Rick Insell, MTSU women's basketball wins leader, earns lifetime achievement award

Rick Insell, MTSU women's basketball wins leader, earns lifetime achievement award

Rick Insell vividly remembers being interviewed for the Middle Tennessee State women’s basketball coaching job more than two decades ago.

Insell was trying to jump from the high school coaching ranks to college. MTSU deputy athletic director and senior women’s administrator Diane Turnham used that as a chance to peer inside Insell’s brain.

“She said, ‘Do you plan on coaching like you did in Shelbyville at the college level?’” Insell remembers. “And my response was, ‘You know, I’m gonna come in and be Rick Insell. I don’t know any other way to coach. So, if the university’s wanting someone that’s going another direction, you might need to hire somebody else. But if you want me to come in and be Rick Insell, then that’s what I’ll do.’”

Turnham laughed and responded, “that’s what we want.”

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Insell, 74, did just fine being himself for over 50 years in coaching. He is the Tennessean’s 2026 Fred Russell Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and will be recognized at the Middle Tennessee High School Sports Awards show on June 9 at Music City Center.

Insell was hired by MTSU in 2005 and retired after the 2026 season with 505 wins and 12 NCAA Tournament appearances, the best women’s basketball totals in school history. Among his TSSAA basketball peers, he’s still renowned for building Shelbyville High School into a powerhouse. In all, he has won 1,279 basketball games.

He’s a member of the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, National High School Hall of Fame, Sports Hall of Fame, Basketball Coaches of Tennessee Hall of Fame, Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame and TSSAA Hall of Fame, among others. in 2025.