Tag: Coach Johnathan Mills

Baseball Program Earns National Academic Award

July 29, 2022 | Athletics Campus News

The American Baseball Coaches Association is recognizing the East Central College baseball program with an ABCA Team Academic Excellence Award.

The award is given to programs from every level of college — from NCAA Division I to Junior College — and high school baseball teams throughout the nation.

The award highlights programs coached by ABCA members that posted a GPA of 3.0 or above on a 4.0 scale for the entire 2021-22 academic year.

“I am proud of the guys and their dedication in the classroom,” said ECC Baseball Coach Johnathon Mills. “A core fundamental of our philosophy is to the careers of our student athletes off the field.”

Over 250 high school programs and more than 420 collegiate programs were recognized with this year’s award. The Team Academic Excellence Award is presented by Sports Attack, which manufactures sports training equipment.

Coaches nominated their teams for the ABCA Award following the conclusion of their spring semesters by the July 14 deadline. To be honored, teams had to meet the following criteria:

Must be a high school or college team
Head coach must be a current ABCA member
Team must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 on a 4.0 scale during the 2021-22 academic year

The American Baseball Coaches Association has a long tradition of recognizing the achievements of baseball coaches and student-athletes.

The ABCA/Rawlings All-America Teams are the nation’s oldest, founded in 1949, and the ABCA’s awards program also includes the ABCA/Rawlings All-Region Awards, the ABCA/ATEC Regional & National Coaches of the Year and several other major awards such as the ABCA Hall of Fame and the Dave Keilitz Ethics in Coaching Award.

Mills to Coach Success on Baseball Field, In Classroom and Life

August 19, 2021 | Athletics

East Central College Baseball Coach Johnathan Mills said there is much more to a successful team than just winning games.

He explained that the ECC Baseball Falcons will strive to be successful on the field and in the classroom, as well as be ambassadors for the college in the community.

“If we do what we are supposed to do, how we are supposed to do it,” Mills said, “we will build a foundation in which kids from throughout the region will want to come here and play baseball.”

Mills was hired last month to take over the head coaching job when Brandon Rains took a coaching and faculty position in Texas. The team hasn’t missed a beat during the transition.

This year’s baseball team will be the first to take the field at ECC in over 20 years. The regular season begins in the spring of 2022 and preseason games are set to begin in October.

According to Mills, the squad will play some preseason games at Ronsick Field, Washington, to give more community members a chance to check out the team.

“We want to create a buzz in the community. We will play a couple of games at Ronsick Field and get more community involvement,” he said.

Mills noted that community involvement is a major part of the team’s mission:

“To give the community and the Institution the type of baseball program and baseball team they can be proud of and compliment the tradition that this Institution has been so proud of through the years, to take the expectations of everyone involved in making this program a reality and its players and bridge them into the process of what it takes to be successful.”

Success in Life

Coach Mills has been a life-long baseball player and coach.

He said it has always been his goal to coach a college program after years of being in the game.

Now that Mills has attained that goal, he wants to instill the same goal-oriented attitude in his players.

“I want them to wake up every day and be the best version of themselves,” he said.

“The players have two careers — on the field and off the field — off the field is more important,” Mills added. “it will shape who they will be in life.”

He further added that his approach and that of his coaching staff is for the players to be successful as people, in the classroom, on the field and in their careers.

“We want players to be more successful in life because they were involved in our program by the principles and values that we’re able to develop with them to be successful relative to the character and attitude they have as a baseball player here at East Central College.”

The Baseball Falcons are slated to play their first scrimmage game Sept. 15 at Central Methodist University.

Planning is underway for a dedication for the new infield turf and scoreboard at the ECC baseball field.

New Skipper to Lead the ECC Baseball Squad

July 13, 2021 | Athletics Campus News

The East Central College Baseball Falcons will have a new leader in the dugout for the first baseball squad at ECC in 20 years.

Coach Johnathan Mills was hired last week to replace Brandon Rains who took a coaching and faculty position at Amarillo College in Texas.

ECC Athletic Director Dr. Jay Mehrhoff said Mills is a life-long baseball player and coach.

“It has always been his goal to guide a program at the intercollegiate level after years of being in the game,” Mehrhoff said. “Now he will be at the helm of the ECC Falcons newly reinstated baseball program this fall.”

Mills is familiar with many of the recruits since he was named as a volunteer assistant in the fall of 2020.

Mills is a native of Ft. Walton Beach, Fla., but played his high school baseball at Tuscaloosa High School and began his collegiate playing career at Shelton State Community College in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

While finishing up his last two years of his undergraduate degree at the University of Alabama he served as a student assistant on Jim Wells baseball staff for the Crimson Tide. The team had success and participated in the New Orleans Regional and Tuscaloosa Super-Regional in 2005-07.

Following graduation, Mills spent the last 13 years in travel and legion baseball, high school and NCAA Division II baseball in the southeastern part of the United States.

Coach Mills earned a bachelor’s degree in consumer science and health studies from the University of Alabama. He completed a master’s degree in management from Troy University in Troy, Ala.

Baseball Reinstated

In 2019 the ECC Board of Trustees reinstated baseball at ECC beginning the 2021-22 academic year. The team will have a roster of 35 players.

The baseball program was cut in 2001 due to budget cuts after starting in 1974. Notable baseball alumni from that era include former Toronto Blue Jay and St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Tom Henke and former major leaguer Omir Santos who played with the Baltimore Orioles, New York Mets, Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians.

In June, trustees approved a bid for a turf infield on the baseball field at ECC’s main campus in Union. The project will be funded by the ECC Foundation’s baseball campaign funds and matched by the Foundation to cover any amount over budget.