Rick Insell retires from MTSU women's basketball after 21 seasons

For more than two decades, Rick Insell has been a fixture in women’s college basketball. By dominating the Sun Belt and then Conference USA, and orchestrating a few NCAA Tournament upsets, he transformed the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders into one of the sport’s signature mid-major powers. And now, he’s handing over the reins of the program to his son.

Middle Tennessee State announced on Thursday morning that Insell is retiring after 21 seasons at the helm of the program. He’ll guide the Blue Raiders through their WNIT run — which begins Sunday — and then step aside for his son Matt to take over. “I am honored to have led the Middle Tennessee women's basketball program for over two decades,” Rick Insell said in a statement.

“From our first season together to our 20th consecutive postseason appearance, it has been an incredible journey. I am thankful to our administration, our athletic staff, and the countless assistant coaches who have contributed to the sustained success of this program. ” Matt Insell, 43, has been an assistant coach under his father since 2018 and has been the associate head coach at MTSU since 2022.

He was previously the head coach at Ole Miss from 2013 to 2018 where he went 70-87 in five seasons. He also worked under Matthew Mitchell at Kentucky and Chris Long at Louisiana Tech. A formal press conference introducing Matt Insell as head coach will be held on March 24.