Athena Miller

Athena Miller joined the Florida State swimming and diving staff in May of 2022.

Miller brings a wealth of experience to Tallahassee after serving one season as the associate head coach at the University of Pittsburgh in 2021-22.  While with the Panthers, Miller coached all training groups where she saw six school records set over the season.

Miller joined the staff at Pitt following a stint after serving as the assistant coach at the United States Air Force Academy for four seasons. During her tenure, Miller coached three Mountain West Senior Swimmers of the Year, including Jinan Andrews, who was the 2018 Mountain West Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She also coached 17 swimmers who earned All-Conference honors and the team broke six school records and had 70 swims ranked among the all-time top 10.

Additionally, six school records were broken and 17 captured Mountain West All-Conference honors, while 70 swims ranked were among the all-time top 10.

The program also earned CSCAA Scholar All-America recognition, 23 earned Mountain West Scholar-Athlete honors, and 54 were named Academic All-Mountain West.

The Falcons won 13 duals in 2019-20, which were the most since 2016.

Prior to Air Force, Miller spent the 2016-17 season at Dartmouth College after she was an assistant at Duke for the 2015-16 season.

While with the nationally-ranked Blue Devils, Miller primarily worked with the sprint group, helping Maddie Rusch set a new school record in the 50 free at 22.15. In fact, 33 school records were broken over 18 events that season, while seven women and seven men qualified for the NCAA Championships.

Miller spent three years as the head coach at Defiance College for both the men’s and women’s programs, after starting her collegiate coaching career at Malone as an assistant coach in 2009-10, where she helped established the first men’s and women’s swimming and diving team in program history.

At each stop, Miller coordinated administrative and recruiting duties, and spearheaded fundraising efforts for various causes all while improving alumni relations.

Miller graduated from the University of Mount Union with her Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration with an emphasis in management/economics in 2008. She went on to earn her Master’s in Psychology with an emphasis in sport in 2012 from Capella University and her MBA in 2015 from Defiance.

Miller also graduated from the NCAA Women’s Coaches Academy in June 2017.