Samuel E. Mitchell Jr. (born September 2, 1963) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player and coach. Playing at

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three or swingman, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than power forwards and centers but taller, larger, and stronger t ...

, Mitchell's 18-year professional basketball career spanned three decades, and was most notable for his ten seasons with the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

(NBA), whom he also coached as an interim for the 2015-16 season. Mitchell coached for the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

2004 to 2008 as well, winning Coach of the Year Award in 2007. Mitchell has since worked as an analyst for TSN,

NBA TV NBA TV is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery through its sports unit. Dedicated to basketball, the network features exhibition, regular ...

, and works as a talk show co-host/analyst on

SiriusXM NBA Radio Since 2008, Sirius XM Radio has had a similar channel lineup, with a few differences based on whether the individual has a Sirius, XM, or SiriusXM radio. For technical reasons, separate radios continue to be manufactured for the separate services ...

Early years

Mitchell graduated from Columbus High School in 1981. He spent the next four years playing college basketball at

Mercer University Mercer University is a private research university with its main campus in Macon, Georgia. Founded in 1833 as Mercer Institute and gaining university status in 1837, it is the oldest private university in the state and enrolls more than 9,000 ...

(1981–85), and scored nearly 2,000 points, becoming the leading scorer in

Bears Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the North ...

history. He led the team to both the regular-season and postseason Trans-American Atlantic Conference championships in 1985. Averaging 25 points and 8.2 rebounds per game as a senior, Mitchell led the Bears to just their second NCAA tournament in team history in 1985; they would not return for nearly 30 years, until the 2014 tournament. Mitchell had enlisted in the Army during his junior year, and at the conclusion of the 1985 NCAA tournament he went to boot camp at

Fort Bragg, North Carolina Fort Bragg is a military installation of the United States Army in North Carolina, and is one of the largest military installations in the world by population, with around 54,000 military personnel. The military reservation is located within Cum ...

. He left one month later when he was drafted by the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...

with the 7th pick of the 3rd round (54th overall) in the 1985 NBA draft. However he was cut during final cuts and joined the

Wisconsin Flyers The Wisconsin Flyers were a professional basketball team based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, United States. They were members of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) from 1982 to 1987. The team relocated to Rochester, Minnesota at the conclusion ...

of the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball m ...

. Unhappy in the CBA, Mitchell quit the team midway through the season to return home to Georgia, where a former professor hired him a Special Education teacher for the remainder of the school year. With his summer off, he tried out for the U.S. Basketball League, and joined the Tampa Bay Flash, who he helped lead to the league title. He rejoined the Rockets for training camp afterwards, but was once again cut and joined the CBA, splitting the season between the Wisconsin Flyers and Rapid City Thrillers. He then joined the French

LNB Pro A The LNB Pro A, currently known for sponsorship reasons as Betclic Élite, is the top-tier men's professional basketball league in France. The competition has existed since 1921. Since 1987, the Ligue Nationale de Basket has governed the league. ...

team of Montpellier Basket (coached by

Pierre Galle Pierre Galle (born 13 January 1945) is a French former professional basketball player and coach. Galle was the French League Player of the Year in 1973 and 1974. He was a member of the senior French national team from 1968 to 1975. As a he ...

) for the end of the 1987–88 and the whole 1988–89 season. Success overseas led to a renewed interest from the NBA, and Mitchell earned a contract with the newly formed

. He spent three years in Minnesota, before being traded to the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...

. While having a smaller role with the Pacers than he did with the Timberwolves, Mitchell did help Indiana reach the Eastern Conference Finals in 1994-95. Following that season, he returned to Minnesota.

Kevin Garnett Kevin Maurice Garnett ( ; born May 19, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player who played for 21 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed KG by his initials, and the "Big Ticket" for his emphatic dunki ...

was drafted by the Timberwolves out of high school that year, and Mitchell has been credited with helping Garnett's development. Mitchell retired from the league following the 2001-02 season.

Coaching career

Mitchell returned to the NBA almost immediately after his retirement as an assistant coach with the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

for two seasons until 2004. He then briefly became a part of the expansion

Charlotte Bobcats Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populous ...

as their top assistant coach, until moving on to the

when he was named as the sixth head coach in Raptors history after incumbent Kevin O'Neill was fired. Mitchell was named the coach of the month in January 2007 for his effort bringing the Toronto Raptors back to .500 and leading the Atlantic Division. On March 30, 2007, Mitchell got his 100th win as NBA coach when the Raptors defeated the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast D ...

at the Verizon Center. Mitchell, who witnessed his team struggle with rebuilding in his first years as coach, also led the Toronto Raptors to their first division title in franchise history as the team won the Atlantic Division in the NBA's Eastern Conference in the 2006–07 season. On April 24, 2007, he was named 2006–07

NBA Coach of the Year The National Basketball Association's Coach of the Year is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given since the 1962–63 NBA season. The winner receives the Red Auerbach Trophy, which is named in honor of the head coach who le ...

