UK basketball feature

Cover_Layout 1 10/13/11 5:01 PM

By Todd Krise, IMG College

Maybe, it was the dust in the gym. The ache in his feet. Or that knot in his neck.Whatever it was allowed reality the chance to strike.And, to his recollection, Matthew Mitchell wasn’t ready to counter.“I thought I was going to coach the Los Angeles Lakers,” said Mitchell, who at the time was a fresh-out-of-college

coach/teacher at Central Holmes Academy in Lexington, Miss. The 24-year-old version of Mitchell was everything for the small town school’s athletics program. He coached several sports

from boys and girls basketball to football to baseball and even golf.But it was somewhere between driving the team bus and grabbing that last dirty locker room towel, where Mitchell’s highest

aspirations took a drastic turn.“I had to work extremely hard just to be halfway competent,” he said of coaching. “So when you’re having a hard time com-

ing up with a practice plan because you’re a young coach and not sure what to do, you’re not thinking about the bright lights orthe big time very much. You’re just trying to get something done.”

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“I had worked at Tennessee, which is a great place. I had worked at Florida,

which is a very good place. But there was just something that clicked with me at

Kentucky; that Kentucky just became near to my heart.”

— Matthew Mitchell

His realization sent him packing on a 16-year trip that only continues to collectspeed. Mitchell, 40, enters his fifth season as head coach of the University ofKentucky women’s basketball team on the cusp of turning it into one of the nation’spremier programs.

GROWING UP IN THE RIGHT PLACEFootball, like many communities in the South, is king in Winston County, Miss.

And, like many of his friends, Matthew Mitchell gutted it out on the gridiron.His high school, Winston Academy, has won several state football championships.

Mitchell never experienced that goal, losing deep in the playoffs twice — includinga heartbreaker during his sophomore season. It was during that year, however,Mitchell, a multi-sport athlete, found his calling in life.

“I remember thinking in 10th grade that I would enjoy being a basketballcoach,” he said. “I was very in love with the game and had a fire for basketball. It

was something that consumed me from a very early age.”After graduating from Mississippi State in 1995, Mitchell went to work for his

former principal and basketball coach, Farrell Rigby. The Mississippi Private SchoolCoaches Association Hall of Famer was the one who suggested Mitchell shouldcoach and teach at Central Holmes, knowing full well how challenging it would befor his pupil.

“I spoke to the administration,” Rigby said. “The person asked, ‘Can he do thejob?’ My answer was, ‘Oh yes, he can do the job. Things will not be stagnant withMatthew Mitchell.’ … I think he’s one of those that just had to have the opportuni-ty to step out somewhere. He was ready to do whatever it took.”

The job required Mitchell to lead both the boys and girls basketball programs. Onmost days, he would coach the junior high girls team, followed by the varsity girlsand ending with the varsity boys.

It was the sport’s fundamentals that engulfed Mitchell and caused him to trek

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across the entire county and into neighboring sections for help. Fortunately forMitchell, he had the likes of fellow Louisville, Miss., natives Van Chancellor andAndy Kennedy as inspirations. Chancellor, at the time, was head women’s basketballcoach at Ole Miss, going on to lead the WNBA’s Houston Comets and the LSUwomen’s program.

Kennedy, on the other hand, graduated high school a few years before Mitchell.He was a local star that went on to play at North Carolina State and professionally.Kennedy is now the men’s head basketball coach at Ole Miss.

Louisville, a town of approximately 7,000 citizens, also has produced Louisiana-Lafayette head football coach Mark Hudspeth.

None of these men, though, were as beneficial to Mitchell’s career as currentVanderbilt assistant Kim Rosamond. She and Mitchell, who have known each othersince grade school, kept in contact while Rosamond was a basketball player at OleMiss and Mitchell was a coach at Central Holmes.

Rosamond suggested Mitchell work during the summers at legendary coach PatSummitt’s camps at the University of Tennessee.

“He was a great player himself,” Rosamond said of Mitchell. “Anything Mattdid, he was successful at. He always surrounded himself with people that he canlearn from.

“Before you knew it, the entire camp knew him,” she added. “He really made aname for himself there.”

GETTING THE KENTUCKY JOBFarrell Rigby said Mitchell’s personality has taken him a long way, which is true

considering how Mitchell turned that Tennessee summer job into a productivecareer. Stops have included a three-year stint at Florida under Carol Ross andCarolyn Peck; a two-year swing as Mickie DeMoss’ top assistant at Kentucky; andalso his first head coaching job at Morehead State from 2005-07.

Despite his travels, it was the University of Kentucky that stood out from the rest. “Nobody they were going to talk to wanted to be at Kentucky more,” Mitchell

said, describing his UK interview process. “I had worked at Tennessee, which is agreat place. I had worked at Florida, which is a very good place. But there was justsomething that clicked with me at Kentucky; that Kentucky just became near tomy heart.”

So on April 27, 2007, athletics director Mitch Barnhart hired Mitchell to lead theUK women’s basketball team. The moment he took over for his predecessor,DeMoss, the elder coach told him something that would change his career forever:“Mickie said, ‘You really got to keep this most recent recruiting class intact.’ She hadsigned them in the fall and then the coaching change happened. I went on the roadand talked to the recruiting class.”

THE DUNLAP EFFECTOne player in particular in the 2007 recruiting class was a defensive-minded for-

ward from Nashville, Tenn., named Victoria Dunlap. Not heavily recruited, Dunlapquietly scored 12 points and eight rebounds per game as a high school senior. Forher, Mitchell and UK were an easy sell.

