Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Staff Directory
- Title:
- Associate Head Women's Basketball Coach
- Email:
- Phone:
- 898-5207
UPDATED: June 2024
Twitter: minsell
One of the rising stars in the women’s basketball coaching ranks, Matt Insell begins his seventh season with Middle Tennessee, and his third as associate head coach, after joining Head Coach Rick Insell’s staff in May, 2018.
Matt Insell, who is the son of Hall of Fame Coach Rick Insell, previously served as the head women’s basketball coach at Ole Miss for five seasons before returning to his alma mater, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science in 2007.
In what already has been a stellar career, Matt Insell has been a part of 11 teams that have participated in postseason play. Four of his teams at Kentucky advanced to the NCAA Tournament with three reaching the Elite Eight and another falling in the second round. Middle Tennessee advanced into the NCAA Tournament in 2021, 2023 and 2024. Matt Insell also participated in the WNIT four times, twice with Ole Miss and once at Middle Tennessee. Insell helped lead the Lady Raiders to the WNIT semifinals in 2022. The team’s 27 wins were the fourth-most posted in program history while the 35 games played were the most played by any MTSU women’s basketball team in its history.
Although a great deal of work turned in by assistant coaches is behind the scenes, Matt Insell plays a vital role in Middle Tennessee’s success. His game scouts are descriptive and detailed, and he also focuses time with game planning and player development.
Building relationships is also one of Matt Insell’s strong suits. He prides himself on being there for student-athletes whenever guidance is needed to ensure they are able to enjoy a successful college career both on and off the court.
Matt Insell has shown an ability to recruit nationally and has an extraordinary talent to connect with elite prospects. His recruiting savvy was realized from the outset as he made an immediate impact at Middle Tennessee with the signing of two McDonald’s All-Americans (Rellah Boothe and Anastasia Hayes) in his first season on the staff. He also signed graduate transfer A’Queen Hayes, who would become the 2018-19 C-USA Newcomer of the Year, while Anastasia Hayes earned the honor in 2019-20. Anastasia Hayes was also C-USA Player of the Year in 2021.
At Middle Tennessee, Matt Insell is involved in every aspect of the program with an emphasis on recruiting, player development and working with Lady Raider guards. During Matt Insell’s first year on the Lady Raider bench, A’Queen Hayes and Taylor Sutton were decorated with C-USA Newcomer of the Year and Freshman of the Year, respectively.
Another of Matt Insell’s heralded signees, Aislynn Hayes, a heralded 2019 signee, burst onto the scene and became the second player in program history to be named Freshman All-American in 2019-20. She was also C-USA Freshman of the Year, a seven-time C-USA Freshman of the Week and a three-time USBWA National Freshman of the Week.
During his time at Ole Miss, Matt Insell led the program to four top-25 wins and two 17-plus win seasons amidst the intense strength of schedule in the SEC. He was named the eighth head women’s basketball coach in Ole Miss history (3/28/13), following five seasons as an assistant on Matthew Mitchell’s staff at Kentucky.
Matt Insell led Ole Miss to two national postseason tournaments where they competed in the WNIT. Ole Miss opened its brand-new arena, The Pavilion at Ole Miss, with 12-straight home wins -- the most home since the late 1980s when Ole Miss won 15 straight. Ole Miss also set a new attendance record for the third straight year with 8,088 fans in attendance to see the Rebels earn their 800th win in program history over Jackson State.
Insell guided Ole Miss to some significant wins during his time in Oxford, Miss., knocking off eventual Elite Eight school and 25th-ranked Oregon at home, 83-67 -- marking the third-straight season with a top-25 win under Insell. The Rebels also ended a pair of long losing streaks during the year, breaking a 28-game losing streak that dated back to 1996 against Tennessee (67-62), as well as picking up the first win over Texas A&M since 1997 on Senior Night with a 62-49 victory.
Insell led a young team in 2015-16 with just two seniors and only two returnees that had been in the program for more than two seasons, but the Rebels still produced some exciting moments on the court.? For the second consecutive season, the Rebels knocked off a ranked foe with a 67-59 victory over No. 9 Kentucky.The win was the first over a top-10 school for Ole Miss since 2010, when the Rebels took down No. 8 Georgia (66-65).
In just his second year at Ole Miss, Matt Insell took the Rebels to new heights in 2014-15 with 19 wins and seven victories in SEC play, the most overall wins since the 2009-10 season. The Rebels also returned to the postseason with a third-round foray into the WNIT
The Rebels, who improved seven wins in 2014-15, posted four wins over NCAA Tournament participants, and, after being picked to finish last in the SEC preseason coaches and media poll, closed the season tied for No. 7 in the league standings. Ole Miss garnered the No. 8 seed for the SEC Tournament -- the highest seed for the Rebels in five seasons.
In 2014-15, Insell and the Rebels knocked off ranked foes in No. 13 Kentucky and No. 18 Georgia -- the first time in five years Ole Miss had defeated a ranked foe. The season also saw Ole Miss pick up its 400th win at Tad Smith Coliseum. One of the high points of the season was when Matt Insell and his father, Rick, made women’s basketball history by becoming the first father-son duo to play against each other in NCAA women’s basketball when Middle Tennessee made the trip to Oxford in November. Insell laid the foundation for the Rebels during his first season in 2013-14, leading Ole Miss to a 10-6 non-conference record and a seven-game winning streak -- the longest streak for the Rebels since the 2007-08 season.
After battling through the always-challenging SEC schedule, the Rebels entered the SEC Tournament as the No. 14 seed, determined to take the momentum from a regular season finale victory over Auburn into the postseason tournament. Drawing the No. 11 seed Arkansas, the Rebels took care of business with a 63-62 victory, giving Ole Miss a statement win for Matt Insell. He also led the Rebels to wins over instate rival, Mississippi State, to give the first-year head coach his first SEC victory.
Prior to his time leading the Rebels, Matt Insell spent five years as an assistant coach for a very successful Kentucky Wildcat team under head coach Matthew Mitchell. While there, UK recorded four 20-win seasons and four trips to the NCAA Tournament -- ending each of the last three seasons he spent in Lexington ranked in the top-25.
Matt Insell, who was responsible for the guards while also having recruiting and player development duties, served as the top assistant coach and helped UK ink three top-10 recruiting classes and seven McDonald’s All-Americans. During his time at Kentucky, Insell helped develop guard A’dia Mathies, a two-time SEC Player of the Year and All-America candidate, and Bria Goss who was named SEC Freshman of the Year.
Before his time at Kentucky, Insell was the director of basketball operations at Louisiana tech under head coach Chris Long. He ended up at Louisiana Tech following an extremely successful career as one of the top AAU coaches in the country, leading the Tennessee Flight -- a Nike Elite travel program. Matt Insell made a national name for himself when 41 of his former AAU players went on to play Division I basketball, including former Wildcats Victoria Dunlap and Crystal Riley. He also coached the Shelbyville Sports Shop 15-Under team to the AAU National Championship title in 2004.
Matt Insell earned valuable basketball experience while attending the University of Tennessee from 2001-05. He worked closely with both the men’s and women’s basketball programs, serving as a student assistant and video coordinator under former men’s head coach Buzz Peterson and as an instructor at Pat Summitt’s summer basketball camps. The Shelbyville, Tenn., native transferred to Middle Tennessee State during the 2005-06 season.
Matt Insell is married to the former Autumn Clark. They have two children: Clark Richmond and Evie Brooke.
