Oral Roberts University

Paul Mills was named the head coach for ORU basketball on April 28, 2017 after 14 years on staff at Baylor, becoming the 11th head coach in program history. In four years leading the Golden Eagles, he has a career record of 57-67 (.460) with back-to-back winnings seasons.
 
Mills led a remarkable resurgence for the program in 2020-21 culminating in a run as just the second-ever No. 15 seed to reach the NCAA Sweet 16 after taking down No. 2 seed Ohio State and No. 7 seed Florida on the national stage. The win over the seventh-ranked Buckeyes was just the fourth time in Golden Eagles history to take down a top 10 team. ORU claimed its first Summit League tournament championship and NCAA appearance since 2008 winning three games in three days in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, finishing with an 18-11 overall record and a 10-5 mark in league play.
 
Behind the one-two punch of Max Abmas, CBS Sports Third-Team All-American, Summit League Player of the Year and the nation's leading scorer (24.5 ppg), and Kevin Obanor, a College Insider Mid-Major All-American, the Golden Eagles were the Cinderella story of March. They were the highest scoring duo in the country combining to post 43.2 points per game, including an incredible 50.0 points per game during the NCAA Tournament. ORU closed the season leading the NCAA in 3-pointers made per game (11.1) and free-throw percentage (82.1), while having the 14th-highest scoring offense in the nation (81.1).
 
ORU was dominant at home in the 2019-20 campaign posting a 13-1 record to earn the second-most home wins in the 21st century on its way to Mills' first winning season as head coach. The Golden Eagles were invited to a postseason tournament for the first time since 2015 earning a spot in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) before the event was canceled due to COVID-19. A 17-14 overall mark, including a 9-7 record in league play, was highlighted by ORU's ability to protect the basketball setting a school record for fewest turnovers in a single season (321). The Golden Eagles ranked second in the NCAA as only 13.9% of possessions resulted in a turnover according to KenPom and finished ninth in the nation turning the ball over just 10.4 times per contest. Emmanuel Nzekwesi landed NABC All-District Second Team and First Team All-Summit League honors leading ORU in scoring and rebounding in his final collegiate season, while Deondre Burns and Abmas earned recognition on the All-Newcomer Team.
 
In 2018-19, ORU big men Nzekwesi and Obanor were both named to the All-Summit League Second Team, while Obanor picked up Freshman of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year and All-Newcomer Team honors. The awards marked the second year in a row in which ORU took home the Sixth Man of the Year award and the second time in three years to have the league's Freshman of the Year. ORU's season was highlighted by a regular season sweep of Omaha, and key non-conference victories over James Madison and Richmond. ORU boasted the only duo (Nzekwesi and Obanor) to rank in the top 10 in The Summit League in both scoring and rebounding.
 
In his first season in south Tulsa, Mills led ORU to a fifth-place finish in The Summit League, while earning four postseason honors from the league. Albert Owens was the Sixth Man of the year, Austin Ruder was the Transfer of the Year, Nzekwesi was an honorable mention All-Summit League selection and Sam Kearns was named to the All-Newcomer team. Additional honors for the Golden Eagles included Owens earning DI-AAA ADA Scholar-Athlete and Academic All-Summit League recognition.
 
Highlights from Mills' first season on the sidelines included a 19-point road win against Florida Gulf Coast and an ESPN SportsCenter number one play on a buzzer-beater from Ruder to beat North Dakota State.
 
Before making the trip to south Tulsa, Mills was on the staff at Baylor with Head Coach Scott Drew helping the Bears graduate 36 of 38 seniors and a pair of NCAA Elite Eights, four Sweet 16's and four-straight NCAA Tournament appearances. The Bears were ranked in the top 25 for 10-straight seasons and were ranked number one in the country for the first time in school history during the 2016-17 season.
 
Mills was on the Rice staff from 2002-03 and the head coach at Fort Bend Christian Academy from 1999-2002, taking them to the TAPPS 4A Final Four for the first time in school history and was the South Region Coach of the Year and a four-time District Coach of the Year. Prior to his time in Sugar Land, Texas, Mills won three straight district championships as the head coach at North Belt Christian.
 
Mills served as the Big 12 representative for the National Association of Basketball Coaches and was a board member for the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches from 2001-03. He is a 1996 graduate of Texas A&M with a degree in finance and completed a Master of Biblical and Theological Studies from Dallas Theological Seminary in the summer of 2020. He and his wife, Wendy Scott-Mills, have two daughters, Audrey and Abbey.