. On May 22, 2007 after leading the Raptors to their first playoffs appearance since 2002, and after much speculation, Mitchell was signed to a four-year contract with the Raptors. On November 25, 2007 Mitchell surpassed

Lenny Wilkens Leonard Randolph Wilkens (born October 28, 1937) is an American former basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been inducted three times into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, first in 1989 as ...

for the most wins in team history. Mitchell was the longest reigning head coach of the Toronto Raptors. On December 3, 2008, after leading the Raptors to a disappointing 8–9 start to the 2008–09 season, Mitchell was relieved of his duties as the team's head coach. Assistant coach

Jay Triano A jay is a member of a number of species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in w ...

took over the position of interim head coach of the Raptors, which later made him the first foreign-born player to coach a team in the NBA. The firing was ridiculed by the

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

Overtime crew because the Raptors were only one game under .500 at the time of the firing.

Chris Webber Mayce Edward Christopher Webber III (born March 1, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player. Drafted number one overall by the Orlando Magic, though arguably best known and remembered as the star forward for the Sacramento King ...

predicted that they would not be "as good under another coach." In fact, the Raptors went 25–40 the rest of the season. Mitchell was hired as an assistant coach by the

New Jersey Nets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

on July 19, 2010. On December 6, 2011, Nets hired

P.J. Carlesimo Peter John Carlesimo (born May 30, 1949) is an American basketball coach who coached in both the National Basketball Association (NBA) and college basketball for nearly 40 years. He is also a television broadcaster, having worked with ESPN, ''The ...

and

Mario Elie is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his creat ...

as new assistant coaches and Mitchell was reassigned to a scouting position. On 2012, Sam Mitchell named head coach of USA select to 2012 William Jones Cup in Taiwan and his team finished bronze medal. On June 16, 2014, Mitchell was hired as an assistant coach by the

. On September 11, 2015, Mitchell became the Timberwolves' interim head coach after

Flip Saunders Philip Daniel "Flip" Saunders (February 23, 1955 – October 25, 2015) was an American basketball player and coach. During his career, he coached the La Crosse Catbirds, Minnesota Timberwolves, Detroit Pistons, and Washington Wizards. High schoo ...

had to take a leave of absence to receive treatment after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. On October 25, 2015, Saunders died at age 60. For the rest of the season, Mitchell became the official head coach, although he would still be treated as an interim coach. During his sole season coaching the Timberwolves, he would coach them to the fifth-worst record in the league with a 29–53 record. On April 13, 2016, Mitchell was relieved of his interim head coaching duties as the coach of the Timberwolves after the last game of the season, allowing them to look for a permanent coach. He would then be replaced by former

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January 1 ...

head coach

Tom Thibodeau Thomas Joseph Thibodeau Jr. ( ; born January 17, 1958) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He served as an assistant coach for the United States men's national ...

. On June 13, 2018, Mitchell was hired by the

University of Memphis } The University of Memphis (UofM) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 22,000 students. The university maintains the Herff College of Engineering ...

as assistant coach under

Penny Hardaway Anfernee Deon "Penny" Hardaway (born July 18, 1971) is an American college basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the Memphis Tigers men's basketball team in the American Athletic Conference (AAC). Hardaway pla ...

. After one year as one of Memphis' assistant coaches, Sam Mitchell is no longer with the program.

Head coaching record

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Personal life

Mitchell lives in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

with his wife, Dawn Session-Mitchell Atlanta, Obama and Mitchell
Toronto Sun, December 4, 2008, accessed December 4, 2008.

References

External links

NBA.com The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

NBA career stats as a player
at Basketball-Reference

at Basketball-Reference * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Sam 1963 births Living people African-American basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Canada American expatriate basketball people in France American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Georgia (U.S. state) Charlotte Bobcats assistant coaches Indiana Pacers players Houston Rockets draft picks Memphis Tigers men's basketball coaches Mercer Bears men's basketball players Milwaukee Bucks assistant coaches Minnesota Timberwolves assistant coaches Minnesota Timberwolves head coaches Minnesota Timberwolves players Montpellier Paillade Basket players New Jersey Nets assistant coaches Rapid City Thrillers players Small forwards Basketball players from Atlanta Basketball players from Columbus, Georgia Sportspeople from Columbus, Georgia Toronto Raptors announcers Toronto Raptors head coaches Wisconsin Flyers players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople