Living The Dream

By: D. Scott Fritchen

There's this boy. His name is Jeff. His father, Larry, is a terminal manager for a couple of truck lines. His mother, Joyce, is in real estate. A working-class family. Busy. Everybody doing stuff. Jeff is the oldest of three children. There's Mike and Nicole. All three are outstanding athletes. They all love sports. But maybe not as much as Jeff. There's a basketball goal upon a concrete slab behind their home in Blue Springs, Missouri. That's where the kids play. Jeff and several of his buddies. He's organizing games, picking teams, and putting the less-skilled guys on his squad. Why does he do that, you ask? He says, "Because I want to make it more competitive."

And there's this, a yearning, a calling that will follow him through life, which will cause him sleepless nights, and which will give him great joy. Is it a curse? Is it a dream? We'll go with dream for now. An unrealized dream. It's the 1980s. Things are different in the 1980s. Sports, including basketball, are different. Some kids dream of being Julius Erving or Larry Bird. Little does Jeff know, but he's in the infant stages of chasing a slightly different passion. So, it starts with this, a basketball and a handful of buddies on concrete slab in the backyard. And there's Jeff, picking teams. He puts the less-talented guys on his team not so that the great light of hardwood heroism shines upon him.

No, Jeff picks the less-talented guys because of this: He believes that he can bring out the best in them.

• • •

The Jeff Mittie footprint at Kansas State has reached the 10-year mile-marker this season, and oh, the places the Wildcats have gone since his arrival in Manhattan in March 2014. At 25-7, this is Mittie's best year yet — and the Wildcats aren't finished. They have a chance to reach their most victories since 2002-03. Elite Eight? Final Four? Can't count out these Cats. During this season, they beat Caitlin Clark and No. 2 Iowa, and they rose to No. 2 in The Associated Press Poll and Coaches' Poll in the same week for the first time in school history. They became the first women's program since the start of the AP poll in 1976 to go from unranked in the preseason to either No. 1 or No. 2 in the same season.

They raced to a 14-game winning streak behind Second Team All-American senior center Ayoka Lee, All-Big 12 First Team point guard Serena Sundell, and All-Big 12 Honorable Mention guard Gabby Gregory. Mittie, one of 15 candidates for the 2024 Naismith Women's Coach of the Year, has guided the Wildcats to his most wins as a Division I head basketball coach. The road to the Final Four in Cleveland, Ohio begins as K-State faces Portland in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday at 3:30 p.m. at Bramlage Coliseum.

It's Sunday, March 17 at 7:23 p.m. It has been a day of optimism. It has been a day of anxiety. It has been a day filled with practice. Even after all these years, there's nothing quite like the sound of a basketball inside an empty gym that sings to Mittie like that favorite tune on the radio, with each bounce of the ball conjuring a familiar tempo. He told his K-State players they had a shootaround at the Ice Family Basketball Center. That turned into a full-fledged practice. He loves this team. He loves this group. The teaching during an entire season has reached an end — these girls know what to do — yet a new frontier awaits with new scouting reports, new faces, and new energies. It's the Big Dance. It's March Madness.

"One of my favorite days of the year," Mittie says. "I love the grind."

And now as the sun sets over the Flint Hills, Mittie's day is just about to begin. He holds a microphone in the Shamrock Zone at Bramlage, where about 300 avid supporters gathered for a private event to witness the unveiling of the NCAA Tournament bracket on ESPN. With ESPN cameras rolling and capturing each moment, the players, donned in white long-sleeved t-shirts that read "K-STATE ENERGY" in purple print, gathered in front of a wall-sized video screen to watch the Selection Sunday special, then leaped from their chairs when it was revealed that the Wildcats had earned a No. 4 seed, meaning they were one of the top-16 seeded teams, meaning that they would host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament in Manhattan.

Mittie doesn't want to make the moment inside the Shamrock Zone solely about himself, his coaches, his staff, or his team. No. No. No. It's a family event — fans included.

"Well, congratulations," Mittie says to the crowd. "We couldn't have done this without you this year, I can assure you of that. You guys have been awesome all year, so thank you so much. Congratulations to our team.

