He spent 11 years at Leeds holding various coaching roles including defence, skills and eventually assistant coach, and helped them to the Premiership twice as well as achieve Heineken Cup qualification for the first time in their history.
He joined the RFU in 2014 and led the England Women Sevens on the World Series, as well as taking a role as assistant coach for the 2014 Rugby World Cup in France where England were crowned champions.
In 2015, he became Red Roses head coach initially in a joint role with sevens.
He was appointed head coach of Team GB Women Sevens where the team finished fourth at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics, the sport’s Olympic debut, before focusing fully on XVs on his return.
Middleton was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to rugby football.