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Houston announces Matthew Mitchell as new women's basketball head coach

On3 imageby:Sam Gillenwater•03/27/25•

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Matthew Mitchell
HELEN COMER | DNJ, Murfreesboro Daily News Journal via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Matthew Mitchell has been out of women’s basketball for the past four years after his sudden retirement. Now, he’s back in the game with his announced hire earlier today.

On3’s Talia Goodman reported earlier this morning that Houston had hired Mitchell as their next head coach. The Cougars have since made that news official with their own release.

“We are thrilled to welcome Matthew Mitchell and his family to the University of Houston,” Eddie Nuñez, VP of Athletics at Houston, said in the release. “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 in the community. He has a tremendous track record of success at every step in his career and leads with high character and integrity. Our Women’s Basketball program is in great hands and with continued support, we will soon be competing for championships!”

Mitchell also spoke as part of the announcement by the Cougars. He expressed his thanks for getting the opportunity and to work at the University of Houston.

“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. “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.

“We have a tremendous opportunity ahead of us. It’s a privilege to develop a program at a place with so much to offer — both in athletics and academics. We aim to create the most meaningful and impactful experience a student-athlete can have. We are committed to building a culture based on the core values of honesty, hard work and discipline.”

With that, Houston has invited fans to attend Mitchell’s introductory press conference on Tuesday. That will be held inside the Fertitta Center with a live stream of it available as well.

Mitchell last coached at Kentucky for 13 seasons from 2007 to 2020, becoming their all-time winningest coach. Big Blue Nation beloved him there as the Wildcats went 303-133 (.695) with two regular-season titles in the Southeastern Conference and nine total appearances in the NCAA Tournament with five finishes in the Sweet 16 and three of those on going to the Elite Eight. However, after questioning his future before a fall eventually led to a brain surgery because of a subdural hematoma, Mitchell chose to step away from the job and the sport entirely.

Prior to being at UK, Mitchell was also a head coach for a program nearby at Morehead State. That’s after previously being an assistant throughout the SEC at Kentucky and Florida as well as a graduate assistant for a season at Tennessee under Pat Summitt.

This comes after reports that Mitchell had now wanted to get back into coaching. That looked to be the case as early last offseason after Kentucky fired Kyra Elzy, who took over following his leave before the Wildcats would go on to hire Kenny Brooks. As early as last week, his name had come up in relation to open jobs in the SEC as well as being the frontrunner at Houston.

Many didn’t want to see Mitchell go after just turning 50 at the time of his early retirement. Now, four years and one book later, Mitchell is back in college coaching with him taking over Houston in the Big 12.