JACKSON, Miss. – Calendars have now changed over to January, and the Millsaps College athletic department is ready to make a major splash in 2019.
 
In June 2018, Millsaps announced the addition swimming and diving to its list of sponsored NCAA Division III programs. Since that time, the Majors have solidified their coaching staff with a head coach who has nearly 30 years of experience in the pool as both a swimmer and coach, and an assistant who is just a few short years removed from a highly decorated career as a Division III swimmer and water polo player.
 
Brian Ware has been tabbed to lead the program as the head coach. Ware competed collegiately inside the Southeastern Conference at the University of Kentucky. While at UK he excelled in the 200-yard breaststroke, scoring points at the SEC meet all three years.

A native of Clinton, Mississippi, Ware came back home after his career as a Wildcat and has led the decorated Mississippi Makos club team since 1991. His Makos teams have won 13 state championships, produced qualifiers for Olympic Trials, Senior National, and Junior National, as well as numerous individual state record holders and state champions.

He also started the swim team at Clinton High School and was named the MHSAA Boys High School Coach of the Year in 1999. In 2007, Ware took over the duties as coach at Madison Central High School. While leading the Jaguars he was named the Mississippi Association of Coaches Swim Coach of the Year in 2012 and 2017. He won the MHSAA Coach of the Year award in 2015. His women's team won the Class 2 title for four consecutive seasons, and his men's team finished runner up for the Class 2 title twice. 

He credits his time in Lexington for the way that he relates to his athletes today, "My time swimming in the SEC gave me an understanding of what it takes to swim at the highest levels of collegiate athletics," said Ware. "I strive to pass that knowledge down to my athletes, but at the same time I also grasp the pressure and time commitment that it takes to be a NCAA student-athlete, so knowing when to push the athlete and when to back off is a big part of my coaching style," he stated.

Last fall Ware added Laurel Pinkley to his staff as the assistant coach. Pinkley hails from California, where she graduated from Whittier College and was a four-year letter winner in both water polo and swimming & diving. She was named a 2013 ACWPC and NCAA All-American, 2011 ACWPC All-Academic and she was also a two-time SCIAC All-Conference selection (2011, 2014) in water polo.

Pinkley says the excitement around the new program drew her to the opportunity at Millsaps, "When I researched Millsaps I learned how great of a school it is, but really it was the appeal of starting a new program that was too much to pass up."

The coaches have identified the core values of their program, which include: having a love for swimming, integrity, dedication, leadership and being a good teammate, and that is what they look for as they head out onto the recruiting trail. "Starting from nothing makes building a culture even more important," said Ware. "We want to make sure we recruit the right people who are ready to set traditions and lay the foundation for Millsaps swimming for years to come."

The start of this new program means that Millsaps joins Delta State University as the only two collegiate athletic programs in the state of Mississippi to offer swimming at the varsity level. When the Majors hit the pool in the fall of 2019, they will bring the number of Southern Athletic Association (SAA) member schools participating in the sport to seven.