills took her first basketball coaching position at age 16, on many occasions co-coaching with her sister Vik.

Head coaching record

BAL

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2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

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2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

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Global Women In Basketball Coaching Network

In August 2022 Mills launched the Global Women In Basketball Coaching Network via Facebook. Co-founded with her twin sister Vic, the network is the first international network for female basketball coaches. The mission of the network is to connect female coaches from around the world on a platform where they can engage, empower, and elevate each other to success.

References

External links

Eurobasket.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Liz Living people Australian men's basketball coaches Australian women's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Sydney Australian expatriate sportspeople in Cameroon Australian expatriate sportspeople in Kenya Australian expatriate sportspeople in Morocco Australian expatriate sportspeople in Zambia Australian twins Basketball Africa League coaches 1986 births