VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia - Virginia Wesleyan Athletics wants our fans to get to know the coaching staff of each sport offered here at VWU. This week's edition of the Inside Splash segment is with the head coach of the men's soccer team Chris Mills, interviewed by VWU Sports Information intern Taylor Major.  

The Inside Splash - Coach Mills

1. What does being a Marlin mean to you? 

   1. Well, I went to school here, played here left for a year to work over at the Norfolk Tides, then decided to get back into coaching. I pretty much bleed Virginia Wesleyan blue. I've been a part of the program as a player since 2002, I also grew up in the area and I would come over and watch the guys play all the time. It was something I fell in love with at a young age and I knew this was the place for me. 

2. When you're not coaching, what do you enjoy?

   1. When I'm not coaching or recruiting, which takes up a lot of time, I do have a two-year-old daughter and I spend a lot of time with her. She has all of my free time, which isn't a lot in the coaching profession. Enjoying some time with her, obviously, with the whole quarantine going on and staying at home we have had a lot of opportunities to hang out, which has been good for us. I really enjoy hanging out with her, playing with her, taking care of the house when I have the opportunity to do that. But there's really not much free time between soccer, recruiting and spending time with my daughter. 

3. Who are some coaches you look up to?

   1. I played for Sunny Travis here, I learned a lot from him as a player and how he did the recruiting side of things. Then I coached under Mike McFarlan, who had a different approach to the game. He's a little bit more fiery as a coach and I learned some things from him. Then, I also worked with Coach Bowers for a year and I learned a lot from him in that year. Being able to work under 3 different coaches, as a player, then as an assistant, I've definitely learned a lot from those 3 guys. Professionally I like watching Pep Guardiola, he coaches at Man. City (Manchester City). Jurgen Klopp, now at Liverpool, I learned a lot from him as well, just reading his books on the soccer side of things. I also follow a lot of coaches and read a lot of articles from NFL coaches. I'm a big Philadelphia Eagles fan, so I used to read stuff from Chip Kelly but things didn't really go in his favor. But to see how Doug Peterson Coaches, see some things that he does are definitely some interesting aspects as well. So, I think as a coach you look at all different aspects and tailor it to what you are looking for within your team. 

4. Most memorable college moment?

   1. As a player we had a lot of success here, started my career in 2002 and my last year playing was 2005. We won a couple conference championships and we went to the tournament, we won one NCAA tournament game. My freshman year was pretty exciting, though we didn't get a chance to play in the NCAA tournament, we were ranked as high as #2 in the country. I think that the two years we won the conference championships were pretty exciting. My sophomore year we set the consecutive shutout record in the conference which was pretty fun considering I played as a center back, it was something we took pride in. So I had a lot of enjoyable times as a player.  

5. Most memorable coaching experience?

   1. As a coach, you always want to see your team have success, so that first year, 2013, we were coming off of a season where we were 8-10-2 and we were returning pretty much everyone, we didn't have any seniors in 2012, we returned a whole group. That team ended up going 16-5-1, it was one of the top 5 turnarounds in the country. So to see the guys have success, we kind of caught fire and started winning a lot. We won the conference championship, went to the NCAA tournament and we had a lot of guys make All-conference teams. So a lot of individual success as well, it was a very exciting time, as a coach probably the most enjoyable time I've had. But you know, every team is unique we had a couple of seasons where the overall record wasn't great but to see how the guys continued to fight and we've had some success towards the end of some seasons that we played with injuries and the guys continued to believe and work hard in training and find success at the end of the year. I think each year you find something that's enjoyable and seeing the guys have success and enjoy it is always something good as a coach. 

6. When did you know you wanted to be a coach?

   1. I've always thought that I wanted to work in pro-sports, that's what I really came here for. I did the Recreation and Leisure major with an emphasis on Sport, Tourist and Recreation Management. I did an internship with the Norfolk Tides and was fortunate enough to get a job there. After working in professional sports for a year, I found out pretty quickly that having a desk job and working 70 hour weeks just wasn't for me. The assistant job here opened up and I was fortunate enough that Mike McFarlan reached out to me. I was the captain of the team his first year here as the assistant coach, we had a pretty good relationship. So when that job opened up, I had to jump on it. It was a chance to get away from sitting behind a desk and I just really enjoyed being out on the field with the guys. Even when I'm not with the college guys. Being able to work with the youth in the area is always enjoyable as well. 

7. Aside from the sport, what is something you want your players knowing before they graduate?

   1. I think one of the big things that you'll find in college coaches, or things I hope you would find in college coaches is; while having success in athletics is fantastic and something we really strive for and it's our jobs. Ultimately we want them to leave here in a better situation than when they came in. Learning a lot, growing up as individuals, when they come in 17, 18 years old, and leave 21 or 22 so to see that growth over those years and to help them through that growth. Our guys are coming from different backgrounds so for us something I really enjoy is to see the guys come here to continue to grow and develop not just as soccer players but as people as well, help them through that, and then to see them graduate is huge! I really enjoy also having them come back for the alumni game. I think that shows how invested they are in the program. For us to have 40 or 50 guys come back each year for the alumni event is also pretty enjoyable. I usually hop in a little, show the guys I can still knock the ball a little bit. 

8. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

   1. I know people used to always tell me I should be a lawyer because I would always argue. I am the youngest of 3 and I remember my parents' friends would come over and they'd say it, 'He'd be a good lawyer one day because he loves to argue.' So I always thought of it as something like that; I always envisioned myself being an outdoorsy person though. So I gravitated to something more along those lines. Being a professional soccer player too, right? I'm sure that every athlete when they're younger in whatever sport they were playing, wanted to be a professional in that sport. 

