Doug Milliken enters his fifth season as the head coach of CWRU swimming & diving in 2014-15. Milliken has coached Spartan student-athletes to a combined five NCAA All-American finishes, and he has twice headed a University Athletic Association Coaching Staff of the Year.
In 2013-14, the Spartan men (8-2) set nine schools records and won a fourth consecutive team title at the Wooster Invitational. Senior Sean Nickley became the program’s first men’s All-American since 2009, and classmate Heath Hudgins earned CWRU’s Bill Sudeck Outstanding Student-Athlete Award. The Spartan women (6-4) broke five school records, and senior Maggie Dillione earned the third and fourth All-American finishes of her career. Third in the nation in the 200 fly, Dillione was also named CWRU’s Glenn and Peggy Nicholls Female Athlete of the Year.
Milliken’s program also continued its outstanding performance in the classroom. Both the men and women earned the CSCAA Scholar All-America Team Award for a fourth straight year, and a combined nine Spartans were named individual Scholar All-Americans.
Milliken was named to his post in the fall of 2010. During both the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons, he and his assistants were tabbed as the UAA Men's Coaching Staff of the Year. The second award came after the Spartan men matched the best UAA Championship finish in program history.
Milliken’s pre-CWRU resume includes 11 years of coaching and administrative experience at the collegiate level. In 2009-10, he helped the University of Chicago women and men to respective second- and third-place finishes at the UAA Championship, marking the best performances for each team in school history. For his efforts, he was named as a member of the UAA Coaching Staff of the Year. During his time at Chicago, the programs combined to produce eight All-Americans and 35 All-UAA selections.
Prior to his time at Chicago, Milliken served as athletic recruiting coordinator at North Park University (Ill.) from 2004-06 and as an assistant men’s and women’s swim coach at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Ind.) from 2002-04. Milliken got his start in coaching at his alma mater, DePauw University (Ind.), where he spent three years as a student assistant.
He graduated from DePauw in 2001 and received his bachelor’s degree in communications. He later earned a master’s degree in recreation and sport management from Indiana State University in 2004.
Milliken, who also serves as advisor to the Case Association of Student-Athletes, resides in Cleveland Heights with his wife, Shannon.
