After six straight winning seasons, Maryann Mitts is quickly closing in on
becoming the winningest coach in Missouri Southern history. Under Mitts
guidance, the Lions have put together 15 or more wins in five of Mitts six
years at the helm and have moved back into the upper echelon of the highly
competitive Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association. With five more
wins, Mitts will pass Scott Ballard for second place on the all-time MSSU wins
list.
Last year, Mitts helped the Lions overcome an inury-riddled season to post their
sixth straight winning record at 14-13, including a tie for fifth place in the
MIAA and a sixth consecutive appearance in the MIAA Postseason Tournament.
Overall, Mitts has compiled a 98-71 (.580) record in six years with the Lions.
She holds a 181-127 (.588) mark in 11 years as a collegiate head coach.
The 2003-04 campaign marked Mitts finest season at the helm of the Lions, as
the squad started the year on a nine-game winning streak, the program s best
start in eight years. Southern posted a 7-1 record in February with wins over
three nationally-ranked opponents, a first in MSSU history, and Mitts was among
several finalists for Division II Bulletin Women s National Coach of the Month.
The Lions ended the campaign with a 19-9 overall mark, their best record since
1996, and narrowly missed making their first NCAA tournament appearance in eight
years. Southern also posted a 10-8 record in MIAA play and earned its fourth
straight berth in the conference postseason tournament after placing fifth in
the final league standings.
Mitts wasted little time in putting Missouri Southern back on the map both at
the conference and regional level. Her first Lion contingent, picked to finish
eighth in the MIAA, posted a 17-11 record, the program s first winning season in
five years, and placed fifth in the conference standings. Those 2001-02 Lions
advanced to the semifinals of the MIAA postseason tournament before bowing out
to eventual NCAA tournament qualifier Missouri Western. The 2002 squad was
recognized as one of the NCAA Division II women s basketball s most improved
teams with a 6.5 game improvement from the previous season.
The eighth head coach in Lion history, Mitts came to Southern from Rockhurst
University, where she took a highly successful NAIA program and led it into the
ranks of NCAA Division II. In five seasons as head coach at RU, she posted a
record of 83-57 (.593) while also serving as the Senior Woman Administrator for
the athletic department.
After serving as assistant coach at her alma mater from
1993 to 1996, Mitts led the 1996-97 Hawks to an 18-10 record in their first
season as a dual NAIA/NCAA Division II institution. That season Rockhurst won
the National Catholic Basketball Tournament title, and Mitts was named NCBT
Coach of the Year.
For an encore, Mitts led Rockhurst to a 24-7 record in 1997-98. The Lady Hawks
won the Midwest Region and advanced to the NAIA Sweet 16, and Mitts was named
Regional Coach of the Year. Her next two squads finished at 13-14, and in the
2000-01 season the Lady Hawks were 15-12, 7-5 and fourth in the then
newly-established Heartland Conference.
Mitts squads have also been successful in the classroom, as her 2001-02 team
was ranked ninth in the Women s Basketball Coaches Association Academic Top 25,
the highest ranking of all MIAA teams. Her 1998-99 Rockhurst squad was No. 1 in
the nation academically in NCAA Division II, and her 1999-2000 Lady Hawks were
13th.
While serving as assistant basketball coach, she also initiated and directed the
men s and women s tennis programs. In three seasons, she led her team to a 41-14
record and two National Tournament appearances while being named Midwest Region
Coach of the Year in 1995 and 1996. In 1996, Mitts served as the NAIA Regional
Chair as Rockhurst served as the host institution for the NAIA Regional
Championships.
The Lions mentor believes she has the staff to help bring national prominence
to Missouri Southern. She is assisted by Ronda Hubbard, who is beginning her
sixth year with the Lions and was a former Missouri State standout and highly
successful coach at the high school, Division I and Division II levels; Tyrone
Jones, a fifth-year assistant at Southern, and formerly a highly successful
assistant at the junior college level; and new to the Lions staff is Chris
Kendrick. Kendrick joins Coach Mitts staff after a tenure as the athletic
director, head coach for boys and girls basketball, as well as baseball,
softball and track at Keytesville High School in Keytesville, Mo.
Mitts graduated from Rockhurst University in 1992 with a bachelor of arts degree
in secondary education, and from the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 1995
with a master of arts degree in higher education administration, emphasis in
athletic administration. Mitts is also a 2004 graduate of the Nationally
recognized NCAA Women Coaches Academy and successfully completed the Dimension
II stage of the program in 2005.
As a two-sport standout for the Lady Hawks, Mitts earned all-America honors in
volleyball and basketball. She was also Regional Player of the Year in
volleyball as a senior, and was a two-time scholastic all-American.
Mitts was an award-winning basketball player at St. Teresa s Academy in Kansas
City, earning All-America and Academic All-America recognition as a senior, and
all-state kudos her final two seasons. She was named Kansas City Metro Female
Athlete of the Year in 1987 and that same year was named St. Teresa s Academy
Girl for outstanding leadership in academics and athletics as well as
excellence in moral, ethical and religious characteristics.
In 1996, Mitts was named one of the Top 29 Young People under 30 by Kansas
City Magazine. The following year the Kansas City Sons and Daughters of
Columbus honored Mitts as Female Columbiana of the Year and Women in
Leadership for outstanding service.
One of the things Mitts enjoys about Southern is the high level of competition
in the MIAA.
The MIAA offers an extremely challenging and yet humbling experience on a
professional level, she said Night in and night out, we are not only competing
against some of the best talent in the nation, but our conference has some of
the most knowedgeable and successful coaches that would rank up against the best
coaches at the major college level.
Our program has methodically climbed into the top four of the league. The
exciting part of competing at such a high level is that by finishing in the top
four in the conference, we also position ourselves to be looked upon as one of
the top eight in the region and top 20 nationally. It has been and continues to
be our ultimate goal to represent MSSU in the NCAA postseason.
In addition to her coaching duties, Mitts serves on the NCAA Division II South
Central Regional Committee. Last April, she was appointed the NCAA Regional
Chair of the South Central Basketball Championships. Mitts is also an instructor
of Kinesiology at Missouri Southern.