“Knowing we were players from under Mickie DeMoss, he didn’t try to come inand drastically change the whole program,” she said. “He had his vision and he(stuck to it).”

Dunlap, like the rest of the team, struggled to find consistency during Mitchell’sfirst two years at Kentucky. The squad compiled a 33-32 record with no NCAAappearances. It was then that Mitchell decided to use his athletic roster to his advan-tage and adopted a more up-tempo style of play heading into his third year.

Dunlap might have benefitted the most, leading the team in almost every statis-tical category and becoming the program’s first SEC Player of the Year and just thesecond State Farm/WBCA All-American. The team went 28-8 and finished one winaway from the 2010 NCAA Women’s Final Four.

In 2010-11, the Wildcats fought back against high expectations and a season-end-ing injury to starting point guard Amber Smith to finish 25-9 and appeared in a sec-ond straight NCAA tournament. Dunlap again was named the conference’s player ofthe year and finished her career as one of the most herald players in UK Hoops his-tory. She also became the school’s first WNBA first-round pick last summer.

“You could just see her confidence blossom,” Mitchell said. “There was no ques-tion that her play was such a huge part of this program’s resurgence. I would neverbe able to thank her enough for elevating our program and helping us to become ateam that has a chance now to really become one of the teams recognized nationallyas having one of the top programs. I don’t know how close we were to doing thatwhen she was a freshman.”

At the beginning of August, Matthew and Jenna Mitchell welcomed a daughter,

> UK Hoops Attendance at Memorial Coliseum and Rupp Arena:

Year (NCAA Rank) Games Total Att. Avg.

2010-11 (11th)! 15 95,453 6,364!

2009-10 (14th) 17 95,615! 5,624

2008-09 (21st) 17 75,194 4,423

2007-08 (23rd) 18 85,769 4,765

! New School Record

ATTENDANCE UNDER MITCHELL

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> The Cats are 30-2 at home over the last two seasons.

> With 95,453 fans in 15 home games in 2010-11, UK set a new single-seasonaverage of 6,364 fans per game, besting the school-record average of 5,863 setin the 2006-07 season.

> The Cats ranked 11th nationally in average attendance and have been rankedin the top 25 nationally and in the SEC’s top four the past eight seasons.

> UK has won 21 consecutive nonconference games at home.

> A season high of 7,646 attended UK’s “WBCA Pink Zone” game vs. LSU. Itmarked the seventh-largest crowd in Memorial Coliseum history.

MITCHELL BY THE NUMBERS

> Matthew Mitchell Year-By-Year

Year School Position Record NCAA Finish Age

2010-11 Kentucky Head Coach 25-9 (NCAA Second Round) 40

2009-10 Kentucky Head Coach 28-8 (NCAA Regional Final) 39

2008-09 Kentucky Head Coach 16-16 38

2007-08 Kentucky Head Coach 17-16 37

2006-07 Morehead St. Head Coach 14-16 36

2005-06 Morehead St. Head Coach 16-13 35

Total After First Six Seasons 116-78

> Pat Summitt Year-By-Year


1979-80 Tennessee Head Coach 33-5 (NCAA Final Four) 27


1977-78 Tennessee Head Coach 27-4 (1st AIAW Poll) 25


1975-76 Tennessee Head Coach 16-11 23

1974-75 Tennessee Head Coach 16-8 22


> Geno Auriemma Year-By-Year


1990-91 Connecticut Head Coach 29-5 (NCAA Final Four) 36

1989-90 Connecticut Head Coach 25-6 (NCAA Second Round) 35

1988-89 Connecticut Head Coach 24-6 (NCAA First Round) 34

1987-88 Connecticut Head Coach 17-11 33




Saylor, into the world (Matthew’s first daughter, Lacy, is a senior at MississippiState). As a thank you to Dunlap for her years of unbelievable play, the Mitchellsgave Saylor the same middle name as Dunlap: Rose.

“That shows how much I think of her and how much I am appreciative of her,”Mitchell said of Dunlap. “Jenna and I felt — at the time — we wouldn’t have a jobhere if Victoria didn’t start playing the way she did. I love Victoria Dunlap and she’sa huge part of this program’s success.”

FUTURE OF UK HOOPSIn November 2010, Matthew Mitchell signed a five-year contract extension worth

$3 million, plus additional performance-based incentives. Mitchell’s continuedgrowth as a head coach, his roster’s improved talent and the increased numbers inattendance, all signal that the Kentucky women’s basketball program is heading intounchartered waters.

He’s also raising the bar in recruiting; attracting players to Kentucky that normal-ly would not have given the Wildcats a look before.

“We’ve always recruited those players,” Mitchell said. “I just think we have a real-istic chance of landing some of the best players in the country. A lot of people thinkthat Connecticut and Tennessee and those kinds of schools have the inside track.Maybe they do, but I think right now, from where I see, people are willing to listento Kentucky.”

But where does Mitchell and his team take this newfound success? How dothey turn SEC title game defeats into wins? How do NCAA Elite Eights turn intoFinal Fours?

“When all that comes together, when we get high-character kids that playextremely hard and who want to put Kentucky before themselves, I think champi-onships are possible,” Mitchell said. “Everybody is out there trying to win one. Weare definitely. But I just think — when I look at — that it’s not a pipe dream. It’ssomething that can happen here.”

Reality beware.

THE MITCHELL FAMILY , from left, Jenna, Matthew, Saylor and Lacy.

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