Mark Mitchell And The Journey To Strength And Stillwater

Timing is everything.

For Oklahoma State men's basketball's Mark Mitchell, this rings true in almost every aspect of the phrase.

Mitchell grew up in a family of educators. With time, he found that he wanted to become one as well. Although, he didn't take the exact route his parents did.

Both his parents were elementary school teachers, and by the time Mitchell started college at Eastern Michigan, he started going down the same path as his mom and dad.

While at Eastern Michigan, Mitchell was a defensive back for the Eagles' football team. It wasn't until a couple years into his collegiate career when he found what he wanted to do: be a strength coach.

It was a profession he never knew existed, and yet was enamored with the idea. He started asking his coaches to explain the reasons and methods behind his own workouts.

By the time he had finished his playing career, he had started a strength and conditioning internship with EMU.

"I got to see so many different aspects, as far as how the golf team trains, how the tennis team trains," Mitchell said. "I was able to get immersed in different teams' cultures and that was beneficial too because it shows how many ways to do the job, while also enhancing my love for it."

Mitchell moved on from EMU after graduating with a bachelor's degree in sports medicine in 2010 and traveled across the state to Western Michigan to get his masters in coaching sport performance. While at WMU, Mitchell served as the first assistant to head football strength and conditioning coach, Nate Peoples, and was the head strength and conditioning coach for the men's tennis team.   Mark Mitchell At SMU

While working at WMU, Mitchell found a mentor in Peoples. While he said he's been fortunate to have many different influences and teachers in his life to get him to where he is today, he said Peoples has had the biggest impact. Years after Mitchell left WMU to pursue his own goals and ultimately landing at Oklahoma State, he was reunited with Peoples in Stillwater. Peoples is a part of coach Rob Glass' strength and conditioning staff as an assistant for the Cowboy football team. Once again, timing played a role.

"When you work with someone so early in your career and you go separate ways, you never really think you'll work at the same place again," Mitchell said. "It's really cool for me to have him here, just as someone who I respect so highly in our profession, to be able to just go out to lunch with and chop it up and talk to him again in person is a really awesome experience."

A key difference between Mitchell and Peoples is the sports they work with. While Peoples stuck with football, Mitchell branched out into basketball. His first job with a university as a head strength and conditioning coach came at Stephen F. Austin university. There, Mitchell spent the first couple years with the university's baseball and football teams. Mitchell said he considers the switch to basketball a "right place, right time" situation. By the time Brad Underwood took over the basketball program at SFA, Mitchell knew what he wanted.

He didn't need to do much convincing to get an opportunity with the basketball program.

Mitchell and his boss saw a "natural transition" into a different area of strength and conditioning, and he was given the chance to become the director of strength and conditioning for the basketball program.

Upon joining Underwood's staff, Mitchell met future Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton for the first time. The two spent a couple seasons together at SFA, before Underwood and Boynton departed for Oklahoma State. After three years at SFA,
Mitchell received another opportunity to work with coach Tim Jankovich at SMU.

"It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up," Mitchell said. "It was time for a change. The guys I had started coaching with at Stephen F. Austin were all gone. It was a natural transition for me to venture out and seek another opportunity for myself as well."

Mitchell's time at SMU proved to be a successful bout.

Jankovich was in his first season as head coach, following the departure of Larry Brown. The program was heading in the right direction with veteran talents Shake Milton and Sterling Brown leading the team. In Mitchell's five years at SMU, the team captured the

Mark Mitchell Oklahoma State

American's regular season championship, the AAC Tournament title, made the NCAA tournament and the NIT. Mitchell also helped Milton, Brown and Semi Ojeleye make it to the NBA.

But once again, timing came into play.

In 2021, heading into his sixth season at SMU and already past summer training, Mitchell received a phone call from Boynton. His former assistant coach was in the process of coming up with an almost entirely new coaching staff for the 2021-22 season and needed a strength and conditioning coach.

"It was a no-brainer," Mitchell said. "I had to convince my wife first, had to get her on board. But in my eyes, as soon as I got the phone call from him, I knew it was a yes for me."

Despite the enthusiasm Mitchell had for starting a new opportunity with OSU, he had to leave SMU behind. He had already begun to develop relationships with new players and was preparing for the upcoming season with them.

"There's never a good time to leave places," Mitchell said. "You have to do what you need to do as far as that stuff goes."

After convincing his wife and saying good-bye to SMU, Mitchell arrived in Stillwater.

Joining him were assistant coaches Terrence Rencher, Larry Blunt and David Cason. Like Mitchell, the three assistant coaches were starting a new chapter in their coaching career.

"When everybody's new, you start at level zero," Mitchell said. "You're able to build fresh relationships. Everyone is more willing to broaden their networks and get to know people."

Since Mitchell joined the team, he's had the unique job of rebuilding the bodies of some players. Players coming off injuries and freshmen needed to work their way to peak physical condition. That's where Mitchell comes in, and he came prepared. It all started in the post season. While OSU was going through a postseason ban, Mitchell and the team used the extra time to put work in. What started as a two- or three-week spring postseason, turned into a five-to-six-week postseason.

"It's almost like having a full summer in the spring," Mitchell said.

In that time, Mitchell helped the team get back to the physical condition expected of them. One of the easiest ways, Mitchell said, to notice an improvement in strength is purely in numbers. A player adding weight to a set shows improvement. Another way to see improvement is when a player looks visibly more in shape. Eventually, those two things start to become more apparent and in turn will create a more confident athlete.

"I think those two things can really improve an athlete's outlook on where they're at and where they're heading into the year," Mitchell said.

While at OSU, improving the players' confidence is one of his goals. In Mitchell's words, it's because that's the players' goals. However, it's not his main vision. Mitchell knows his role with the team. As far as wins and losses go, Mitchell doesn't care much about that. He wants to win because the players want to win. It's the goals they've set for themselves.

But it's not the only thing he wants. Mitchell's main objective is much more human, which is having his players readily available to play year-round.    Mark Mitchell SMU

"I want to see them both individually do well and reap the rewards of all their hard work," Mitchell said.  "Obviously, we all want to win and raise banners. That stuff's important. But it's important to me because it is for them."

As time is running out for last-second preparations for the men's basketball team, Mitchell moves past his first offseason with the team and starting his second year with the team.

With every minute, basketball season gets closer. Expectations for the team are high, but he said there's nowhere else he would rather be.

With 10 years of experience under his belt, Mitchell said he's grateful for the time spent.

"At this point in time, I think I'm a much better version of myself as a coach," Mitchell said. "Everything always happens for a reason and everything always times up. I'm happy that things timed up the way they did."

Oklahoma State University Athletics

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