By Alex Forkner | @AlexFork3

aforkner@kykernel.com

UK Hoops head coach Matthew Mitchell sat on the couch in his basement, sandwiched between two of his players during the Women’s NCAA Tournament selection show.

Moments later, his arms were skyward, as his team had just been announced as a No. 2 seed for the second time in as many years.

ESPN analyst Carolyn Peck, commenting on the Cats’ seeding, said Mitchell had done a great job with the UK program.

The coach, smirk on his face, playfully shrugged.

But what Mitchell has accomplished is nothing to shrug about. In just six years, he has eclipsed the all-time wins mark. He led UK to its first SEC regular-season championship last season. He recruited the players who have claimed four straight SEC Player of the Year honors as awarded by the AP (Victoria Dunlap in 2010-11, A’dia Mathies in 2012-13).

His personality attracts talented players. Once on campus, the young women on his roster seem to respond to his brand of coaching. A two-way connection is recognizable — mutual respect between coach and player.

A veritable family man, Mitchell, his wife, Jenna, and 18-month-old daughter Saylor Rose are darlings of the UK community. The toddler can be seen ambling around the court before games decked in blue, her blue-clad mother close behind.

As a man of faith, Mitchell instills those values into the program. He gathers his team for prayer before every practice and after every game.

And Mitchell himself is charming. Armed with a southern drawl and sense of humor, Mitchell routinely holds court in press conferences and in front of the home crowd in Memorial Coliseum.

His annual dance routines at Big Blue Madness become YouTube sensations and send fans into tizzies about what he’ll do next.

Mitchell has managed to carve a niche for his program at a school where men’s basketball attracts all the limelight, partly because of the way he markets himself and his team.

The Cats’ success on the court can be directly attributed to Mitchell, who has made UK relevant in both the SEC and national discussion for the first time since the early ‘80s.

Mitchell has piloted UK to three SEC Tournament championship games and two Elite Eights. The Cats reached No. 4 in the AP poll this season, the highest ranking in program history. McDonald’s All-Americans now consider UK an attractive destination.

Attendance is a good barometer of the new heights of fan interest. Each of the past three seasons, UK has ranked in the top 15 in the nation in average attendance per game.

In 2010-11, UK set a season record for average attendance with 6,364 per game, and in 2011-12, set a season record for total attendance with 113,068 total people packing Memorial Coliseum throughout the year.

Mitchell obviously makes it a focus to cultivate a relationship with fans of UK Hoops. His weekly coach’s show is goofy and fun, featuring a cooking segment with his wife and guitar tips with a different player each week.

But don’t mistake Mitchell’s geniality for a lack of focus. He is a man who is hardwired for success, evinced by turning UK into a premier program. This man wants to do great things; he wants to win SEC titles and chase Final Fours.

Some might imagine Mitchell taking off for a better job should one ever become available, one of those traditional women’s basketball powers that have dominated for decades, but that seems unlikely.

In Lexington, Mitchell has top-notch facilities at his disposal. He has growing fan support. He is situated in one of the most basketball-crazy areas on the globe.

But mostly he has made UK his program, the one he built, the one that will define his legacy as basketball coach.

And in a few years, Mitchell might just have a national title banner to his name.

We’ll see who’s shrugging then.