New AD McMillian has a new direction for AU athletics

By Anna Biondolillo | Sports writer

Brent McMillian started as Augusta University's athletics director this past summer, and the athletic department has been buzzing with excitement about what is to come.

McMillian has new ideas that have sparked a new energy among coaches and student-athletes. 

Coming to AU after holding different positions at several universities gives McMillian the upper hand in how he plans to run the Jaguar athletic department. This is in large part due to his versatile background.

McMillian worked in collegiate athletics for 13 years in various roles before coming to Augusta University; he spent around six years at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga for around six years serving in various roles, and then at Lipscomb University in Nashville for nearly eight years as senior associate athletic director for external engagement and revenue generation. In his time at both institutions, what worked best for McMillian was this: For each school, he built a community. 

“We had to get outside of our own bubble and make real relationships across the town to get groups in to make real connections,” he said of his time at Lipscomb.

Developing these relationships not only helped the program grow, but it also led to more people wanting to donate to the Bison athletics program. 

At UTC, there was an issue of not being the largest program in the eastern part of the state. Less than two hours away is the University of Tennessee at Knoxville with its Southeastern Conference culture and large facilities, including Neyland Stadium and Thompson-Boling Arena. So to build a community around the athletics program, they found a niche of being the hometown team in the area.

“If Tennessee was playing the same day as the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, we would have never been able to draw as many fans to come to our games,” said the Jaguar athletic director, “so we became an economic driver for the community.”

McMillian said his goal at AU is to find areas where we can draw in more investments from the community while also getting more students to come to games. He has big plans to do this by finding different connections in Augusta’s community, such as the Augusta Sports Council, while also implementing fun game-day attractions to draw fans in, such as adding a kids’ zone at Christenberry Fieldhouse. 

McMillian not only did well in finding ways to include the community in athletics to help UTC and Lipscomb’s athletics departments grow, but he did helped grow the annual giving fund. During his time at Lipscomb, the Bison experienced major growth, with ticket sales increasing 26 percent, corporate sponsor revenue increasing 65 percent and unique home broadcast viewership increasing by 73 percent. 

But it is not like McMillian is just coming to Augusta with outside ideas to make the athletics program better. Rather, the new AU athletics director is not new to Augusta. He lived here for seven years, graduating from Greenbrier High School in 2005 and attending Augusta State University for a time before transferring and graduating from the University of Tennessee. Indeed, to McMillian, coming to Augusta was a homecoming.

“Growing up in Augusta was the leading driver to me being interested in this,” the Greenbrier graduate said. “The campus I attended here, however many years ago, is much different than what it is today. So when I came for the interview and saw the transformation, I was sold at that point.”

Seeing the change from his time to adding the Health Sciences Campus, further developing Summerville and a significant upgrading of Christenberry Fieldhouse and the surrounding facilities, including the softball and baseball fields, made the university feel more united—and attractive. His excitement about seeing such a dramatic change in his time away from AU is something he hopes to carry with him as he seeks to transform the athletics program further.

But there’s all this talk of growth and expansion of the Jaguar programs. How does AU get there?

His first priority is to improve game attendance. McMillian has begun selling courtside season tickets to home basketball games.

The new AD also plans to get more fans to games is to give them a reason other than Jaguar teams’ records or who an opponent is on a given day.

“We might not always be a front-runner, and if you’re playing schools from other conferences or areas, it’s hard to find a reason to come,” asserted McMillian. “We want to sell our experience, which is why we’re investing in different game-day events.”

By creating a fun and family-friendly atmosphere to invite more people to AU contests, McMillian hopes to increase ticket sales and get more fans out to support Jaguar sports teams.

At UTC, he was the director of ticketing. Under him, the athletics program saw an increase in gross ticket sales over multiple sports. If he can do it at universities in Tennessee, there is hope that he can work the same magic here at AU.

Yet getting people to events isn’t the only aspect of athletics that he wants to grow at AU. Goals to have each sport at AU compete to be first in the conference have set a high standard for the department.

In looking at all sports at AU, not all of them have been as successful as others—and haven’t been for a while. What can help each program improve? Funding increases are one thing, but not the only factor.

“You need the right coach and right people,” he said. “Without the best talent, it isn’t going to matter what else you have. It comes down to what we can do for starters when it comes to the recruiting lens.” 

Getting recruits to come to AU, to get strong talent, comes with needing a checklist for each sport. Facilities also matter. McMillian says it is important to make sure each sport fills out their checklist of what an athlete will need when he or she arrives in Augusta.

“We don’t have a track, which is a big unchecked box,” he said. “So sport by sport we’re going to look at that recruiting checklist and make sure we aren’t deficient on anything.”

The new AD said steps are being taken to address what each sport may be lacking. He even has blueprints for that track facility.

Contact Anna Biondolillo at abiondolillo@augustua.edu.

Brent McMillian speaks at the press conference introducing him as Augusta University’s athletics director. (photo by Lydia Williams/the Bell Ringer) At the top of the page, McMillian at his Christenberry Fieldhouse office. (photo by Anna Biondolillo/the Bell Ringer)