"We're happy to be home in Manhattan."

• • •

How did the Jeff Mittie story start in Manhattan? Well, it began with a vision. Breanna Lewis met Mittie for the first time in 2014. He visited her home in Wisconsin. He was K-State's new head coach. K-State came off an 11-19 record, including a 5-13 mark in the Big 12 Conference for a second straight year. Mittie finished up his 15^th season as head coach at TCU with a 303-176 (.633) record and eight NCAA Tournament appearances. His goal? To let Lewis know everything would be OK. Lewis came off a freshman season in 2013-14 in which the 6-foot-5 center averaged 5.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.5 blocks. She had five points, 10 rebounds and four blocks in her first college game. She had 14 points, eight rebounds and four blocks against Baylor.

So, Lewis met with Mittie inside her home. And it lit a competitive spark.

"He talked to us individually to make sure we knew that we could trust him," Lewis says. "He made sure that we all knew that he was there for us and that he would put us into a good position for success. He was a genuine person, a caring person."

Lewis went onto finish a stellar college career (she was the fourth player in K-State history with 1,500 points and 800 rebounds) and was drafted 23^rd overall in the 2017 WNBA Draft by the Dallas Wings.

"He really helped me believe in myself and showed me that I was a good player," Lewis says. "Sometimes, I doubted myself, but he always picked me up and told me, 'You're a good player.' He told me I had all these accomplishments. He really built up my self-esteem and made me believe in myself."

Mittie either visited or phoned his new players soon after his hiring at K-State. Kindred (Wesemann) Orpin, a returning sophomore, received a phone call. The man on the other end of the phone said that he was going to turn around the program. He said that the Wildcats would return to the NCAA Tournament. "That went a long way with me and my family," Orpin says. As a K-State freshman, the 5-foot-7 guard from Pleasant Hill, Missouri, made two or more 3-pointers in 12 different games. Now as a sophomore, she met Mittie for the first time at his K-State introductory news conference in the West Stadium Center at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. He knew all his players' names. He knew their strengths and weaknesses on the basketball court. That, Orpin believes, sealed the deal.

"Coach Mittie," she says, "had confidence in me."

Orpin finished her career with 1,295 points and 329 assists and finished fifth in school history with 264 3-pointers, earning 2017 All-Big 12 First Team honors. Orpin went on to become a five-year women's basketball assistant coach under former K-State assistant coach Jacie Hoyt at Kansas City.

"Coach Mittie's knowledge and passion for the game is at the highest level," Orpin says. "He's a smart person, a smart basketball coach, and he deserves any accolades that he receives. When I was a player, I thought that he was doing a lot with not a lot. We had what we had at that point. There wasn't a transfer portal. His knowledge and passion for the game is something that people know — but they don't really know."

Peyton Williams met Mittie for the first time during a K-State summer camp in 2014. She was a bubbly, ultra-competitive junior from Topeka, Kansas. She was a star player at Cair Paravel Latin School. Her talent and myriad of skills caught Mittie's eye. Little could Williams predict that she'd grow to become a 6-foot-4 forward who would leave her K-State career as a two-time All-Big 12 First Team selection and 2020 Second Team CoSIDA Academic All-American. Williams reflects upon her experience via Zoom one day in March. She currently plays professionally for PEAC-Pecs in Hungary.

"This was summer 2014 and I was entering my junior year," she says. "When we were at camp all the kids were like, 'Coach Mittie!' I had a really good camp that year. He was quick to talk business with me in his office. He picked me up super quick and said, 'Here's what we want. Here's what we're trying to do here. We think you fit that.' He was very succinct, and I was very intimidated, but I was just happy to be there."

K-State went 19-14 in Mittie's first season in 2014-15 and went to the second round of the WNIT. K-State went 19-13 and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2015-16. But the Wildcats took a leap in going 23-11 with a second-round appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 2016-17. It marked the first of two times the Wildcats reached 20-plus wins over a three-year period. While the COVID-19 pandemic year could've doused the Wildcats' momentum, they showed resolve. They finished 20-13 with a second-round NCAA Tournament appearance in 2021-22 and went 19-17 with a WNIT Super 16 appearance last year — without All-American Ayoka Lee, who missed the entire season while recovering from knee surgery.

