Shorter University Athletics

Veteran head coach Vic Mitchell returns for his 26th season as ShorterUniversity head women’s basketball coach. In 25 years at the helm of the Lady Hawks’ program, Mitchell has transformed Shorter into a consistent contender while building a resume that makes him the winningest coach in any sport in Shorter history.

Entering the 2014-15 season, Mitchell has 399 victories as Shorter women’s basketball head coach, and will become one of only a handful of college basketball coaches on the Division II level to reach 400 career victories.

Mitchell is a three-time Conference Coach of the Year and has led the Lady Hawks to six 20-win seasons. He led Shorter to five straight 20-win campaigns from 2008 to 2012, the first time in program history that the feat had been accomplished. Mitchell
guided the Lady Hawks to a total of four NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championship appearances including three straight from 2010 to 2012.

During 2011-12, Shorter’s 28 wins were the most for the program since 1978-79 as the Lady Hawks secured an atlarge bid into the NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championship. Mitchell was named the 2011-12 Southern States Athletic Conference Coach of the Year as Shorter received an atlarge berth into the national tournament for the second straight year. The Lady Hawks ended that season with a No. 19 national ranking, the highest end of year ranking ever for the program under
Mitchell.

Over the past 24 years, Mitchell has coached 54 Academic All-Conference selections, 33 All-Conference selections, 21 Academic All-Americans, six All-Americans, including one threetime performer and a pair of two-time selections, three Conference Freshmen of the Year, two Conference Players of the Year, one
Kodak All-American and three NAIA National Emil S. Liston Award winners.

On February 26, 2009, Mitchell won his 300th game at Shorter with a 63-54 win over Reinhardt University, the school from which Mitchell came to Shorter in 1990. In his fifth season as head coach of the Lady Hawks in 1994-1995, Mitchell guided Shorter to the regular season conference championship.

In 2001-02, Mitchell’s charges went 21-11 and earned the program’s first trip to the NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball National Championship, finishing the season ranked No. 25 in the country.

Mitchell graduated from the University of Georgia in 1984 with both his undergraduate and Master’s degrees.

During his academic career at Georgia, Mitchell served as an undergraduate manager and graduate assistant coach for the men’s basketball team. He was part of the 1981-82 squad that reached the Final Four of the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) and also worked with the 1982-83 Bulldogs’ team that advanced to the Final Four of the NCAA Men’s Basketball National Tournament.

Mitchell went on to coach for six years (1984-90) at Reinhardt where he was honored as the Region Coach of the Year in 1988-89.