On Wednesday the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics held its spring meeting in Washington, DC. The 3 main topics of the day were: a report on actions and plans to address remaining challenges in college basketball, an update on NBA changes that impact college basketball development pathways, and hot topics impacting college basketball (including college athlete disability insurance/NCAA player endorsement restriction/state and federal intervention). 1 of the many great panelists was former Maryland basketball star Tom McMillen, who currently serves as president of LEAD1, an association representing athletics directors and programs of the 130 member universities of the Football Bowl Subdivision. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel was in attendance and got to chat with Mr. McMillen about playing in the most infamous Olympic basketball game ever and what he is now doing at LEAD1.
In the 1972 NIT title game as a player at Maryland you scored 19 PTS en route to being named MVP: what did it mean to you to win a title, and how did you win MVP when Len Elmore had 16 PTS/15 REB/11 BLK?! I thought that it was a great accomplishment for us. At the time there were only 16 teams in the NIT and 25 in the NCAA tourney so even if you missed out on the latter you were still 1 of the best 41 teams in the nation. I had a pretty good tourney (as did Lenny) and we played very well as a team.
In the 1972 Olympic gold medal basketball game against the Soviet Union, you scored 2 PTS in a controversial 1-PT loss after the referees restarted the game’s final seconds a couple of times and the Soviets eventually made a layup at the buzzer: what impact did that game have on your life (either on or off the court)? It was such an emotional experience: to go over there for a sporting event and then become part of the Cold War battle was pretty sobering. It was really a geopolitical event as much as it was about sports.
In the 1973 season opener at UCLA you had 12 PTS/9 REB in a 1-PT loss to the 7-time-defending champs (Bill Walton had 18 PTS/27 REB): how close did you come to breaking their 76-game home winning streak? We had the ball at the end and we had a chance to win it. I did not play my best game and we could not get a shot off before the buzzer. Pauley Pavilion was a pretty hard place to play. In addition to Walton UCLA had future Hall of Famer Jamaal Wilkes: it was a heck of a team.
Later that month you became the 1st Maryland student ever selected to be a Rhodes Scholar: how were you able to balance your work on the court with your work in the classroom? It was a very difficult month because my father also passed away around that time. It was certainly 1 of the most tumultuous months of my college career. My dad was alive to see me named a Rhodes Scholar and was very proud of that. It was extremely meaningful to me to be the 1st Maryland student to get the Rhodes (about 5 years ago another Terp got it).
In the 1974 ACC tourney title game you scored 22 PTS in a 3-PT OT loss to eventual NCAA champion NC State: where does that rank among the most devastating losses of your career, and was Tom Burleson (38 PTS/13 REB) just unstoppable that night? Burleson was pretty unstoppable. That loss does not rank the same as the Olympic loss but it is right up there: they were both seminal games. It was not on a global stage so it was not quite the same but it did change college sports (the following year the NCAA tourney expanded from 25 to 32 teams while allowing 1 conference to received multiple bids).
In the spring of 1974 you were drafted 9th overall by Buffalo (2 spots ahead of Wilkes): did you see that as a validation of your college career, or the realization of a lifelong dream of reaching the NBA, or other? It was 3 degrees of separation. The owner of the Braves (Paul Snyder) grew up in my hometown of Mansfield, PA and my dad was actually his dentist! I turned down the offer from Buffalo to be a Rhodes Scholar in England: I played basketball in Italy twice/week on a team where my cousin happened to be the assistant coach! My lawyer told me to come back to the US because of the impending ABA-NBA merger that could cost me a lot of money. I asked the head of the Rhodes if I could go back and the warden said that I had to do the Rhodes for 2 years in a row. I eventually learned that founder Cecil Rhodes only went to Oxford during the summer so I told the warden and I eventually got permission. I signed with Buffalo and then spent each of the next 3 summers studying back in Oxford.
In the decisive Game 3 of the 1983 Eastern Conference 1st round with Atlanta you had 4 REB in a loss at Boston: what are your memories of the bench-clearing brawl in the 3rd quarter when Tree Rollins bit Danny Ainge’s finger?! I remember it very well because we all got fined! I do not remember being involved in the brawl but it was a hard-fought game.
In 2013 you were inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame: where does that rank among the highlights of your career? It is up there but the biggest honor was winning the Rhodes: it is a vote of your peers and a wonderful honor.
How did you enjoy being a 3-term Congressman from Maryland, and what do you do in your current role as president of LEAD1? I enjoyed the people I worked with and making policy. At LEAD1 we work on all of the issues in college sports and try to help shape them. We get out the message of all the good things that we have done for student-athletes while looking at ways to make schools better/more efficient.
Do you think the name/image/likeness issue will eventually be resolved at the state level, or the federal level, or by the NCAA, or other? I think that it could be resolved in California via passage of legislation. The NCAA working group will address it if it is doable, which I think it is, so I think we will see some model eventually emerge. It is a continuing evolution: we are not paying kids as school employees but just giving them a little more. There are a lot of hurdles to overcome.