Matt Insell was 29 years old when he got his first collegiate head coaching job at the University of Mississippi.
He spent five years at Ole Miss before returning to Middle Tennessee to join his dad, Rick Insell’s, staff. Now, 13 years later, and 42, Matt Insell is ready to be a head coach again.
“This is home,” Matt Insell said at his introductory press conference Tuesday. “This is where I’ve grown, this is where I’ve learned. There’s been good days and there’s been bad days. But this is not someone taking over this program that’s looking for what’s next. This is what’s next.”
Sitting in the same spot as his father did 21 years ago, inside the Rose and Emmett Kennon Hall of Fame, MTSU president Sidney A. McPhee and Director of Athletics Chris Massaro introduced Matt Insell as the next head coach of the Lady Raiders.
Ole Miss was a learning ground for the young coach on what mattered when leading a team.
“I think when I was 29, and I worried so much about what people thought of me,” Matt Insell said. “… I took things personal when the person in the 18th row wanted to fire me. I took things personal when the person in the 18th row said I was the greatest coach in the country.”
Matt Insell’s return to the Lady Raiders allowed him to focus on the part of the game where he shines, recruiting the next generation.
“This is one of the elite recruiters in the game,” Massaro said. “He’s someone who recognizes talent, builds relationships and pursues prospects with the dog determination.”
Throughout his time at MTSU, Matt Insell has seen an increase in responsibility, up to this year when he led timeouts, and drew up MTSU’s plays.
In the team’s previous game against St. Bonaventure University, there were 11 seconds left in the third quarter when the Lady Raiders huddled around the associate head coach in a timeout. Out of the timeout, Middle Tennessee ran its play, finding guard Savannah Davis for a knockdown three pointer as time expired in the third quarter.
“We never have ran that play,” Rick Insell said. “Matt drew that play up and they ran it to perfection…I didn’t even know what he was drawing up. He was drawing it up so fast, and he changed it and he went back to something else and I asked them all ‘you know what he’s doing? They all said, yeah, yeah.’”
Like father like son, Matt Insell never thought that becoming the head coach of the Lady Raiders was a possibility, but knew if the call came, then returning home wasn’t going to be a hard decision.
Coming back eight years ago, the only goal at the time was to help the team win games, Matt Insell said.
Over those eight years, the son never went to his dad about retirement, but the day came when Rick Insell decided it was time.
The long-time coach walked into his son’s office across the hall and told him that they needed to go to Massaro’s office.
Matt Insell was in the middle of building a scouting report for the Lady Raiders’ upcoming game and told his dad that he was busy. Rick Insell convinced him it was important, and they both walked into Massaro’s office.
Once there the head coach only said, “it’s time.”
While Rick Insell officially passed the torch on Tuesday, there is still time left for the father-son duo to share the hardwood as MTSU continues in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament.
As Matt Insell prepares to take over a new era of Middle Tennessee basketball, the goal remains the same.
“I go back to 21 years ago, when dad said at this podium, ‘the objective of this program is to play in the second or third weekend of the NCAA tournament,’” Matt Insell said. “I looked at those banners, and I thought about that statement, that banner is not there yet and he’s trusting me, my father, to make sure he’s not a liar.”
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