"When I took over they were coming off a couple bad Big 12 years, but I liked the roster and I just wanted to get this program back to the NCAA Tournament and wanted to get it to be consistently in the NCAA Tournament and wanted to get it back to where the fans were excited about it and get it back to where there was an energy in Bramlage," Mittie says. "Early on, we did some really good things quick. We went right away to the NIT the first year and the second year right back into the NCAA Tournament. We've had a few bumps, but our worst year has been the pandemic year, and we got hit harder than anybody."

He pauses.

"I feel like it's been a good 10 years," he continues, "but I feel like I'm even more excited about the future."

The Wildcats appear poised for big things this March behind the same recipe that Mittie used during stints at Missouri Western (1992-94), Arkansas State (1995-98), TCU (1999-2013).

Mittie owns 643 career wins and a .635 career winning percentage. He went 76-17 at Missouri Western with a 29-win season and a 31-win season. He went 75-42 at Arkansas State with a pair of 20-win seasons. He went 303-175 in 15 seasons at TCU while exceeding the win total the program recorded in its first 22 years of existence. Now at K-State, he is 189-134 with eight postseason appearances in his 10 years.

He reached 600 career victories in an 83-43 win over Central Arkansas on November 7, 2022.

"I suppose as a coach you want to be known as someone that got the most out of their teams and got their teams to achieve higher — did it the right way, and did it with quality people," Mittie says. "I think those things are the most important to me. I think that the one thing that as you get older in the profession you realize the longer lasting impact that you can have on young people, you see them in their careers, their families, and you hope that you have a small part in that because we do coach them at times in their life that are formative and that help them get to that next phase of their life.

"But from a basketball coaching standpoint I just think that you hope you get the most out of your team and hope you help them to reach their potential."

• • •

Jeff Mittie once worked for the Kansas City Royals. It's true. Mittie worked in the Stadium Club at Kauffman Stadium in high school for extra money. He also worked for his father, Larry, loading trucks. Many Friday nights, he worked the Royals game. Then he worked the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift loading trucks. Then he caught a few hours of sleep.

"Then," he says, "I probably did it again the following night. But I made good money, and it allowed me to play a lot of basketball during the week."

But Mittie was a pitcher. And a darned good one as well at Missouri Western in St. Joseph, Missouri. He earned his undergraduate degree in sports management in 1989.

"We played for the same head coach, Doug Minnis, who we both loved very much," says Mike Clark, former legendary K-State head baseball coach. "I played in the early 1970s and Jeff played in the late 1980s. Through the years, we've reminisced about the Division II road trips, lots of sack lunches and traveling in vans and busses."

When Mittie graduated from Missouri Western, he interned with the Royals. He thought he might go into sports information or work for an athletic department. Then he decided to come on board at Missouri Western as a graduate assistant for women's basketball and baseball and he taught some classes.

That's when he met Shanna. It was fall of 1990.

Shanna, a native of Junction City, Kansas, played volleyball and basketball at Washburn. Her roommate was friends with one Jeff's friends, and, well, you know how that story goes. "I was like, 'Who's that?'" Shanna says. "Long story short, it was a blind date, and I ended up transferring after my junior year to Missouri Western."

Mittie was relentless as a coach. Athletic director Ed Harris hired Mittie as full-time head coach and he produced a 16-11 record in 1992-93. Mittie's career exploded with 29-3 and 31-3 records over the next two years.

"When (Harris) hired me, it was the first time I felt like I had a full-time job," Mittie says. "Before, it was like, 'Is this temporary? Am I going to have a job next year?' Yes, this was first time feeling like, 'OK, I'm in charge of this program. It's mine to make what I want.'"

Jeff and Shanna were wed in 1992 and have been married for 31 years.

Mittie was — and is — tireless. It's not unusual for Shanna to awaken to discover Jeff gone from bed. During the season, he might go to bed at 2 a.m. and awaken at 4:45 a.m. — after losses. After wins, he's typically midnight-to-5:30 a.m. "My mind tends to relive the game," he says. He grabs coffee. He turns on CNBC to watch the stock market. He combs through game film. He draws up a practice schedule. He sends a text to his coaching staff at 7:30 a.m. Mittie is ready to roll.

