Millsaps College Women's Basketball

Millsaps College has named its first women's flag football head coach in program history. Felicia Ellis was formally announced by the Millsaps College Athletics Department to lead the Majors on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. Ellis brings four years of experience as general manager of the Mississippi Lady Panthers, which is a local women's tackle football team competing in the Women's National Football Conference. The WNFC is the most advanced professional Women's American Football League in the United States, according to the league's website. Joining the team in spring of 2022, she helped the Lady Panthers claim the 2024 IX CUP Championship trophy as WNFC winners.  "We could not be more excited to have Coach Ellis leading the way as we introduce women's flag football at Millsaps," said Millsaps College Director of Athletics Justin LeBlanc. "This program represents a new and meaningful opportunity for female student-athletes, and Coach Ellis is the right person to set the tone for success, inclusion, and excellence from day one." While working with the Lady Panthers, Ellis oversaw team operations and ensured smooth functioning of all aspects of the organization. She also managed the player recruitment process, while developing and implementing a positive and inclusive team culture for staff and players. She also cultivated relationships with existing sponsors and secured new partnerships. Additionally, Ellis acted as a key liaison between players and ownership to ensure effective communication and collaboration. She coached and mentored defensive line players in the 2022 season as well. The Millsaps women's flag football program launches as a club sport in spring 2026, building momentum as it cruises into becoming the 19th varsity-sponsored sport at Millsaps in the spring of 2027. This will be Mississippi's first varsity collegiate program. The Majors have announced the team will compete in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, who is launching women's flag football in the 2026-27 playing season. Millsaps and its SCAC opponents will compete for the first conference championship in the spring of 2027.

Brandon Beckett was named Head Coach for the Millsaps Men's and Women's Cross Country and Track & Field programs in January of 2025.  Most recently, Beckett served as the Athletic Director, Cross Country Coach and Track and Field Coach for Regents School of Oxford, coaching eight state championship teams. As the Athletic Director, Beckett directed the Lions Athletic Department to an additional six state championships across its thirteen varsity sports. Regents was also the recipient of the All-Sports Award for MAIS AA for the 2022-2023 school year and has also finished runner-up for the award in the 2021-2022 and 2023-2024 school years. Beckett was also named an eight-time MAIS Coach of the Year. As the cross country coach, Beckett led his boys team to five consecutive state titles (2019-2023) and a runner-up performance in 2024. The girls team won consecutive titles in 2021-2022 and also had multiple second- and third-place finishes. On the track, his boys team won its first MAIS state championship in 2023, to go along with multiple second- and third-place finishes over his Lions coaching tenure. Beckett coached many individual and relay-team state champions over his five years leading Regents track and field.  Before arriving in Oxford, Beckett served as the Director of Sports Performance at Champion/Andrew's Sports Medicine in Birmingham, Ala. Over his four years in Birmingham, he worked closely with over ten local and regional high schools to improve the quality of their sports performance programs and educate coaches on injury prevention.  Beckett and Champion also worked closely with the University of Alabama, Auburn, University of West Alabama, Troy, UAB and Birmingham-Southern on injury prevention measures for all athletes.  Beckett served as a Senior Strength and Conditioning Coach at Ole Miss from 2003-2007, primarily working with track and field and football. He also worked with multiple sports as a Strength Coach from 2001-2003 at Illinois State University. Beckett began his coaching career as a Graduate Assistant at Ole Miss from 1999-2001, working primarily with football, track and field, basketball and women's soccer.  Brandon is married to Amanda, and they have three children, Mary Charles, Collier and Sims.

Derrick Jordan was welcomed as Millsaps men's and women's cross country and track and field assistant coach, beginning his role in January 2025. Jordan joins the programs after most recently being the head coach of East Marion High School's cross country and track and field coach. He was also an elementary school teacher at the school.    While at EMHS, Jordan managed administrative tasks such as scheduling practices, coordinating transportation and maintaining equipment inventory.    Jordan devoted his time to conducting regular practice sessions to improve technique, endurance and teamwork among athletes.     During the summer of 2022, Jordan was an assistant strength and conditioning coach intern at Jackson State University.     He oversaw program designs for developing student-athletes, while assisting with facility maintenance and data collection.    Jordan was a decorated track and field student-athlete at William Carey University, earning All-America honors and conference titles. He was a 2022 First-Team All-American in the 4x100-meter relay and was a back-to-back Southern State Athletic Conference long jump champion in 2022 and 2023.    He helped the Crusaders claim the 2019 NAIA men's indoor track and field national championship. A two-time NAIA All-Scholar Athlete, he also aided the Crusaders to conference crowns following the 2022 and 2019 outdoor campaigns.    A 2018 graduate of Clinton High School, he was a key factor in the Arrows claiming the 2017 MHSAA 6A Track and Field State title. As a prep athlete in 2017, he was the North State triple jump champ and a USATF Junior Olympic All-American in the 4x100-meter relay.    He completed his Bachelor of Science in Health, Physical Education, and Recreation from William Carey University in May of 2022. Jordan later earned his Master of Education in Interscholastic Athletic Administration from WCU in August of 2024.

The Millsaps women’s basketball program added another strong leader to their coaching staff as Ciara Jackson was announced as assistant coach on Tuesday. She joined the staff in late July 2025.    Jackson describes herself as dedicated, organized and detail-oriented with experience as an assistant coach, manager and a student-athlete herself.    The Shannon, Miss., native most recently was an assistant coach at Ellsworth Community College in Iowa Falls, Iowa, where she spent the 2024-25 season as an assistant women’s basketball coach for the Panthers.    Jackson led the Panthers to their best season in 14 seasons, where they placed second in the conference with a 14-4 record and were the NJCAA Region runner-ups posting a 25-6 overall record.    While winning on the court, Jackson made sure her players performed the proper stretching and conditioning techniques and she ran workouts to develop the team to succeed during practices and games.    Prior to working at Ellsworth Community College, Jackson was the women’s volunteer assistant basketball coach for the junior varsity team at Rust College from 2023-24.    While with the Bearcats, she ran drills and helped student-athletes develop and improve skills and aided the team with injury prevention.    Jackson also devoted her time with the Bearcats by scheduling games, assisting with practices and game planning.    In 2022 through 2024, Jackson started her journey as an assistant basketball coach with the SIPP Select Basketball Club, where she organized events and tournaments while recruiting high school student-athletes to the program.    During the 2022-23 season Jackson was the women’s basketball manager at Ole Miss. There she helped assist with practice drills, game-day preparation and organized both the locker room and equipment room.    Jackson competed collegiately on the court at East Mississippi Community College from 2019-22. In 2020, Jackson helped the Lions to the 2020 MACJC State Championship with a 24-3 overall record.    The guard also became a MACJC North Division Champion following a perfect 12-0 conference campaign. She also excelled in her academic studies by making the Dean’s List.    Jackson obtained her bachelor's degree in Sports Recreation Administration with a minor in Education from the University of Mississippi in 2024.    In May of 2022, Jackson graduated from East Mississippi Community College with an Associate of Arts degree. She made First Team Academic Excellence with a 3.34 GPA in Scooba.    Jackson graduated from Shannon High School in 2019.