Layne hopes director role will strengthen Milligan's running programs

Back in June of 2020, Milligan officially rebranded itself as Milligan University after being known as Milligan College for over 150 years. When that decision was announced, former president Bill Greer pointed out that Milligan had been operating under a university model since 2014 when the institution's academic areas were reorganized into schools. That is perhaps the best lens to look through when assessing the impact of Chris Layne's promotion - which was announced on Wednesday - from Milligan's head coach of cross country and track & field to Director of Cross Country and Track & Field. The fact that Layne's day-to-day activities won't change that much is a testament to the groundwork he's laid over the past 26 years. "Milligan always moves with caution, and I think that's the right way to approach things," Layne said. "When they make decisions, they really put a lot of thought into what they do. They don't just do something because somebody else is doing it. I really appreciate that." From Layne's perspective, there were two major reasons for the promotion. The first is to enhance the opportunity for advancement for Layne's talented group of assistant coaches. "What I wanted to do is potentially open the door for good, young assistants that come into Milligan having the opportunity to maybe roll into a head role in our system at some point," he said. "That not only strengthens their situation with us, but also really sets them up well should we nurture them and they move into other roles beyond Milligan." The second main reason for the move was to put Milligan more in line with the model that is in place at track programs around the NAIA and NCAA. "This was really just a little different in the sense of a lot of people are going to director roles even out of the gate when they're bringing coaches in," Layne said. "So the time was right to do this based on my tenure and what we've accomplished." What Layne has accomplished at Milligan is remarkable. He has guided his cross country teams to three national titles while producing 25 individual national champions in cross country and track & field. What's more, Layne has developed a methodology that includes a comprehensive training program that has proven its ability to attract top athletes to Milligan from all over the world. Everything from travel to nutrition to training schedules have been fine-tuned to optimize performance. "That's a lot of what you do as a head coach, and it's ultimately more of what you do as a director," Layne said. It's not surprising that plenty of other programs have watched Milligan and followed Layne's lead, and he said he takes pride in that. While Layne prefers to be an innovator and not a follower, he said it is imperative to keep a watchful eye on the landscape of college athletics - which has undergone a series of seismic shifts in recent years - and make sure Milligan is well positioned to win recruiting battles against other NAIA and NCAA schools. Keeping up with the Joneses has only become more difficult in the world of NIL and an enrollment cliff that has left every program competing for less recruits each cycle. That's all the more reason for the change in Layne's title. "We're coming off the largest recruiting class in program history, and that's a testament to all the things that are happening under the hood, making sure that you have coaches that have the right mindset that understand the right methodology, but also buy into the things that are important in the recruiting process," he said. As Layne looks ahead to the next five years, he is focused on perpetuating Milligan's elite culture by continuing to lead the evolution of the program while staying true to the university's mission. "We want to keep putting kids in position to win national titles," he said. "We want to continue to put teams in position to win national titles, but we want to do it by also strengthening Milligan's mission as an institution. We had 40 kids on the dean's list this year, just in our program, and that is absolutely as important as winning those championships."