December 10, 2022- Millikin University officially dedicated Lori Kerans Court in the Griswold Physical Education Center.
The court was named in honor of Lori Kerans, who served as the women’s head basketball coach between 1986 to 2018.
During those 32 years, Kerans helped lead the Big Blue to a career record of 555-276, 11 CCIW titles, and 11 NCAA Division III tournament appearances. She is also known for coaching the 2004-2005 team to an NCAA Division III Championship title. This is the only national team championship in Millikin history.
During halftime of the Millikin Women Basketball team’s game against Carthage College, Lori Kerans was honored.
“The honor is a shared honor,” Kerans said. “I am standing on the shoulders of all those men and women who came before me to make it possible for women to compete in athletics. But also I am coming to realize that now the future generations are standing on our shoulders. I am very grateful to not only the past but also the current and excited about the future.”
Kerans personally holds many accolades, including being named CCIW Coach of the Year seven times, being a member of the Millikin Athletic Hall of Fame, the Decatur Athletic Hall of Fame and the IBCA Hall of Fame. Kerans was also Millikin’s first-ever female athletic director as well as in the CCIW.
She was a member of the women’s basketball team, and was an Academic All-American. Her team competed in the first NCAA Division III Tournament, finishing third in the nation.
Following her graduation in 1985, she began coaching. In Millikin University’s 52 years of women’s basketball, she is one of only three head coaches. The other two are Harriett Crannell and Olivia Lett. Kerans followed in the footsteps of Crannell, a pioneer for women’s athletics at Millikin University, and now Coach Lett has filled the shoes of Kerans. According to Kerans, she’s been a perfect fit for the Big Blue.
“I can only think, that I hope Harriett Crannell was as proud watching me as I am watching Olivia Lett,” Kerans said. “Because in the 52 year history of women’s basketball, it has just been the three of us. Harriett Crannell coached for the first 16 years. I took the baton for the next 32, and now I have handed it off to the best of the three coaches, Olivia Lett.”
While Kerans no longer coaches at Millikin University, her journey at Millikin is far from complete. She currently serves as Director of Community Engagement and Recruitment for Enrollment.
“I do have work to do,” Kerans said. “I have a lot to give to Millikin and to this community. Right now I am investing my talents in recruiting the future Big Blue graduates here in Macon County, but also connecting in a more meaningful way Millikin and the Decatur community. Millikin wouldn’t exist without Decatur and I think Millikin enhances Decatur, so I think it a mutual and shared love for each other.”
