SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. – Rick Insell is one of the greatest coaches that the sport of basketball has ever seen. After perhaps the most dominant high school coaching run in Tennessee history, he finished his career with 21 seasons in the collegiate ranks at his alma mater, Middle Tennessee. 

Insell, who just retired from coaching at the end of March with his 75th birthday coming up on June 6, finished with a career record of 1,281-389 (.767) across 49 seasons combined in high school and college. Insell won 10 TSSAA Class AAA state championships, two USA Today National Championships in 1989 and 1991, and four national coach of the year honors at Shelbyville Central before moving on to MTSU and securing 21 consecutive postseason appearances with 12 tickets to the NCAA Tournament, 10 regular season and tournament conference titles, and a pair of wins in the NCAA Tournament. He ultimately stepped down following the conclusion of the 2025-26 season. He retires as the winningest coach in school history, men or women, and he is the first coach in NCAA history to win 500 or more games at both the high school and collegiate levels.

 “This was a decision made by Deb and myself,” Rick Insell said, “We’ve been talking about it for a couple of years – maybe two to three years – and coming into this year, we were so close to 500 [career wins] that we thought that if we have a good year…500 doesn’t mean anymore than 493, but I thought, heck, let’s win 500 games and then we’ll step on out of this. It was a decision that we made together, and then I’ll be 75 [on June 6]. I don’t need to be ripping and roaring all over the country. To be a Division I college basketball coach, and with the schedule that we even play at Middle Tennessee from the time we started traveling in November until March, it takes its toll on a young person, much less someone my age.”

The determination demonstrated by the Insell family is the backbone of Rick’s accomplishments. Whether it was on the recruiting trail, running a PR campaign to promote a team’s success, or simply winning more basketball games than most other coaches, the Insell’s did their due diligence in every way possible.

Despite all of his success in Murfreesboro, Shelbyville is home for the Insell family. Rick is a father of three sons, Kyle, Matt, and Tom, and is married to Deb Insell. Yes, the same Deb Insell at State Farm that you see and hear all about as you drive around town. 

“What makes Shelbyville so special to me and my wife is I don’t know of anywhere else in the country that we could raise our boys and families in a community like this,” Insell said, “People just don’t understand that Shelbyville is a very, very, very special place. Bedford County is a special place. The school system is great. We had great administrative support. We had a good school board at that time as well. There are some great businesses right here in this community. There are great small businesses here. We have The Celebration. I grew up in Woodbury and would come to The Celebration in the ‘50s, and then all of a sudden in 1977, I got my first job in Shelbyville. I was in heaven because I was teaching, I was coaching, and I was right in the middle of the walking horse industry. I couldn’t have been in a more perfect spot than Shelbyville, Tennessee and Bedford County. I grew up in Woodbury – I love that – but I raised my family right here in Shelbyville.”

Insell got his start at Shelbyville Central High School right after graduating from Middle Tennessee in 1977, and little did he know that he would take the Eaglettes to unprecedented heights across the next 28 seasons. Insell won the program’s first state title in 12 years in 1986 with a 69-51 win over Oak Ridge for his first of many championships in his career.

“The 1986 team that won the championship at Shelbyville after finishing as runners-up in ‘84 and ‘85…that was a pretty special team because it was our first state championship,” he said.

Insell’s Eaglettes dominated the 1990s, winning one national title as well as four consecutive state championships from 1989-1992. After adding on another in 1995, Insell led the Eaglettes to four more titles across five seasons. 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004 all resulted in banners being hung at the now aptly named Rick Insell Gymnasium before he accepted a job within the collegiate ranks in 2005.

“I had interviewed at Vanderbilt in 1992, and I had been offered the Middle job in 1986 by Jimmy Earle,” Insell explained, “I was at the old Holiday Inn in Murfreesboro, and we sat at the restaurant in it. Earle offered me the job then, but I did not take the job because I felt like I needed to raise my three sons – Kyle, Matt, and Tom. I knew that if I took the job, I was going to be on the road, and they needed me worse than Middle Tennessee needed me.”

Insell would interview with Vanderbilt in 1992 after winning the Eaglettes’ second national championship and third-consecutive state championship, but Paul Hoolahan – the Commodores athletic director at the time – hired Jim Foster from St. Joseph's. Foster had led the Hawks to a 248-126 (.663) record over 13 seasons entering 1992, including six consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and four tournament wins.

“That was a great decision by them,” Insell admitted, “Afterwards, Paul Hoolahan told me that my interview was awesome, so that gave me a little bit of confidence since he was in the collegiate ranks and he was a professional and he was the AD at Vanderbilt. He told me the reason they were giving the job to Jim was because he was a part of a professional organization – the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, or the WBCA.”

Foster went on to post a .721 winning percentage across 11 seasons at Vanderbilt while Insell went back to Shelbyville Central to continue his run of dominance in the high school ranks. However, Insell was determined not to be passed over ever again.

