Tammy Millsaps arrived at the NEPSAC Girls Scholastic Showcase on June 13 a few hours before her new Dexter Southfield team would compete. Millsaps wanted to get a sense of the landscape; she had never been involved with NEPSAC basketball before. After some time, she walked up to Ayo Hart, the showcase organizer, with her first observation.
"I said, 'Is it usually this quiet in the gym? I'm a little fiery,'" Millsaps said. "Anytime there's a ball thrown up and officials are on the floor, I'm in coaching mode."
Millsaps, one of the most highly-regarded high school coaches in Connecticut, is taking over one of NEPSAC's most entrenched schools and girls basketball programs after Dexter Southfield and Kristen Campopiano parted ways following last winter.
Many recent head coaching hires in NEPSAC girls basketball have been younger names. It's often their first time as head coach at any level. Millsaps is a stark outlier; she's been a head coach at the high school level for 14 years in addition to her previous collegiate coaching experience. She knows her reputation as a passionate, demanding winner in Connecticut.
