After playing for two of the nation’s most storied programs during the course of her collegiate career, Keeli Milligan had the opportunity to learn from some of the game’s top coaches.
Suiting up as a Texas A&M Aggie for the first three years of her career gave Milligan the opportunity to play under Hall-of-Famer Jo Evans. After transferring to Louisiana-Lafayette for her senior season, Milligan reunited with Gerry Glasco, who had been on staff at A&M before taking over the Ragin’ Cajuns’ program. Despite that pedigree, though, entering the coaching world herself has never been part of the native Texan’s plans.
Following her single season as a Ragin’ Cajun, Milligan had an abbreviated stint with the USSSA Pride professional franchise. After being drafted by the team in the NPF draft, Milligan joined the Pride late in the summer season and hit .300 in twenty at-bats, with an RBI and two stolen bases to her credit. She expected to return to Florida for her second professional season in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic ended that possibility.
A desire to remain around the game of softball, but without an obvious way to do that in the near future, prompted Milligan to begin offering softball lessons to young athletes in her hometown.
“Recently, I started to think that I might actually like to coach,” Milligan said. “I had about five lessons, and I started thinking and talking to them on the process of ‘I wonder if this could actually be something for me.’ Quarantine was a lot of sitting-around time, and that’s not my thing at all. So literally, I put my playing resume out there on social media, I said ‘I’m here, ready to do lessons’ and all kinds of people came out of the woodwork”
In short order, Milligan’s new venture exploded with business. Softball players of all ages quickly filled her schedule, wanting to learn from one of the game’s best speedsters and short-game stars. In addition to the fast response that she received from her new softball clientele, Milligan garnered interest from a number of baseball players who also wanted to improve aspects of their game.
“It’s hard work, absolutely,” Milligan said. “But I take this seriously; I always have. I think you have to be good at what you do to be able to build up something like this. I’m not going to be happy unless it’s done to the full level that it needs to be done right.”
Even though she had never seen a path for herself in the coaching world, Milligan has settled nicely into her new and budding career. When she found out she was pregnant with her first child earlier this summer, she was able to simply adapt appointments into her schedule and everything continued to flow seamlessly.
In a contented tone, Milligan added, “Honest to God, it’s my dream job that I’m doing right now.”