9. Have you ever been thrown out of a game as a player or a coach? If so, please explain.

   1. As a player here at Virginia Wesleyan I never even got a red card. I can't even recall me ever getting a red card throughout my whole career as a player. As an assistant coach, I did get thrown out of one game, but that wasn't me. It was actually the head coach that should've been thrown out but I think the ref was using me as a warning to get him to stop talking. I did get a red card in my second year as the head coach. We were up at Franklin & Marshall University playing against Rutgers Camden. I felt like one of our guys definitely got the bad end of a tackle into his knee and the ref gave him a yellow card and I wasn't very excited about that. So I was sticking up for one of my guys in that situation, probably not my proudest moment. However, it was a moment where I wanted to make sure the players knew I had their backs in that situation but other than that I haven't been thrown out of any games. The refs tell me now that I've calmed down since I've had a daughter, so for the past 2 years, I don't even think I've picked up a yellow card. So things have changed a little bit as my profession goes on.  

10. Have you had a player of yours get thrown out of a game? How did you respond?

    1. Yeah, we've had a few guys that have been thrown out, actually, we had a few guys get thrown out from some games. I think in soccer, unfortunately, you're always going to have guys get thrown out. It's part of the game in some aspects. There are different ways to get thrown out of a game in soccer and I think that's always huge, 'how do you handle those situations.' If it's just an unlucky tackle or two yellow cards, or you get a red card and happen to get thrown out; I think you handle those situations a little bit differently. If it's verbal abuse to the referee or fighting or something like that, then you handle the situation differently within your team. We've had a little bit of both, we've suspended guys for an extra game for fighting. It's one of those situations where you have to keep your cool and that they're not always going to get their way. We've had some unique situations over the past couple of years with some games that we've played. 

11. What drives you?

    1. I think that as a coach you always want to have success, you always want to get results. I have this quote above my desk about, 'What Do I Fear?' The first line is, 'stagnation and lack of progress,' you always want to be developing yourself. So while you want your player to develop, you need to develop yourself as a coach as well and try to get better too. I think another motivating factor is obviously, I do this for the love of the game, I do it as a job, I do it because it helps me take care of my family as well; they motivate me to be successful. I think my players look up to me and what I'm doing and I think my family does as well. You want to make sure you're doing your best at everything you do to have success. When people look up to you, you really just don't want to let anybody down, in what you're trying to do professionally. 

12. Favorite superhero or fictional character?

    1. I'll be honest, I don't watch too many superheroes and I'm not really into the fictional character thing. I really don't have an answer, it's not really something that interests me. 

13. If you had a superpower what would it be?

    1. Oof, that's interesting, being able to read somebody's mind is a good one. I also think being able to get from point A to point B fast would always be fun too. Probably one of those. 

14.  What's your favorite food?

    1. I used to really enjoy Chinese food, but it hasn't really been my thing lately. I've decided to eat a little healthier, as healthy as possible. Something I really enjoy, I know some people might not, is avocados which I know is interesting. A lot of people probably say junk food. If I were to go the junk food route, like you put a tub of ice cream in front of me, I can eat that whole thing. I have to stay away from the ice cream side of things. That's probably the most enjoyable but I try to stay away from it as much as possible. Another food I love is watermelon! I could eat a whole watermelon in one sitting, but my wife won't let me. I love watermelon though and it's healthy. 

15. Favorite Wesleyan Athlete?

    1. I can tell you one of the most enjoyable guys that I've coached over the years and I use him as an example when I'm talking to all of my recruits and all of my current players is Brian Cornell. Brian Cornell came here when I was an assistant coach, I remember him sitting in this office with the head coach Mike McFarlan and Brian and his mom and he committed. He was the first player to commit that year for that class. The reason why he really sticks out is that he had a work rate second to none and because of that his development, it was just crazy how fast and how good he got over the four years he was here. Now, he was a really good player before that but his drive and dedication were just second to none. I think that's why that group in 2013 had their success because of his work rate in the weight room in the offseason. The other guys just absolutely fed off of that and he just had something about him that the guys really enjoyed. Even down to him playing on the field, he was never going to do anything to lose. He just wouldn't accept losing and that mentality is something you look for in all your players. So I tell our guys about it all the time now and I still remember playing against Randolph-College in the Conference Final and we had a penalty kick. I remember Brian going to grab the ball to go hit it and he scored the game-winning goal that year to win the Conference Championship. The crazy story about that is that his brother played for Randolph and his brother knew which way he was going to take the penalty kick and so he was telling the goalkeeper; but Brian just stuck it, upper 90, like no keeper was going to save it. So just the determination that he had, it's something you look for in all the players. He's probably the one that really sticks out. Now, we've had some good players over the years that I've really enjoyed working with but the work rate he put in is something we look for in all our guys. 

16. What is one question that I didn't ask but should?

    1. I mean I think obviously right now with the times and everything going on with COVID-19 if we were to think, 'What's going to happen moving forward with the season and the team?' I think that's always a good question to ask yourself, 'How's the team handling the situation now?' I mean obviously we didn't have a spring season because everybody got sent home. So, 'How do we handle the spring season, how do we handle summer offseason and how are we planning on moving into the fall?' I think that's always a good question, and our guys right now are just continuing to work hard. They have done a really good job, it's been good to see the leadership of some guys, really step up. We graduated our captains, so looking for younger guys to step up, it's been a great opportunity for them to do that.