Blue Reign: a Conversation with Rick Insell

Sitting inside of a half-lighted locker room, the sound of exhausted breaths are heard. All eyes are facing the projector screen, but all ears are focused on the voices of the Middle Tennessee women's basketball staff. Leading the team for his third season is Rick Insell, a former high school girl's basketball coach who is more known now for his short college coaching career.

In three seasons at MT, Insell has achieved a record of 50 - 16. His teams have won the Sun Belt Conference championship both seasons and are entering this year playing for another title, which would be the fifth in a row for the university.

This year, like the two previous ones, the team started its season with a loss; this time to Old Dominion, the defending 16-time Colonial Athletic Association champions. Insell did find positives in the loss. "I was proud of the way we played," Insell said. "We didn't quit. We had good effort. We worked ourselves back into a chance to win the ballgame."

Losing the first game of the season does not have Insell worried. "If they gave a national championship trophy for the first game then I would probably be a little more concerned," Insell said. "I go into every game with the attitude that we are going to win them, but I'm surely not going to be down and out because we lost to Old Dominion. We probably played one of the toughest teams for a first game than anybody in the country."

Continuously playing high profile teams is the game plan for the women's basketball team since Insell was named head coach in 2005. With that mind frame, Middle Tennessee came within four points of the No. 1 team in the country (Maryland), defeated the eighth ranked team in the country (Georgia), and was ranked for the first time since 1988. With Middle Tennessee gaining notoriety outside of Murfreesboro, the fan base in the state is growing as well.

"What I think I'm seeing is Tennessee maintaining [fans], and I see us growing [our fan base] and I like that," Insell said. "We are heading in the same direction that they are at. We want to get it where we are averaging 10,000 to 12,000 people a game. I know we can do that, but to do that we have to put a good product on the floor, and we have to have a good schedule.

"We can't go out every night and play people that the fans know we are going to defeat before they get in [the Murphy Center]. When you bring in these nationally profiled teams like Stanford, Duke, or Tennessee, then your fans want to come because they smell that it might be an upset. It could be the beginning of something and the fans want to be there just like players want to be there. We are all in this together."

Casual women's basketball fans may not realize that schools like Old Dominion are competitive in the sport, but Insell does not want that mistake to take place.

"We want to continue to play UTC because they are a good program. They are in the NCAA Tournament just about every year and are in the top 50 or 60 in RPI and that's the type of teams we want to play. We would not even consider not playing UTC, or Tennessee Tech and Austin Peay. We'd like to get it where we are also playing the University of Memphis. The fact is that those games are close and they have fan support, and eventually it would help build our crowd and our attendance."

One team that is constantly on the lips of Blue Raider fans is Vanderbilt University. It seems as though a game of cat and mouse has ensued between the schools with Insell never afraid to express how he feels about the relationship.

"There is talk of us teaming up with Vanderbilt for a tournament," Insell said. "The talk between Chris [Massaro] and David Williams [Vanderbilt's vice chancellor for university affairs] is for possibly one year they could host the tournament and the next year we host it, so if that takes shape that would be something neat. That way we might be able to heal up some of the feelings that are there between Vanderbilt and Middle Tennessee.

"As far as we're concerned, we'll play anytime, but they don't want any part of us. I think they said they recruit some of the same players we do. Yes, we do, but when you have two national profile teams in Vanderbilt and Middle Tennessee, there's no reason why we don't play every year at alternate sites for their fans and our fans to enjoy."

The future is bright for women's basketball at Middle Tennessee. There are deals in place to host two home games of the Preseason Women's National Invitational Tournament in 2008, along with series against the University of Tennessee, Louisiana State University, and Alabama, who is coached by former MT women's basketball coach, Stephany Smith.