Women’s head basketball coach Matt Insell looks on during Friday’s Square Jam.
Photo by Thomas Graning I The Daily Mississippian
New Ole Miss women’s basketball coach Matt Insell has a lot of basketball tradition in his family. Along with himself, Matt’s father and brother are currently basketball coaches.
At an early age, Insell said he wanted to be a coach in the Southeastern Conference before he turned 30. That dream came true this year, right here in Oxford.
Before Insell’s journey to Ole Miss, he was once one of the top AAU coaches in the country. He coached the Tennessee Flight, a Nike Elite Travel Program from 2001-2007. He even won an AAU championship as coach. Insell helped recruit 41 of his former AAU players to play Division I basketball.
Following his coaching stint, Insell served as director of basketball operations at Louisiana Tech. Following that position, he served as an assistant coach at Kentucky for five seasons.
“Basketball was in my blood my whole life,” Insell said. “It is a passion of mine to have the opportunity to coach at the highest level.”
Insell’s father, Rick Insell, who is the head coach at Middle Tennessee State, was once a legendary basketball coach at Shelbyville Central High School. Ole Miss plans to schedule a home and home series with MTSU starting next year.
Speaking of family, Matt’s brother, Tom Insell, now coaches the same Nike squad that Matt coached. As head coach, Tom won the Nike National Travel Team Championship twice. Tom also coached Rebel senior point guard Valencia McFarland on the travel team.
Insell used all of his past experience to get him where he is today, coaching at Ole Miss.
Insell inherited a young Ole Miss squad that hasn’t seen a lot of success over the past few seasons. However, that isn’t stopping the young coach from talking about the goals he wants for his program.
“I’m really happy where we’re at out right now,” Insell said. “I’ve gone back and watched every practice. We’re really growing.”
With hopes of developing a consistent rotation, Insell said he hopes to play at least 10 players each game this year, maybe even all 12 active players. But that’s what happens with Insell’s fast-paced style of play.
Rebel fans can expect McFarland and junior forward Tia Faleru to lead the team in scoring this season. However, Insell hopes that freshman forward Shequeila Josep, from London, England, will emerge as that consistent third double-digit scorer.
In practice, Insell believes the Rebels are looking good offensively. However, the defense still needs work.
“Our defensive fundamentals and rotations defensively need more work if we’re going to compete in the SEC,” Insell said.
“I always tell the girls. Fail now, and don’t wait and fail later. Mess up now, and we’ll fix it now. Play hard, and we’ll get it right.”
Insell doesn’t know how many games they’ll win this year or the next, but he does have faith they will get to where he wants his team to be. For now, Insell knows it’s all about his players doing the best they can.
“The one thing I will promise you,” Insell said, “we’re going to have a team that plays hard for Rebel Nation and for this great university.”
