Amara Mills came to Howard Payne in June of 2021 from Allen Community College, where she served under HPU head coach Rachel Janzen in 2020-2021.

Coach Mills brings a great ballance of youth and experience to the coaching staff spending time serving at four different levels, including NJCAA, NAIA, NCCAA, and NCAA.

Before HPU, she spent one season (2020-2021) at Allen CC. Along with her regular assistant coaching duties at Allen CC, she led the women's basketball study hall and academic oversight efforts resulting in a 3.2 team GPA.

Before Allen CC, Coach Mills help lead Florida College to their first winning season ending with a 21-9 overall in 2016-17. Amara assisted the Falcons to a successful three-year tenure highlighted by a program-record 21 wins in 2017, a #2 national ranking in the 2018 USCAA National Tournament, and the program's transition to NAIA Division I in 2019-20. From 2017 to 2020, she developed six All-Conference selections, highlighted by the 2018 USCAA Conference Player of the Year and All-American, and the 2020 SSAC Freshman of the Year.

She started her coaching career at Hillsborough high school in Hillsborough, Florida, in 2014, helping guide the team to a 26-3 overall record in 2015, including a District Championship which featured a perfect 14-0 record in conference play.

Amara moved on to the college level the following season, serving as the women's assistant at Hillsborough Community College in 2016-2017. There she was responsible for all aspects of on-floor development of the program's guards, which finished the season ranked 2nd in conference play in 3-point field goals made per game and 3rd in free-throw percentage.

Amara completed a B.S. in Sport Management from Grand Canyon University in 2019 and received a Master of Business Administration from Grand Canyon in 2020.