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For the basketball player, see Matt Mitchell (basketball).

Matthew Mitchell
Biographical details
Born (1970-12-16) December 16, 1970 (age 53)
Louisville, Mississippi
Alma mater Mississippi State
Coaching career ( HC unless noted)
1995–1996Winston Acad. (MS) (asst.)
1996–1998 Central Holmes Acad. (MS)
1998–1999Manchester Acad. (MS)
1999–2000 Tennessee (grad. asst.)
2000–2003 Florida (asst.)
2003–2005 Kentucky (asst.)
2005–2007 Morehead State
2007–2020 Kentucky
Head coaching record
Overall309–143 (.684)
Accomplishments and honors
Awards
2× SEC Coach of the Year (2010, 2012)

Matthew LaMont Mitchell (born December 16, 1970) [1] is an American former college basketball coach, who was most recently head coach for University of Kentucky women's basketball. [2] On November 12, 2020, Mitchell announced his retirement from coaching. [3]

Coaching

Mitchell became the head coach of UK on April 23, 2007, succeeding former UK coach Mickie DeMoss. [2] Prior to becoming the coach at Kentucky, Mitchell spent two years as the head coach at Morehead State. [2] Mitchell started his coaching career as graduate assistant under Pat Summitt at Tennessee, and he also spent time as an assistant coach at Florida and Kentucky before becoming a head coach. [2]

Following the 2009–10 season, Mitchell was named the SEC Coach of the Year. [4] In addition to Mitchell's recognition, Victoria Dunlap was named the SEC Player of the Year and A'dia Mathies was named the SEC Freshman of the Year. The Wildcats joined the unbeaten national champion 1998 Tennessee squad as the only teams in SEC women's basketball history to sweep the major post-season awards. [4]

Mitchell's success on the court has already moved him up to No. 4 in all-time wins at Kentucky with 86. His winning percentage of 63.7 percent (86–49) ranks third.

Year Three proved to be the best year yet as Mitchell was named SEC Coach of the Year for his remarkable job in turning around a team that went 16–16 overall, 5–9 in conference play the year prior to a 28–8 overall record in 2009–10. The Cats' 28 overall wins, including 11 SEC wins were school records and UK finished second in the league despite being picked to finish 11th in the preseason polls.

In his fourth season Mitchell once again led the Wildcats to an outstanding season with a 25–9 overall record and a school-record-tying 11 wins (11–5) in the SEC. UK took a second-place finish in the league standings for the second-consecutive year and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament as the No. 4 seed.

Mitchell led Kentucky to one of the most successful seasons in school history in 2011–12 with a 28–7 overall record, including an 18–0 mark at home, and an appearance in the Elite Eight for the second time in three years. The Wildcats won their first SEC regular season championship since 1982 with a school-record 13–3 mark in league play. The Cats finished No. 12 in the final AP poll & No. 8 in final USA Today/ESPN coaches' poll, marking the highest final AP ranking since finishing 11th in 1983 and the highest final ranking in the coaches' poll in school history. He was named SEC Coach of the Year for the second time in three seasons by the AP.

In January 2018, Mitchell earned his 300th career victory, with his 270th coming in his twelfth year as Kentucky's head coach. [5]

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Morehead State Eagles ( Ohio Valley Conference) (2005–2007)
2005–06 Morehead State 16–13 11–9 4th
2006–07 Morehead State 14–16 13–7 4th
Morehead State: 30–29 (.508) 24–16 (.600)
Kentucky Wildcats ( Southeastern Conference) (2007–2020)
2007–08 Kentucky 17–16 8–6 5th WNIT Quarterfinals
2008–09 Kentucky 16–16 5–9 10th WNIT second round
2009–10 Kentucky 28–8 11–5 2nd NCAA Elite Eight
2010–11 Kentucky 25–9 11–5 2nd NCAA second round
2011–12 Kentucky 28–7 13–3 1st NCAA Elite Eight
2012–13 Kentucky 30–6 13–3 2nd NCAA Elite Eight
2013–14 Kentucky 26–9 10–6 4th NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2014–15 Kentucky 24–10 10–6 T-4th NCAA second round
2015–16 Kentucky 25–8 10–6 T-4th NCAA Sweet Sixteen
2016–17 Kentucky 22–11 11–5 T-4th NCAA second round
2017–18 Kentucky 15–17 6–10 9th
2018–19 Kentucky 25–8 11–5 4th NCAA second round
2019–20 Kentucky 21–7 10–6 T–3rd Postseason not held due to COVID-19
Kentucky: 281–125 (.692) 119–69 (.633)
Total: 311–154 (.669)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

Personal

Mitchell attended Mississippi State University from 1993 to 1995, where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing.

He is married to the former Jenna Ramsey, from Amelia Island, and he has three daughters, Lacy, [2] Saylor and Presley Blue.

Matthew and his wife Jenna are very active in community service. In June 2014, Matthew and Jenna pledged $1 million over the next 10 years to the University of Kentucky Athletics Department. Just a few months later, they launched The Mitchell Family Foundation, a non-profit organization set to benefit charities in the Lexington community. The first fund-raising event of the Foundation in September 2014 brought in renowned author and leadership expert, John C. Maxwell. In October 2016, Matthew and Jenna were presented the 2016 Community Service Award by the National Urban League of Lexington.

Retirement and Injury

On November 12, 2020, Mitchell announced his retirement following months of recovery after suffering a concussion from an accident. The accident happened in March 2020 during a family vacation in Mexico. Associate head coach Kyra Elzy, who had been leading the program on an interim basis, was eventually named Mitchell's successor.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Women's Basketball Coaches Career". NCAA. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Matthew Mitchell bio". University of Kentucky. Archived from the original on December 31, 2010. Retrieved February 1, 2010.
  3. ^ Crane, Evan (November 12, 2020). "Matthew Mitchell Retires from Coaching; Kyra Elzy Named Interim Head Coach". UKAthletics.com. Kentucky Wildcats Athletics. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
  4. ^ a b Smith, Jennifer (March 3, 2010). "UK women sweep SEC post-season awards". KentuckySports.com.
  5. ^ "Mitchell Earns 300th Career Win as No. 16 Kentucky Tops Vanderbilt". UK Athletics. January 3, 2019. Retrieved January 3, 2019.
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