Mutinous Morans' damning letter that may have cost Australian Liz Mills her national basketball team job

A brief communique from Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) proclaiming coach Cliff Owuor’s return to the helm of the national men’s team, Kenya Morans last Sunday left so many questions on the fate of erstwhile 'trailblazing' Australian tactician Liz Mills.

Mozzartsport has learnt that the abrupt and unceremonious exit of Mills may have emanated from a players' revolt over her management style conveyed to the KBF Executive Committee in a tell-all letter signed by majority of the national team players.

Written immediately after the team returned from the Afrobasket Championship in Rwanda where they managed one win in four matches, the four-page letter titled ‘Team Morans vote of NO CONFIDENCE in coach Liz Mills’ enumerate a number of issues the players felt were working against the team’s cohesiveness.

“Teamwork and the appreciation of what each of us brings to the team has been the secret to our success. In other words, togetherness has been our number one identity. This culture of success has changed since the appointment of coach Liz Mills as head coach. We believe she brought forth a toxic culture that has totally changed the trajectory of the team.

Her culture and style of coaching has a corrosive effect on the team’s morale and has fostered a climate of disbelief, fear, division, anxiety and uncertainty in the team,” reads the introductory part of the letter.

Mills dismissed the letter as 'lies and slander'.

While KBF Secretary General Ambrose Kisoi maintains that Mills’ terms of engagement were until the conclusion of the Afrobasket, the damning contents of the players' letter cannot be wished away.

The players accused their tactician of poor communication and disrespect to the playing unit and Kenyan basketball as a whole. “Since joining her demeanour and mannerism has been that of a savior who is here to save a pathetic basketball system or "shitty Kenyan Basketball" as she often refers to it,” the letter reads.

The players accused Mills of planning to retire players as she rebuilds for World cup qualifiers, citing comments she made during a post-match press conference at the Afrobasket moments after Morans fell to Nigeria.

The comments were a response to a question on plans to incorporate younger players like Albert Odero and Fidel Okoth (who was at the post-match interview with her) for the next assignment.

However, her delivery may have not gone down well with some team members who felt that it was not in her place to say who was set to retire and when.

“Afrobasket was pretty much to pay homage to the older players like Griff (Griffin Ligare) Bush (Tom Wamukota), Eric (Mutoro), Bosire(Victor). These guys who have built the Morans. This was very much their tournament and we are very happy to have them here with that experience, but once world cup qualifiers kick in, it is all for the young guys,” she had said in her response.

However, in their letter, the playing unit termed her sentiments during the interview a disrespect to the mentioned players, finding out they were being retired, without their knowledge, at a press conference.

“This statement killed the morale of the team on so many levels. This was unprofessional and uncalled for. Players are working hard to build their brands to make a living out of this great sport. Calling them old and talking about retirement without the courtesy of letting them know beforehand does not help the course whatsoever,” the letter reads.

The squad also accused Mills of disregarding the team's past performances like AfroCAN in 2019, alleging that on numerous occasions, she had voiced that most of the team’s previous wins were against inferior teams. “This is very offensive to us knowing that some of these moments are the greatest moments of our basketball careers,” they continued.

Further, the letter accuses Mills of changing a winning system that proved to be successful from pre-qualifiers.

“Changing the whole system without proper regard to the available personnel and the team's identity is one of reasons we have only won 2 games under her leadership. We totally understand tweaking and addition of plays needed to be done but there's no way to justify scrapping out a whole system of play both offense and defense.”

The players also took issue with alleged division into local based and international based players saying that constantly undermining the former led to feelings of disrespect, again citing a post-match interview at the Afrobasket and off the record comments which Mozzart Sport could not authenticate. 

"I strongly suggest that you speak with those who did not sign the letter regarding their experiences at AfroBasket and in Cameroon for the AfroBasket qualifiers last year. These players are not represented by those who claim to be representing them. As a professional I will not respond to questions regarding lies and slander," Mills directed.

The reinstalled Owuor, had been Morans’ tactician since 2018, guiding the side to silver at the inaugural AfroCAN held in Bamako, Mali in 2019 before propelling them past among others, South Sudan, in Nairobi at the Afrobasket pre-qualifiers held in January 2020 and again in the first round of qualification where they won one match, against Mozambique, to put one foot in the Championship.

Coach Liz Mills out of Kenya Morans as WCQ provisional squad is named

Owuor exited in February 2021, upon the arrival of Mills, whose role at the time was undefined even as the federation sternly insisted that the former was still at the helm.

It was Owuor who finally made public his exit from the team. Having just rejoined Rwanda’s APR at the time, Owuor cited the nature of his job and the demands that the club were presenting for his unavailability for the February window of qualification. He, however, expressed willingness to coach Morans if the chance was presented at a later date and his job allowed for it to happen.

Mills took over the team in February 2021. At the time, the team needed one win to qualify for Afrobasket in 28 years, a win that came in their match against record time champions Angola.

With the ticket to the Afrobasket, Mills became the first woman to qualify a team to the continental championship and subsequently, the first female tactician to lead a team in the championships. Mills got her second win with Morans during the championship.

After losing their first two games against Ivory Coast and Nigeria, 88-70 and 55-71 respectively, Mills’ charges secured progression to the pre-quarter finals by beating Mali 72-66 in their last Group C encounter to set up a date with South Sudan, a match the team lost to exit the championship.