Rolling Meadows coach reacts to DUI charge

The longtime head football coach at Rolling Meadows High School said Friday he will not resign, nor has he been asked to, as he faces his second DUI charge since 2004.

Doug Millsaps, 47, of the 800 block of Wescott Road, Bolingbrook, was arrested at 3:23 a.m. June 6, 2009, after an officer found him sleeping in a car on the 0-99 block of Ford Street in Geneva with the keys in the ignition.

At a court appearance Friday in St. Charles in front of Judge Kevin T. Busch, Millsaps' next court date was set for Sept. 29. If the case is not resolved then, the judge said, it will go to trial in November.

Meanwhile, the coach said he is innocent, and will let the process play out in the courts.

"I firmly believe I didn't do anything wrong," Millsaps said later Friday. Alluding to the public attention his case is getting, he said, "My process won't be the same as most people's but I'll let the legal system work through it."

Northwest Suburban High School District 214 officials declined to comment, citing employee confidentiality.

In court, Millsaps' attorney, Ricardo Bird, said he and his client were working with police "in an effort to resolve this matter before trial."

But Busch noted the case has been pending for more than a year.

"There certainly should have been a lot of opportunities between then and now to have this conversation," the judge said.

According to Geneva police, Millsaps had bloodshot, glassy eyes, poor balance and a strong odor of alcohol on his breath. He failed a horizontal gaze sobriety test, then refused further testing, according to a police report.

Court records show Millsaps previously pleaded guilty to driving under the influence in DuPage County in 2004.

In that case, he was pulled over at 4:04 a.m. on May 28, 2004, after police clocked him driving 52 mph in a 35 mph zone on westbound Irving Park Road in Wood Dale, according to court records. Police said they also saw the vehicle veer between lanes three times.

Prosecutors dismissed charges of speeding and improper lane use as part of a plea deal in which Millsaps received a year of court supervision and was ordered to pay $1,000 in fines and fees for DUI. Court records show he also completed required counseling and attended a victim impact panel. In the Geneva case, Millsaps has unsuccessfully challenged his arrest, arguing that police had no probable cause.

"The arresting officer did not have reasonable grounds to believe that I was driving or in actual physical control of a motor vehicle," Millsaps says in one court filing in which he also denies refusing sobriety tests.

Millsaps was expected to coach the Mustangs Friday night in a home game against Schaumburg. He said his team is probably aware of his arrest and subsequent court case.

"I tell our players not to run and hide when they're challenged and everybody is challenged at different times," Millsap said. "So what kind of message am I sending (if I resign), no matter how bad of a year this has been?" Millsap's father died last October while attending a Rolling Meadows football game.

"People will have their judgments until all the facts are out, but I really am a good person and good for kids and good for this program."

A spokeswoman for the Illinois Secretary of State's Office said Millsaps' license is currently suspended.

Millsaps is two games into his 14th season at Rolling Meadows and has a 74-60 record. The school had made only two playoff appearances and had never won an MSL division title before his arrival in 1997.

The Mustangs have gone to the playoffs nine times under Millsaps with a trip to the Class 7A state semifinals in 2004 and 7A quarterfinals in 2006. Their current streak of seven straight playoff appearances is the MSL's second-best active run behind Fremd's 15.

His teams last year and in 2007, 2000 and 1999 won MSL East crowns.

Before coming to Rolling Meadows, Millsaps was the head coach three years at Rockford Jefferson, his alma mater, and was a head coach at Lanark Eastland from 1984-88. He also was an assistant coach at Benedictine University.

• Staff writers Christy Gutowski, Sheila Ahern and Susan Sarkauskas contributed to this report.