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Millikin University’s football team has, let’s say, struggled. 

In the last two years, the team has won a total of 4 games. 

This is not an ideal place to be for a team that competes in one of the most difficult division 3 conferences in the nation, that being the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin. The conference features teams such as North Central and Wheaton College, both of which land in the top 10 on the preseason division 3 football rankings. 

As for Millikin’s team, they are trying to do the little things right. They are trying to right the ship and establish a culture that has been absent in years past.  

At the front of the movement is head football coach Carlton Hall, who took over the head coaching position in 2022, along with a staff that has several years of experience.  

“The staff has done a tremendous job of changing the narrative around football players on this campus,” Hall said. “These guys have to go to class. They’re getting class checked, and that’s what I tell them when I recruit them. Getting my guys to understand that school comes first, and football comes second is what this is all about.” 

Although school clearly comes first, Hall still has the highest of expectations for his players on the field. 

“If you care about football and you actually love this thing, then you still need to put in the time,” he said. “You need to study film, not watch film. You need to prepare.” 

Although the team has struggled on the field recently, there have been great strides made in the classroom for football’s student athletes. 

“Having gone 0-10 last year, no one in their right mind could believe that I have left this place better than I found it,” Hall said. “What people don’t know is that when I arrived, the average GPA on the team was 2.11, with 53 athletes on the team. Last spring semester, though, we had 68 kids on the team, and the team GPA was 2.59. It isn’t the greatest average in the world, but it is progress.” 

Although the team has yet to see this progress on the field, the changes that Hall has made to the academic culture of the team is nothing short of admirable. 

As Hall has crafted his culture, the classes of athletes that he has recruited have begun to take their footing on the team. The offensive line is one of the best examples of that, led by junior captain Chris Hill. 

“There was a lot of culture change we went through,” Hill said. “There were a lot of guys from the old coach. Now it’s a majority of Coach Hall’s guys. We are all buying into the same culture. It’s been getting better and better every year.” 

Culture is clearly one of the focal points for the season, and Hall realizes that the staff is doing everything they can to do to promote the players instead of the coaches. 

“They care about us,” Hill said. “They’re talking about how much sleep they get. They don’t get much because they are worried about us.” 

Be sure to catch the Big Blue in action tomorrow at 1:00pm at Frank M. Lindsay Field. A culture shift is coming, and the results are sure to follow on the scoreboard.