"The traits I get from my folks are — I'm a busy person," Mittie says. "I like activity. I like putting in hours."

He appreciates the opportunity to put in those hours so close to family.

"I was excited about getting back to the Midwest and getting back close to where Shanna and I are from and just being around family more," he says. "When I arrived, I was really excited about the potential of Kansas State and what it had achieved not only from success on the court but also the fan base and all the above."

Mittie bursts with pride when reflecting upon 10 years at K-State. Rightfully so: Eight postseason appearances, including five NCAA Tournaments. Four 20-win seasons and seven seasons with at least 19 wins. One Associated Press All-American. Twenty-five All-Big 12 selections. Thirty-seven Academic All-Big 12 selections. Four Big 12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year honorees.

"I'm just proud of the fact that we've had big wins, we've had big moments in the program, we've had national moments in the program with a player like Ayoka Lee scoring 61 points," he says. "We've been the No. 2-ranked team in the country. We have overcome some adversity with losing an All-American a year ago when we thought we were going to have this 2023-24 season a year ago and yet we still found a way be successful and get into the postseason.

"I'm really proud of the individuals that have come through and represent K-State. We've just had a great group of people. I don't know how many Big 12 Scholar Athletes of the Year we've had. We've had national award winners whether it be Peyton Williams, Ayoka Lee or Kindred Wesemann, who won the 3-point contest. Those things are special things and special moments for families and for our fans and our coaches."

Daughter Logan is married to Cameron Daei and the couple has a daughter, Carter. Daughter Madison is married to Sam Pahls. Son Jordan is married to Regan. They're a blessed family — and they include the players in their family as well.

"Jeff is very caring and cares about the growth of his coaches and players," Shanna says. "When we came to K-State, they sold the family atmosphere, which is what we've always wanted and what we've always been able to give to teams, and a lot of times their parents want that for them. He's very family-oriented, which includes his staff, his team, and the administration."

If there's a difference to Mittie these days, perhaps it is due in part to his granddaughter, Carter. Mittie's smile lights up a room. That's what Serena Sundell, an All-Big 12 First Team junior point guard, notices about her head coach.

"Since I've been here, I've seen him change and I think a big reason is because of his granddaughter and grandchildren," Sundell says. "It's crazy what it does to a man. Anytime he's around Carter he's so happy. This year has just been a lot of fun. He has another grandchild coming on the way. It puts a lot into perspective.

"We've had that conversation and I asked him how things have changed as a coach over the years, and he was like, 'I can put everything into perspective now. Yes, basketball is a big deal, but why am I doing this? It's for my family and grandchildren.' I don't think a lot of players get to have those conversations with their head coach. I think it's really special."

Fifth-year senior guard Gabby Gregory transferred from Oklahoma to K-State prior to last season. Gregory, a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, was the 2019 Oklahoma Gatorade Player of the Year. She was a unanimous selection to the 2020 Big 12 All-Freshman Team. She is the first player to transfer to K-State and then reach the 1,000- and 1,500-point marks in her collegiate career. When Gregory entered the transfer portal on April 3, 2022, Mittie came calling. He drove to Norman, Oklahoma, to visit the Gregory family the next day. He told them about his vision for Gabby and for the Wildcats. It was the perfect fit.

"Me and Coach Mittie have very similar personalities," Gabby says. "I like playing for him because you know — he can be hard on you sometimes, but you know it's out of love, and he has a really hard time staying mad at us, and sometimes he'll yell and then start laughing. He tries to be mean, but he really can't. I just love playing for him.

"People can see us out there. He's just been able to make basketball fun, and he does a really good job of making sure — at the end of the day, if you're playing basketball, it's supposed to be fun. It's a game that's fun to play and Coach Mittie does a really good job making sure it's still a fun game."

Whenever she decides to end her college career, two-time All-American Ayoka Lee will go down as arguably the most accomplished player in K-State women's basketball history. She's the third player in Big 12 history to reach 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 300 blocked shots in a career.

