Piedmont University Athletics

Entering her fifth season on the sidelines as an assistant coach with the women’s basketball program is Georgia high school coaching legend Angela Middleton who was a key piece of the Lady Lions’ championship run in 2010-2011.   Middleton’s experience collected in close to 30 combined years of coaching in the high school and collegiate ranks has helped the Lady Lions lay claim to their third Great South Athletic Conference crown in five seasons as well as lead the squad into a new era in the USA South.

This past year, Middleton’s fourth on staff, the Lady Lions competed in the USA South Athletic Conference after a 12-year run of success in the Great South Athletic Conference (GSAC).  Though the squad had a tough time adjusting to the new league finishing with a sub-.500 mark for just the second time in the nine-year Purdy era, PC finished in the top five of the league in five statistical categories including points scored per game, assists, steals, three-point field goals made, and field goal percentage.

Middleton’s third season saw a 21-5 record that represented the second highest single-season winning percentage in Head Coach Jamie Purdy’s tenure with the Lady Lions.  PC won more than 80% of their contests that season starting out 12-0 including a win over nationally ranked Greensboro College and saw post presence Sada Wheeler named the program’s first All-American in the school’s NCAA era which began ten seasons prior.

In her second season with the team, Middleton made her presence felt helping to guide the Lady Lions to a 20-win season, the first such season for the successful program since the 2007-2008 academic year.  That 20-9 overall record included three victories in the conference tournament that handed the Lady Lions a GSAC title while the team also made their third overall appearance in the NCAA National Tournament. 

Despite drawing the nation’s #1 team in NCAA postseason play, the 2010-11 Lady Lions competed well taking the top ranked and previously undefeated Saints of Thomas More College to a five point game in their home building before eventually falling 53-44 to end the season. 

In her first year with the club, Middleton helped the 2009-2010 Lady Lions finish the season on a tear as they won nine of their last twelve contests falling just a single point shy of completing the unbelievable run with a conference title.  PC also finished second in the GSAC in field goal percentage shooting just under 40 percent for the season, a mark was also good for a top 30 national ranking in NCAA Division-III. Middleton was also instrumental in the development of two All-Conference players and a pair of All-Academic Lady Lions in only her first season in the collegiate ranks.

During her first three seasons with the Lady Lion basketball program when PC was a member of the Great South Athletic Conference, Middleton aided one of the league’s most dominant runs as the three Piedmont squads combined for a 34-10 record in regular season GSAC action representing an incredible .773 winning percentage.  Having also posted a 5-2 record in conference championship tournament play during that time with Middleton on staff, the Lady Lions had little trouble with GSAC competition producing an average margin of victory better than 20 points per contest in those 34 regular season league wins. 

Prior to joining Head Coach Jamie Purdy’s staff at Piedmont, Middleton spent 24 years coaching in the high school basketball ranks including six seasons as the head coach of Southwest DeKalb (1996-2002) earning a pair of trips to the state tournament’s sweet sixteen and a spot in the elite eight over her final two seasons with the Panthers.

In her last high school post before jumping to the college ranks, Middleton served as the head coach at Flowery Branch High School (2002-2008) leading the Lady Falcons to the program’s first-ever sub-region victory in just her debut season before guiding three teams to state playoff berths highlighted an AAA Elite Eight trip in 2004 when she was named the Gainesville Times Girls Basketball Coach of the Year.

Over her final 12 years as a head coach within the high school ranks, Middleton collected close to 200 wins while sending a multitude of student-athletes to the collegiate ranks including most recently Courtney Newton who started the final 16 games of the season for the South Carolina Gamecocks in her junior season (2010-2011).  The long-time head coach also was honored with an appearance on the coaching staff for the North All-Star Team in the Georgia Coaches Association North-South All-Star Game working with five players headed to NCAA Division I member institutions. 

In addition to the litany of All-County and All-State selections she mentored during her 20-plus year high school coaching career, Middleton also saw her players garner national attention with multiple McDonald’s All-American nominees including Laura Allen who played in 86 games over a four year career with Clemson University.

In addition to her undergraduate degree in Physical Education and Biology, Middleton earned her MED from West Georgia University in 1991 and her SED from Lincoln Memorial University in 2008.