Amherst College Athletics

• Led Amherst to 4 Perfect Seasons
• 6-Time NESCAC Champion
• 4-Time NESCAC Coach of the Year
• 2-Time AFCA Division III Region 1 Coach of the Year
• Coached 9 All-Americans (4 First Team selections)

A four-time NESCAC Coach of the Year, E.J. Mills has led Amherst to four undefeated seasons since 2009 and has solidified himself as one of the top coaches and defensive minds in the country.

Having just finished his 31st overall season on the Amherst sidelines, and his 27th as head coach, in 2024, Mills has been a part of 173 of the program’s 666 total victories since 1877. Arriving in Western Massachusetts in the fall of 1993 and serving as a defensive coordinator through the 1996 season, Mills helped the team improve its record in each of his four years as an assistant alongside former head coach Jack Siedlecki. When Siedlecki made his move to take over as head coach at Yale University, Mills was named the interim head coach for the 1997 season and has been at the helm ever since.

Amherst saw immediate success with Mills at the reins, posting 7-1 ledgers three times during his first 12 seasons before ultimately capturing the program’s first perfect 8-0 record since 1984 in 2009. An historic season on several fronts, Amherst won its first-ever outright NESCAC title, claimed the Little Three crown for the first time since 2004 and won at archrival Williams College’s Weston Field for the first time since 1985 en route to Mills garnering AFCA Division III Region 1 Coach of the Year and NESCAC Coach of the Year honors.

Since then, the Mammoths have notched three more undefeated seasons (2011, 2014 and 2015) and have captured four more NESCAC titles to increase the program total to six. In 2011, Amherst led the league in scoring offense, turnover margin, and sacks en route to 13 All-Conference selections and another NESCAC Coach of the Year honor for Mills, while the 2014 squad boasted one of the top defenses in the country – leading Division III in scoring defense (8.9 ppg) and ranking 15th in total defense (273.1 ypg) – and racked up 11 All-NESCAC selections, including another league coach of the year honor for Mills, and the 2014 ECAC Team of Distinction Award. 

Continuing their dominance into 2015, Amherst finished its campaign 8-0 for the second consecutive season to once again claim the NESCAC title outright. It was the first time the program finished without a loss in back-to-back seasons in its rich 138-year history. Concluding the year riding a program record 19-game winning streak, Amherst landed 15 All-Conference selections, the most ever for the Purple and White. Mills was selected as the NESCAC Coach of the Year for the second time in as many years, and for the fourth time overall, and earned his second AFCA Division III Region 1 Coach of the Year award.

Amherst student-athletes have garnered a multitude of accolades on and off the field throughout Mills' tenure. Amherst has won three NESCAC Offensive Player of the Year and five NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year awards under Mills and his players have earned nine All-America selections, including four first-team nods. His student-athletes have garnered 44 Academic All-District accolades from College Sports Communicators while Paul Whiting '04 and Fletcher Ladd '04 were each named Academic All-Americans. Mills also counts among his former players four winners of the Swede Nelson Award for outstanding achievements in academics, athletics, sportsmanship and citizenship, and two winners of the Joe Zabilski Award as the most outstanding Division III defensive player in New England.

Although Mills focuses on the development of his student-athletes more than he does statistics and records, the numbers cannot be overlooked. Under his tutelage as a defensive coordinator, the 1996 squad led the nation in scoring defense, allowing a miniscule 8.4 points per game. In 2001, Amherst tied a 21-year-old NCAA record by not allowing a single passing touchdown and, two years later, tied a conference record with four shutout victories. In 2009, Mills’ squad led Division III in rushing defense (50.9 ypg) and finished third in scoring defense (10.4 ppg), and in 2014, the Mammoths led the nation in scoring defense once again, surrendering just 8.9 points per game. In 2021, Mills' well-disciplined Mammoths averaged just 21.56 penalty yards per game to lead the nation.

Before taking over as head coach of the football team, Mills spent the 1995 and 1996 seasons as the head coach of the Amherst softball team, compiling a 26-22-1 record. Prior to Amherst, Mills served as an assistant football coach at Ramapo College and the University at Albany after beginning his career as a social studies teacher and coach at Midlakes High School in New York. Mills played baseball collegiately at the University of Dayton and graduated in 1988 with a bachelor's degree in history and secondary education. Mills resides in Amherst with his wife, Angela Mills '95, and sons J.B. and Nate.

E.J. MILLS COACHING CAREER
1997–present: Head Coach, Amherst College
1993–96: Defensive Coordinator, Amherst College
1992: Defensive Coordinator, Ramapo College
1991: Defensive Backs Coach, University at Albany
1990: Graduate Assistant, University at Albany
1988–89: Assistant Coach, Midlakes (NY) High School