Middle Tennessee Women’s Basketball 66
Coach Bios
RICK INSELL SEVENTH SEASON HEAD COACH MIDDLE TENNESSEE ’77 With five NCAA Tournament appearances, five All-Americans and three WNBA Draft picks in six seasons, there is no denying the success head women's basketball coach Rick Insell has brought to Middle Tennessee. In his six years, he has established a track record unlike any other in the Blue Raiders' rich women's basketball history, while also creating lofty expectations by taking the program to the next level. When Insell was introduced as the seventh head coach in program history in May 2005, he told a packed house that his hire proves "dreams come true," during his press conference. "I'm a coach and it's all I've ever done, from elementary to junior high to junior pro, AAU and high school," Insell said at the press conference. "To be able to come on board at Middle Tennessee, that's a dream come true. It says if you stay in there long enough and dream big enough, one day it will eventually happen." Insell enters his seventh season in 2011-12 with a remarkable 148-47 (.759) ledger, collecting more wins than any other coach in school history over the same time frame. His 100th victory came in the 2009 Sun Belt Tournament Championship game, as the Blue Raiders clinched the title over UALR. Insell has also amassed an impressive regular-season Sun Belt ledger, posting a 90-12 (.882) mark during his tenure, including the league's last undefeated mark of 18-0 during the 2006-07 campaign. In six Sun Belt Tournament appearances, he has lost just twice in 16 tries. He has added four Sun Belt regularseason championships and four Sun Belt Tournament titles to his mantle. The four tournament crowns have led to NCAA Tournament appearances, and with an at-large NCAA selection this past year and a Postseason WNIT berth in 2008, have put Insell-led teams in the postseason in each of his six seasons. Middle Tennessee has won at least 20 contests in each of his six years, including a school-record 30 during the 2006-07 campaign, which saw it own
the nation's longest winning streak at 27 games and not losing for over 100 days. Insell has also been the coach for three WNBA selections during his six seasons, including most recently Alysha Clark, who was chosen 17th overall by the San Antonio Silver Stars in the 2010 Draft. She joined Amber Holt, selected ninth overall by the Connecticut Sun in 2008, and Chrissy Givens, picked 31st overall by the Phoenix Mercury in 2007. The Blue Raiders were one of just 13 programs nationally to produce at least one player in three of the four WNBA Drafts from 2007-10, joining Connecticut, Stanford, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Baylor, Texas A&M, Duke, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Purdue and Vanderbilt. The trio also comprises the beginning of the All-American list in school history, starting with Givens in 2007 and Holt a year later. Clark became the first player in the MT record books to garner All-America accolades in more than one season when she collected honors in 2009 and 2010. Most recently, Ebony Rowe was tabbed a Freshman All-American this past season, becoming the first player in school history to receive the nod. Middle Tennessee also produced the nation's leading scorer in threeconsecutive seasons, the longest run in NCAA women's basketball history with Clark topping the country in 2009 and 2010 and Holt serving as the pace setter in 2008. Clark's backto-back reign made her just the third
women's basketball player in NCAA history to accomplish the feat and the first in almost a decade. Through the conclusion of the 2009-10 campaign, Insell had tutored a player in the nation's top 10 in scoring during the last 99 NCAA reporting periods, dating back to January 18, 2007. Since taking the reins of the prog r a m through 200910, Insell placed a player in the top 10 114 times in 121 reporting dates, with 85 of the 114 among the top five. Clark (935 points in 2009) and Holt (930 points in 2008) currently rank fifth and sixth, respectively, on the NCAA's single-season scoring list. As a team, Middle Tennessee has ranked among the national leaders in scoring offense and steals per game in each of Insell's six seasons. The Blue Raiders have placed second in the country in two of the last three years for 3-pointers made per game after finishing fourth in the previous two campaigns. Middle Tennessee has earned a national reputation for not being afraid to play any opponent. Anyone. Anywhere. Anytime. That is the mantra Insell and his program employ and may be one of his biggest impacts on the program. Evidence of that mindset
can be found in last year's schedule, which included 11 postseason teams from the previous season, including eight NCAA Tournament participants and three preseason top 10 squads. Highlighting the 2009-10 slate was a home game just before Thanksgiving with perennial power Tennessee which drew a Murphy Center women's record crowd of 11,802. The Blue Raiders also faced Arkansas, UCF, Xavier, Georgia Tech, USF, South Dakota State, Kentucky, James Madison, St. Bonaventure and Kansas State in the non-conference schedule. The 2008-09 performance was also strong as MT faced four opponents who were ranked or received votes in the national polls, including eventual national runner-up (then-No. 13) Louisville at home and at then-No. 2 Oklahoma, a Final Four participant. Middle Tennessee made its first trip to Baton Rouge, La., to face LSU in 2008-09 and defeated the Tigers for the second-straight campaign. On Dec. 28, 2007, the Blue Raiders pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the nation, defeating then-No. 8 LSU inside the Murphy Center, 67-56, in front of the third-largest crowd in school history (7,858). The squad has also knocked off then-No. 8 Georgia on the road, 70-62, during the 2006-07 season and welcomed defending national champion and preseason No. 1 Maryland to the Murphy Center for the 2006-07 season opener. Other notable national programs who have been on the slate since the Insell era began include Tennessee, Penn State, Virginia, Minnesota, Old Dominion, Arizona, Indiana, Alabama, Kentucky, Arkansas, Georgia Tech, Xavier, USF, James Madison, Kansas State, St. Bonaventure and South Dakota State. Middle Tennessee has won the Sun Belt Tournament four times in his six seasons, advancing to the NCAA Tournament each time. In 2007, the Blue Raiders earned their first NCAA Tournament victory under his guidance with a First Round triumph over Gonzaga. In 2006, MT faced Utah. In 2009, Middle Tennessee battled Michigan