After a bounce-back, expectation-surpassing 2018 season for Cornell men’s lacrosse, Cornell Athletics announced Thursday that interim head coach Peter Milliman has been promoted to head coach.
Milliman, who was a Cornell assistant coach before taking the helm this past year, led the Red to a 13-5 record in 2018 in a season that consisted of an Ivy League tournament championship and appearance in the NCAA quarterfinals.
Cornell’s resurgent 2018 campaign came off the heels of two-straight sub-.500 seasons in 2016 and 2017 — the first consecutive losing seasons for the program in more than two decades.
“I want to thank Andy Noel, [Senior Associate Director of Athletics] Jeff Hall, and the entire Cornell lacrosse family for giving me the opportunity to be a part of such an amazing program,” Milliman said in a press release. “I’ve been fortunate to be at Cornell for the past few years and I’ve developed an appreciation for how special this place is. I’m honored to have the chance to continue to lead this team as the Richard M. Moran Head Coach of lacrosse. I’m looking forward to building upon the successes of the 2018 season as we intend to compete for conference and national championships year in and year out.”
Cornell Athletic Director Andy Noel said in the release that Milliman’s success this season made his promotion an easy choice. He also pointed out Milliman’s recruitment successes, which included securing star attackman Jeff Teat, who led the way offensively for the Red in his sophomore season.
“Unquestionably, Peter Milliman’s leadership and his coaching performance, leaves no doubt that he has earned my trust to coach the Big Red in the years ahead,” Noel said. “He’s earned it every step of the way, beginning with the outstanding job he’s done with recruiting over the past few years, and continuing through this season with the terrific job he and his staff have done coaching the team on the field, and re-establishing the Cornell Lacrosse culture. Coach Milliman and I have had numerous conversations and it’s become clear to me that he has established a long-term plan for the program to be successful, and I have no doubt he’s going to do just that.”
Asked if Milliman should be promoted during the lead-up up to his team’s NCAA quarterfinals matchup with Maryland last week, fifth-year senior goaltender Christian Knight was quick to praise his coach.
“Absolutely,” Knight responded. “He’s amazing. He’s done a great job. He really helped us this year kind of change our culture … to get back to where some of the older Cornell lacrosse teams have been.”