“At that point, I told myself that I wasn’t going to lose out on another job because of me not being in a professional organization, so I quickly called and became a member of the WBCA in 1992,” he said, “I worked my way up through the ranks – Betty James was the CEO – and it was trying to grow at that time. The high school ranks did not have a vote, but I lobbied and lobbied and lobbied before I got on the board of directors and we were able to get the high schools a vote in what went on in the game of women’s basketball. I sat on the board of directors with all those high profile college basketball coaches, and I was a high school coach, and I felt like I was at the top high school program in the country at Shelbyville Central.”

Insell was certainly justified to feel that way, as he had led the Eaglettes to five state championships in seven seasons before joining the WBCA. With that success came exposure, even on a national level.

“The Board of Education in Bedford County, before anyone in the country was traveling, our board gave us permission to go to Santa Barbara, to go to Miami, to go to New York City, just to name a few,” Insell said, “Wendell Agnew worked for Blue Cross Blue Shield, but he was kind of the Eaglettes’ media relation guy. He kept us on the forefront of places like USA Today, and we also had one of the best sportswriters in America in Bo Melson. I don’t know if anybody could do a job like Bo Melson did. The connections they had all across the country…I was here at Shelbyville Central High School at the right time.”

He continued to win, and the Eaglettes punctuated the 2004 season with his 10th and final state championship before turning his sights back towards the collegiate ranks in what has turned out to be a legendary hiring story.

“When the job came open at Middle [in 2005], we had been extremely successful. I was kind of at a point where I was bored, but I was initially not going to apply for the job,” he admitted, “One morning, my middle son Kyle kind of told me that I was being a fake because I had always wanted to coach on the collegiate level but now that I had a chance to apply for the Middle Tennessee job, I wasn’t doing it. He told me that some of the things I had been telling Matt, Tom, and him have kind of been lies. That kind of motivated me to step up and apply for that job.”

“Matt was already on the collegiate level working at Tennessee for Buzz Peterson as a manager as well as Coach Summit at the time. Him and Deb helped put together a format of how to address Dr. McPhee,” Insell continued, “We talked about the academics side, we talked about the defensive and offensive strategies, we talked about attendance, and then when we got to recruiting, I laid three folders down. I had given him a white and a blue folder which had academics/attendance as well as defensive and offensive strategies, but the red folder I laid down had the recruits across the country and state that I felt like we could go after at Middle Tennessee, and I only had one of those. I handed them to Dr. McPhee and when we got through with the interview, he asked if he could keep the red folder, and I told him, ‘No sir, you only get that folder if you hire me.’”

“When I left there, I didn’t know how it went, but Chris Massaro told me later that both him and Dr. McPhee had to hire me.”

Dr. McPhee, who announced he would be retiring as President of Middle Tennessee in December of 2026, and Chris Massaro ended up making the perfect hire. Insell took the women’s college basketball world by storm almost immediately, miraculously winning the Sun Belt tournament and punching a ticket to the NCAA Tournament in his very first season despite some heavy obstacles in the Blue Raiders’ way.

“In my first year at MTSU in 2005, when I arrived we only had four players,” Insell said, “We had one kid who was ineligible until Christmas of that year, and we had three recruits coming in that the previous staff had recruited. We added a couple walk-ons, and then that team went on to win the first Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship. That’s a pretty special team, and it set the pace and precedent and got people excited in Murfreesboro about what had just come on board.”

Rick also gives a ton of credit to his wife, Deb Insell, for her efforts behind the scenes at both Shelbyville Central as well as Middle Tennessee.

“Deb is as much of a part of what went on at Middle as I was coaching,” he said, “Her in the background with the support groups, the fanbases, and things like that, she helped drum up support.”

“Basketball was never his job. It’s what our family did, and it’s what they still do,”  said Deb. “Early on, it was our family business, all the way down to the littlest ones. Everybody swept the gym, or worked the concession stand, or wore the school gear in the crowd. All of us were part of the marketing. He did the hard stuff, and we were the marketing and PR team for him so to speak. We all had to take coaching.”

The Insells pride themselves on having that strong family connection amongst one another, and Rick makes it a daily priority to make sure that his family knows he loves and cares about them.

“I’ve got a big and loving family,” Rick said, “My mom and dad loved me, no ifs ands or buts about it, but my dad never told me that. I make it a point to talk to my three sons every single day, and most of my grandkids. Our whole life is rooted around our family. When I had to travel as a coach, Deb took care of the family. That’s how important she was and is to everything that went on in my life.”

Meanwhile, in his second year in Murfreesboro, the Blue Raiders put the state of Tennessee on notice, going 30-4 overall with a perfect 18-0 record in Sun Belt play to secure a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament. This was the program’s first-ever 30-win season, and Insell secured win number 30 in his first NCAA Tournament game at Middle Tennessee over No. 12 seed Gonzaga, 85-46, before falling to No. 13 seed Marist, 73-59, in the second round.

After playing in the WNIT the following season, Middle Tennessee did not miss the NCAA Tournament again until 2014-15, going on a run of six consecutive appearances in the Big Dance.

