For new Morton College athletic director Lee Milano, he's returning to the place where it all began – Cicero.

"Cicero is where my roots are," Milano said. "I love coming back here and trying to make a difference. This is where my life started."

Milano brings a successful background in academics and athletics to Morton College. He spent 30 years primarily as a counselor at Niles North High School. He also served in an administrative capacity as an interim assistant principal and dean of students at Niles North.

For the last 24 years, Milano's guided the baseball program at Nazareth Academy to a pair of state championships and over 600 career wins. He's also a member of the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association's Hall of Fame and currently serves as the group's president.

Milano is familiar with the recruiting process in having sent over 150 players to the college ranks including two members of the 2024 Panthers in Luke Brabham and Sebastian Gutierrez.

"First and foremost, we want to put our student-athletes in a position to move on from here academically," Milano said. "Second, we want to provide our athletes with a positive experience. We want to give them the resources to be successful on the field. Third, we want to help them develop into solid citizens by teaching them the right way to handle themselves in all situations."

He plans to meet with each of Morton College's teams to explain what resources are available on campus and that he's there to support our student-athletes.

"My job as an athletic director is to be visible and be helpful to our coaches," Milano said. "We have some really good veteran coaches at Morton College who have done this a long time."

Milano's four sons, whom he all coached at Nazareth, have benefited from the community college route. His oldest son, Dominic, played at Morton College in 2021 for Tad Slowik and parlayed his time here into a NCAA Division I scholarship at Butler University.

The Cicero-born Milano attended St. Frances of Rome School and then Fenwick High School where he played baseball for Dave Hogan, who won 862 games in 43 years. Milano went on to earn his bachelors and masters degrees from DePaul University in secondary education/physical education and human services/counseling, respectively.

Milano credits his parents, a teacher at the now-closed Mary Queen of Heaven School in Cicero for a quarter-century and a U.S. Postal employee, for teaching him how to treat people right and instilling a sound work ethic. He thanks his wife and four sons for the "huge" role they've played in his career success.

As for professional mentors, Milano credits his brother, Bill, also an IHSBCA Hall of Famer and former head coach at Nazareth and Maine South, Hogan, former Nazareth assistant coach John Sime, MLB Hall of Famer Jim Thome and White Sox groundskeeper Roger Bossard. Milano coached the sons of Thome and Bossard at Nazareth.

"My role is to be a servant leader," Milano said. "I want to use my expertise to help people and make Morton College athletics the best it can be. With the advent of the transfer portal in college sports, the way schools recruit has changed. I think high school athletes should now take a hard look at community college athletics. Morton College has a proven track record of moving student-athletes on to the next level and that's something we want to continue and grow."