Growing up, Craig McMillan played many different sports, but says basketball was always his favorite. Today, McMillan is entering his 11th season as the head coach of the Santa Rosa Junior College basketball team.

“My dad was a basketball coach at Cloverdale High School, so I grew up in the gym. I was always playing from the time I could hold the ball.”

McMillan attended Cloverdale High School where he excelled as a basketball player leading his team to back-to-back state championships in 1983 and 1984. “My junior year in ’83 was probably more exciting. The team we beat was a little bit better. And personally I had a better game; I think our whole team played better.” In his senior season the 6-foot-6 stand out point guard helped lead his team to an undefeated record of 29-0. His final game in High School was against Pasadena Poly at the Oakland Coliseum. “We were kind of overwhelming favorites going into the championship game and we barely won.” The score of the 1984 Division III State Championship game was 53-52.

John McMillan, Craig McMillan’s father, coached him for all four years of high school. “When I first started out, Cloverdale being a small school, I was able to play varsity as a freshman and he was pretty hard on me. I had to be up in the front for all the running and this and that.” In high school, McMillan was selected as a McDonald’s All-American, the highest individual accomplishment a young basketball player can receive.

After high school McMillan attended Arizona University in Tucson. “I had a lot of options coming out of high school.” Since McMillan was a top 100 player in America he received letters from every top 25 school in the country.

The AU team was one of the worst teams in the Pacific-10 conference. In 1983 AU went 1-17 in the Pac-10. Then AU hired Lute Olsen who was coaching at Iowa University at the time. “Lute was in the process of getting the program turned around and he had success in his first year. I was excited. They told me that they were going to get the program turned around.” They also told McMillan that he was going to start right away. He did start right away and AU improved.

In McMillan’s first four years at AU they made the NCAA Tournament. The first three years they were defeated in the first round. But in his senior season McMillan helped lead his team to the 1988 NCAA Final Four.

After his career at AU, McMillan was not drafted by any NBA team. “My senior year we had a very successful team and I didn’t play personally as well. I didn’t have the stats I had in the previous years.” McMillan was invited to play for the Detroit Pistons on their summer league team. “I got in shape and worked out and went down there all excited. I felt like I could play in the NBA. The only problem was when I got down there I didn’t get a chance to play.”

McMillan was not done with his degree so he went back to school to finish, while he was a student assistant coach on the AU staff.

McMillan had always wanted to get into coaching and an opportunity for that came when one of the assistants from AU got a job at Marquette University. “He had offered me an assistant’s job there right when he got the job. I told him no thanks cause I was planning on playing. When that fell through I called him up to see if that offer was on the table.” McMillan coached at Marquette for five years, and then coached at the University of Tennessee for two years. He then got a job coaching overseas in Kuwait. He was a coach for three years in Kuwait and then he got a coaching job in Lebanon for a year. He said moving around was not bad at all. “It was a good change of pace in a lot of ways. I was kind of burned out with all the Division 1 stuff. The grind, the travel, the 14 hour days six or seven days a week.”

While in Lebanon, McMillan had some issues with his contract and not getting his money on time. McMillan’s wife was tired of being away from home and with two kids they wanted something more stable. A job opened up at the Santa Rosa Junior College and McMillan applied. “It was perfect timing for us. I like working here and it’s worked out well.”

When McMillan got the job at SRJC, a friend and fellow coach told him, “Remember Craig, get good guys. They will find a way to get the job done. You get knuckleheads they will find a way to screw things up.”

McMillan’s success on the basketball court has made others around him better people as well. Robby Burroughs one of the players on the SRJC basketball team says, “He is demanding. And that’s good. He makes you accountable for your actions and that’s good for everyday life.” When Coach Stevenson was asked how McMillan has made him a better coach he said, “Where do I begin? He has a vast knowledge of the game. I’m lucky to have all this knowledge in one person who I consider a friend. When we are practicing and I see him coach, I feel like it is Lute Olsen type of philosophy.”

The Bear Cubs had a win/loss record of 17-16 which was good enough for McMillan’s team to make the playoffs. He has two starters returning from last year, Matt Raivio and Tim Oswald who have been playing well in the preseason, according to coach McMillan. The season started Nov. 5th in San Francisco playing in the San Francisco City Tournament.