However, Middle Tennessee left the Sun Belt before the 2013-14 season, and after winning the Conference USA Tournament in 2015-16, the Blue Raiders would not return to the NCAA Tournament again until 2020-21. Nonetheless, Insell found a second wind as he passed his 70th birthday, winning at least 26 games in four of his last five seasons. In 2023-24, he led the Blue Raiders to the second 30-win season in program history at 30-5 overall that included the program’s first-ever win over the Tennessee Lady Vols in an impressive 73-62 win in Huntsville, AL. 

MTSU then went a perfect 16-0 in conference play before winning the Conference USA Tournament over Liberty, securing an 11-seed in the NCAA Tournament where they would take down No. 6 seed Louisville at LSU in a 71-69 thriller that saw MTSU overcome an 18-point deficit in the first half to pull off the third-largest postseason comeback in NCAA history. Jalynn Gregory led the way with 24 points against the Cardinals while 22 points came from C-USA POTY Savannah Wheeler.

“One of my favorite moments was when we beat Louisville in the first round of the NCAA Tournament down at LSU in front of a packed house,” Insell said, “Then, we had LSU down nine in the third quarter in the second round. LSU was better than us, but we played harder. They just got it together in the second half and pulled away.” 

Unfortunately for Insell and the Blue Raiders, their season came to a close in the next round, 83-56, against a tough LSU squad that finished 31-6 and advanced to the Elite Eight.

That would be Insell’s final time coaching in the NCAA Tournament. In his final two seasons, the Blue Raiders made it to the WNIT to keep the postseason streak alive before Insell announced his retirement following the conclusion of the 2025-26 regular season in March.

In his time at Middle Tennessee, Insell compiled a record of 506-181 (.737) with 21 consecutive postseason appearances and 12 trips to the NCAA Tournament. His teams won 10 conference regular season titles, 10 conference tournament titles, and reached the conference championship game 13 times. He coached seven All-Americans, five conference players of the year, and produced five WNBA draft picks.

“A lot of people categorize Middle Tennessee as a mid-major program,” he said, “Middle Tennessee is the largest school in the state of Tennessee, and we are a top-30 program in the country.” 

It’s hard to argue with him in that respect. 

Now that Insell is retired, he says the thing he will miss the most about coaching is the practices and player development.

“I’m going to miss the players, and practice,” he said, “I love practice, and I love seeing the players grow on both the high school and collegiate level. I loved seeing that in high school especially, seeing them come in as freshmen, and then when they get to be juniors and seniors you get to sit on the sidelines and watch them absolutely destroy people fundamentally. That’s one of the things that I loved about coaching in high school was watching our kids grow into juniors and seniors and win state championships. It never got old winning a state championship because it was always a different team and different experiences. It never got old.”

Insell has maintained that competitive fervor into his post-coaching career on the golf course. He says golf is a good outlet for his competitive spirit, and the sport always presents a slightly unique challenge every time he steps out on the course.

“I love winning on the golf course,” he said, “I love the competition. Golfing is a way I can go out and still compete, and I love competing. I’ll be 75 [on June 5] and right now I’m still healthy enough to where I can do that.”

Rick also said that he plans on making it out to a few Shelbyville Central games this season now that he is able to, and both he and his wife Deb believe that the recently-hired Chad Spencer – who Rick had on staff in the heyday of his Eaglettes’ tenure – is the perfect fit for what the current-day Eaglettes are looking for.

“We’ll be at some games,” he said, “Not that I’ve boycotted anybody else, but I’m retired now, and we’ll need something to do.”

Moving forward, Middle Tennessee announced that Rick’s son, Matt Insell, will be taking over as the eighth head coach in program history after serving as an assistant coach for the previous eight seasons.

“Matt is brilliant,” Rick said, “He’s absolutely brilliant. He was born to coach, and he is so much smarter than I ever thought about being. Of course he got most of that from his mama, but he’s good with his X’s and O’x, he’s absolutely the best recruiter in the country. People talk about being the best recruiter in the country, but they’re at Tennessee or LSU or Alabama. He’s at Middle Tennessee and getting the same kind of players that they’re trying to get. When he sits down with the mom’s and the kids and sells Middle Tennessee, he made my job a lot easier the last eight years. If you’re a coach, you can’t clock in and clock out. Either you’re a coach or you’re not a coach.”

“I couldn’t be more proud of him,” he continued, “Chris Massaro and Dr. McPhee saw that, and they’ve been around our program with Matt here. When I said I was going to step down, it was a no-brainer to promote him from within.”

Matt Insell will look to take the reins and drive Middle Tennessee into a prosperous future in this new era of collegiate sports. Despite the challenges facing MTSU in the NIL era, Rick is confident that his son is the perfect man to lead the Blue Raiders forward.

Finally, the Shelbyville legend made sure to take a moment to thank the people that are responsible for how his career unfolded.

“I’m just very thankful that I’ve had a great career and a great experience,” Insell concluded, “I’m very thankful for Shelbyville. I wouldn’t be where I’m at without Shelbyville Central High School and Mike Bone. Also, Sydney McPhee, Liz McPhee, and Chris and Cindy Massaro, they took a chance on a lil’ ol’ country boy like me, and it worked out for all of us.”