Jose Gonzalez-Campelo/The Cougar
Houston women’s basketball has named former Kentucky women’s basketball coach and two-time SEC coach of the year Matthew Mitchell as the program’s eighth head coach, Houston athletics announced Thursday.
“I am incredibly excited and deeply grateful for the opportunity to become the women’s basketball head coach at the University of Houston,” Mitchell said in a statement. “This is a true honor—stepping into this role in a city with such a rich basketball history.”
In 13 seasons at Kentucky, Mitchell led the Wildcats to 10 20-win seasons, seven 25-win seasons and one 30-win season, compiling a record of 281-125 as the winningest coach in program history.
His teams garnered nine NCAA Tournament appearances in a 10-season stretch consisting of five trips to the Sweet 16 and three to the Elite Eight in a four-season stretch from 2009-10 to 2012-13.
Mitchell was named SEC Coach of the Year in the 2009-10 and 2011-12 seasons upon tying and setting Kentucky program records for conference wins, respectively.
He has coached five SEC Player of the Year selections and six eventual WNBA draft picks, including guard Rhyne Howard, who was the first overall pick in the 2022 draft selected by the Atlanta Dream.
Mitchell’s hiring followed a five-season retirement from coaching after he announced his retirement in November 2020, following months of recovery from a concussion he suffered due to an accident after the conclusion of the shortened 2019-20 season.
“We are thrilled to welcome Matthew Mitchell and his family to the University of Houston,” athletic director Eddie Nuñez said in a statement. “I am fully confident that Coach will build a nationally competitive basketball program composed of outstanding young women who will be proud to wear the Cougar uniform, who will earn their degrees and who will be wonderful representatives of the university and the community.”
Mitchell’s introductory press conference is slated for Tuesday, April 1, at noon at Fertitta Center.
