Who Matthew Mitchell Beat Out To Become University of Houston’s New Women’s Basketball Coach — And Why It’s the Ultimate Comeback Story

INDIANAPOLIS — Former three-time SEC Coach of the Year Matthew Mitchell is the University of Houston’s new women’s basketball coach with his remarkable comeback story emerging from a slew of candidates. PaperCity first reported Mitchell and former University of Texas head coach Karen Aston were the finalists for the job last Saturday.

Landing Matthew Mitchell to helm the UH women’s basketball program completed a national search led by first-year Houston athletic director Eddie Nuñez.

Current Old Dominion coach and two-time Olympic gold medalist DeLisha Milton-Jones was also considered for the job as PaperCity first reported. Molly Miller, who led Grand Canyon to a 32-3 season before getting named the new head coach at Arizona State, also talked to Nuñez before taking the job in the state where she’s already had much success, sources tell PaperCity.

The 54-year-old Matthew Mitchell won 69 percent of his games (281-125) and made nine NCAA Tournament appearances in 13 seasons (including three Elite Eight runs) at Kentucky. He also co-existed well with some of the biggest head coaching personalities in the men’s game, sometimes even having his women’s teams scrimmage against the Kentucky men’s team.

Finding a proven winner and someone who can also mesh with Kelvin Sampson’s nationally elite basketball program have been priorities in the search, Nuñez told PaperCity. Mitchell also proved to be an adept and creative promoter of the Kentucky women’s basketball program. His dances during Kentucky’s annual Midnight Madness events grew into something of a viral sensation.

The Matthew Mitchell Comeback

Matthew Mitchell quickly intrigued a number of Power 4 schools as something of an unexpected candidate in this coaching cycle, but also one of the game’s proven winners. Mitchell retired from the Kentucky women’s head job in 2020 after going through brain surgery after an unexpected fall during COVID. Taking his doctors advice to take it easy for a while to allow himself to recover, Mitchell stepped away from coaching with his wife very financially successful.

But Mitchell is more than ready to get back into the game now. The question is how he will adapt to a college basketball landscape that’s changed dramatically since he last coached with NIL coming in the picture and the transfer portal exploding in use.

“I am incredibly excited and deeply grateful for the opportunity to become the women’s basketball head coach at the University of Houston,” Mitchell says in a statement. “This is a true honor — stepping into this role in a city with such a rich basketball history. I want to begin by extending my heartfelt thanks to President Renu Khator and Eddie Nuñez for their belief in me to elevate this program to compete at the highest level in the country.

“Their trust in me means the world, and I’m eager to begin this journey alongside them.”

Mitchell is replacing Ronald Hughey, who was pushed to “resign” after a 5-25 season.

Nuñez sees an opportunity for so much in women’s basketball at UH, thinks Houston deserves more from what should be one of its signature women’s sports programs.

“I see the potential in all our women’s teams,” Nuñez told PaperCity earlier in the search. “I really do. I think basketball has the ability to really have such an uptick. Much more than many others because honestly it just hasn’t been where we possibly could be. So I do believe. Houston for a long time had a WNBA team which was rocking here. And they were doing a great job.

“So I know the fan base is here for women’s basketball. So we’ve got to get out there and put a product that they’re happy with, that they enjoy to see. Similar to men’s basketball.”