"From a player's standpoint, I've just had a great career here, and I don't think that's possible without a coach who trusts me and who believes in me and continues to believe in me regardless of the circumstances," Lee says. "I don't think that happens everywhere. His openness is huge and his desire to have a relationship with us but not force that onto us — I'm pretty lucky."

• • •

One day in early March, Jeff Mittie sits inside the press box at the West Stadium Center at Bill Snyder Family Stadium — the building where he was formally introduced as K-State head women's basketball coach in March 2014. Mittie is noticeably calm in his black quarter-zip as he talks coaching while peering out at the football field.

One moment, he's talking about coaching philosophy ("I want the players to know that the staff and players are all in the same boat, rowing in the same direction, and everybody is in this together," he says), and the next moment he's talking about his family's love for K-State and Manhattan ("This is a great place to go to school, a great place to have so much fun with your college friends, and if I were a high school student choosing a school, I'd choose happiness every time," he says), and his voice is crackling and his eyes are beaming and right his index finger is tapping upon a table, and then, when asked what he has learned most about himself during this journey, he pauses for what feels like a half minute, but really it isn't that long, and he leans forward, and begins to speak.

"I've learned that I can evolve with whatever college athletics throws at you," he says. "I can evolve as a coach with 18- to 22-year-olds who are changing and have different challenges than they did 25 or 30 years ago. Ultimately, I think that kids are the same with the exception of their outside world, which keeps changing, whether that be social media, and NIL challenges. But ultimately, they still want somebody to help guide them through this phase. While the challenges may be different than they were, they're still 18- to 22-year-olds who are still trying to navigate it."

Mittie plans to help steer the ship. It's what he did. It's what he does. It's what he was born to do. Yes sir, coaching and teaching; teaching and coaching. There's a fine line. It's a mixture difficult to master. Mittie has succeeded where others have failed in the quest to reach his players, to get them to believe, to get them to hope, to teach them, to coach them, to prepare them for that life ahead, that life still to come.

As for how long Mittie intends to keep coaching?

"Fifteen years," he replies, unhesitatingly.

He pauses.

"Here's why," he continues. "I love the work. I've been so blessed that my family has been a part of this college athletic experience and those are some of the best memories that we've had as a family. I take a lot of pride, so while I might have missed a lot of things that my kids did, we also got to do some really special things. And I don't think there's much wrong with missing a kid's game or two. I think they need to know they're special, but they don't need to think the world revolves around them at age 10. I think my kids sometimes were glad I missed their games.

"The thing is I don't understand the coaches that don't go to their kids' games. Don't tell me that you're working 20 hours a day. You can figure out a way to go to your kids' games and for your staff to go to their kids' games. I tell my staff all the time to get to your kids' games. There will come a time when I say don't go to that one. We're on the road a lot and you can't be there. And that's OK."

He smiles.

"Now I'm getting to enjoy — we have our first grandchild, a two-year-old, Carter, and her first question for the last three weeks is, 'Are you around the basketball girls?,'" he continues. "And her watching the games on TV — it's really fun for us to have that connection and to see her do the same thing as my daughters and Jordan, who got to travel around with the team."

He pauses again.

"I don't know how much longer I'll do it," he says, "but I don't think there's a timetable. I don't want to do it until I'm 80."

The passion began long ago. It began with this boy named Jeff. It began upon the concrete slab in Jeff's backyard in Blue Springs, Missouri. Jeff picked teams. He put the less-talented guys on his team. He put the less-talented guys on his team not so that the great light of hardwood heroism shined upon him.

No, Jeff picked the less-talented guys because of this: He believed that he could bring out the best in them.

Was it a curse? Was it a dream? Coaching certainly is no curse. It has served Jeff Mittie well for more than three decades. That includes 10 years at K-State, which has the chance to put together its best season in program history.

In the end, perhaps there's one thing you absolutely should know about the man who called the K-State players soon after his hiring and told them they would turn this thing around, the man who awakens at 4:45 a.m. to begin work, and the man who loves his staff and players like family.

Mittie is living the dream.

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Gabby Gregory

Ayoka Lee

Serena Sundell

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