*Undated
Australian Liz Mills is out of the Kenyan basketball scene and has been replaced by Cliff Owuor (a former head coach).
Owuor assumes the coaching job after Mills was sacked by the Kenya Basketball Federation. Mills even in light of her dismissal has truly reached milestones with the Kenyan squad having joined the technical bench in February 2021.
For Mills, coaching Morans brought forth outstanding achievements in quite a short span at the African basketball helm. Teamkenya.co.ke breaks down 3 major accomplishments Mills had with the star-filled squad.
1.First Woman to Coach Morans:
Growing up in Australia's biggest city of Sydney, Liz Mills dreamed of one day becoming a professional basketball coach.
Little did she know that she would end up having fame thrust upon her thousands of kilometers away in Africa, where she has made history as the first woman to coach a men's basketball team (Kenya).
Basketball coaching in Africa remains dominated by men. Even most women teams are coached by men. It was only last year that Natosha Cummings-Price made history by becoming the first female head coach at the helm of a senior national team in Africa women’s basketball.
The American led Cameroon to a 10th-place finish in the 12-team Fiba Women’s AfroBasket in Dakar. A number of women have coached their countries’ youth national teams, but that’s where their coaching ambition ends. But Mills is committed to breaking that yoke.
2.First Woman To Lead A Men's African Team To The AfroBasket Finals:
"As much as I was concentrating on the game, the weight of being the first woman to do that did weigh heavily on me," Mills said when reflecting on this year's men's Afrobasket competition.
"I wanted to make women proud and feel inspired and I know my team did that for me. I am hoping to be the first woman to coach a men's team from Africa at the World Cup or the Olympics."
Mills took the helm of Kenya earlier in 2021 and led the Morans to their first AfroBasket qualification in 28 years. They punched their ticket to the tournament with a 74-73 victory over 11-time AfroBasket champions Angola in the African Qualifiers on February 20th 2021. That qualification also ensured Kenya would play in the African Qualifiers for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.
She dedicated the achievement of becoming the first woman to coach a men's team at a continental championship to her twin sister, Victoria, who was with her at the AfroBasket.
"I wouldn't be here where I am today without my sister," she said. "But also to my parents, my family and my friends who always kept pushing me. Especially when I failed to qualify with Zambia in 2017 and thought I wasn't going to coach anymore, they were the people that picked me up."
3. Inclusion Of Star Players in The Squad:
Mills through her coaching experience and a well managed technical bench brought in key players who helped steer the team into the AfroBasket tournament.
The likes of Preston Bungei (Denmark), Joel Awich (France) and guard Tyler Ongwae (Denmark) earned a prestigious opportunity to represent Morans bringing their overseas tactical experience that beefed up the squad. American born Albert Odero also impressed after debuting for Kenya Morans at the 2021 FIBA AfroBasket in Kigali, Rwanda. Playing under unfamiliar waters, Odero averaged 14 points and 5 rebounds per game in Kigali and was Morans’ second best player after Taylor Ongwae.
Morans has now turned their attention to the 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers and so are fans who would love to see what Odero can do in the 2022 qualifiers.