Former UGA All-American Anna Miller Hired as Assistant At Northwestern

The Northwestern women’s swimming & diving team has hired 7-time Georgia All-American Anna Miller as the new assistant of their women’s team.

She was a member of the team from 2004-2008, including a part of the 2005 NCAA Championship team as a freshman, and a senior captain in 2008.

“I am thrilled to welcome Anna Miller to the Wildcats Swimming and Diving family,” head coach Jimmy Tierney said. “Anna will bring a tremendous skill set to NU, one that she has honed as an athlete and a professional. She has a great perspective on what it takes to develop a champion in the pool while also facing the challenges of excelling in the classroom and in the community at a wonderful institution like Northwestern.”

Miller’s future in coaching is bright; she’s already spent a summer (in 2011) as an intern with USA Swimming and their High Performance Team, as well as three years as an assistant at Virginia.

Her announcement follows the one a day earlier that fellow former Virginia assistant, and fellow former All-American, Katie Robinson was hired as the head coach of Tulane.

The Northwestern women, who are coached and administered separately from their men’s team, finished 8th (out of 12) at last year’s Big Ten Championship meet. The Wildcats will graduate their lone NCAA qualifier, sprinter Taylor Reynolds, but they have a very good recruiting class coming in that includes Carmel, Indiana product Lacey Locke.

Miller replaces Nichole Ellis, who served as an assistant with Northwestern for 7 years, including the last three as associate head coach.

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weirdo
11 years ago

cost of Michigan
•Tuition and Fees: $12,994 (in-state); $39,122 (out-of-state)
•Books: $1,048 (why so much?)
•Room and Board: $9,752
•Other Expenses: $2,054
•Total Cost: $25,848 (in-state); $51,976 (out-of-state)

cost of Northwestern
•Tuition and Fees: $43,779
•Books: $1,842 (why so much?)
•Room and Board: $13,329
•Other Expenses: $1,890
•Total Cost: $60,840

Jeff
Reply to  weirdo
11 years ago

Thanks for finding that information. If I could put words in Joel’s mouth, I’d say he was comparing costs for instate swimmers at Michigan and Northwestern as the post prior to his mentioned the club talent in the state of Illinois. Michigan probably has an easier time keeping its instate talent than Northwestern does due to those tuition costs. I have no idea if this is actually the case, but it seems reasonable given the costs that were posted.

weirdo
Reply to  Jeff
11 years ago

I just looked at the men’s roster and they have only ONE swimmer from Michigan that went to NCAA’s! So the instate isn’t really helping them nor does it help a lot of states. If you want to be good, you have to after the best swimmers in the country/world and not just your state!

Joel Lin
11 years ago

Northwestern indeed has it all. Great academics, Big 10 conference, nice pool. But with the scarcity of scholarships to divide, its a very expensive school. A half scholarship at Michigan is a low cost to parents. A half scholarship at Northwestern leaves at least $25k a year left to pay.

weirdo
Reply to  Joel Lin
11 years ago

Michigan is the most expensive state school in the country so not that much cheaper than Northwestern. Plus for women you can have 14 quality swimmers on full rides at either place without them paying anything. Right now Northwestern doesn’t have very many quality D1 Big Ten scoring swimmers.

Nostradamus
Reply to  Joel Lin
11 years ago

uhh… michigan is one of the most expensive public schools in the country haha…

Duckduckgoose
11 years ago

Slightly off topic, but I’m baffled why Northwestern is a chronic underachiever in swimming? Excellent school in a populous state with strong club and prep talent. Terrific conference and no other instate or conference private school recruiting competition.

Weirdo
11 years ago

I think Mark is a outstanding coach. However it seems like there’s been 20 female assistance in 20 years…that is an exaggeration I know. But the male staff isn’t moving on nearly as frequently. Why is that? I really think there is not a good atmosphere with female staff members at UVA.

Joel Lin
Reply to  Weirdo
11 years ago

So 20 female assistants in 20 years? Why don’t to type up that list or cool it a bit. Your comments are plainly way off. There are many examples of male and female assistants getting placed at other programs, including Bill Smyth in Boston.

Pretty clearly you didn’t read the Desantis article on the program either:

http://www.swimbrief.net/2012/06/please-dont-retire-soon-mark-bernardino.html

It’s worth noting with emphasis that ex-UVa coaches are everywhere and abound and if you are looking at a program for tells of success, that is one of the highest ones out there. It isn’t like top tier D1 coaches are turning over every 2-3 years either unless their programs are a mess, so it is valid… Read more »

Nostradamus
Reply to  Joel Lin
11 years ago

wouldn’t say Boston is a top school (swimming wise)

Joel Lin
11 years ago

Sounds a bit more like neither Steve or Wierdo have a good view from the cheap seats, hence the cheap shots. Maybe you should read Chris DeSantis’ s blog on Dino. Fee coaches in the US have done more to mentor coaches than he.

Steve
11 years ago

I’m not sure I would call a jump to Northwestern (from UVA) a “move up”, and I definitely wouldn’t call Katie Robinson going to Rutgers a “move up” 2-3 years ago, granted it worked out for her getting the head job at Tulane. I’ve heard rumors that female assistants just don’t get respect at UVA and the harsh personalities of Dino and Chip wear down female assistants to the point they are running away not “moving up”

weirdo,
Reply to  Steve
11 years ago

I agree these ladies left for good jobs, but not better jobs. something else is going on and I tend to agree with Steve!

Joel Lin
11 years ago

The same thing is happening for over 20 years…Dino incubates great coaches at UVA who move up and on to great opportunities.

Weirdo
11 years ago

Why can’t UVA keep their female assistants? What is going on there?

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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