Former Middle Tennessee State women’s basketball coach Rick Insell is racking up the post-career awards
But the latest honor tugs at his heartstrings a little more, because it’s associated with the legendary Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt.
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Insell, who retired as MTSU coach following the 2025-26 season, has been named the recipient of the 2026 Pat Summitt Lifetime Achievement Award by the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.
“More than anything, it’s quite an honor to get an award that has her name across it,” Insell told The Daily News Journal. “It’s pretty emotional. We were pretty close friends. It’s pretty humbling.”
Insell credits the late Summitt for having a big hand on him landing the MTSU job in 2005.
“She was at Tennessee and I was at Shelbyville,” Insell said. “She called (MTSU President) Dr. (Sidney) McPhee and (athletic director) Chris Massaro.
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“I think she would be happy (about the honor), I really do. I don’t talk about mine and Pat’s relationship to anybody. But we were really close.”
Insell, 74, spent 49 years as a basketball coach and finished his legendary career as one of the most accomplished in women’s basketball.
Insell began coaching girls basketball at Shelbyville Central High School in 1978, where he had immense success, guiding the Golden Eaglettes to 10 state championships, 15 state championship game appearances and USA TODAY national titles in 1989 and 1991.
He won 774 games in his 28 years at Shelbyville, including a national-record 110 in a row during a streak in which the Golden Eaglettes won four consecutive state titles (1989-92). He was named national coach of the year four times (1989, 1991 by USA TODAY and 1990, 1992 by Converse).
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Over 21 seasons at MTSU he became the winningest coach in program history with 506 victories, leading the Blue Raiders to 21 consecutive postseason appearances, including 12 NCAA Tournament bids and multiple conference championships.
He’s the first basketball coach to win more than 500 at both the college and high school levels.
MORE: Why Matt Insell hired as MTSU women’s basketball coach, replacing his dad
He is a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, National High School Hall of Fame, Blue Raider Sports Hall of Fame, Basketball Coaches of Tennessee Hall of Fame, Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame and TSSAA Hall of Fame, among others. He was inducted to the CUSA Hall of Fame in 2025.
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Insell is being honored by The Tennessean as the 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.
The Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame will formally present its 2026 Achievement Awards during its annual banquet on July 11 at the Omni Nashville Hotel.
Middle Tennessee women’s basketball coach Rick Insell on the sideline after Middle Tennessee scored against Delaware during the Women’s NCAA basketball game on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026.
Other TSHOF lifetime achievement award winners include Tennessee men’s basketball coach Rick Barnes (2025), legendary MTSU track and field coach Dean Hayes (2022), and former Belmont men’s basketball coach Rick Byrd (2019).
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Cecil Joyce covers high school sports and MTSU athletics for The Daily News Journal. Contact him at cjoyce@dnj.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, @Cecil_Joyce.
This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: Rick Insell receives Pat Summitt Lifetime Achievement Award
