Mitch Cole

Mitch Cole is an American men's basketball coach, currently an assistant coach at Texas A&M University. He previously coached at Birmingham–Southern, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Berry College and Samford.

Early life and education Cole is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana. He played basketball at Holy Cross School, graduating in 1988. Cole subsequently attended Montana State Billings and played basketball on its Yellow Jackets team. In 1992, he graduated with degrees in history and education. Cole earned his master's degree in education from Auburn University in 1995.

Coaching career Cole began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant at Southeastern Louisiana in 1992. He also served as a graduate assistant at Auburn while he attended the university. In 1995, Cole was hired as an assistant coach at Birmingham–Southern under Duane Reboul. He helped the Panthers reach the NAIA National Tournament every year from 1996 to 2000. In 2000, the school began its transition to NCAA Division I, and Cole successfully recruited and developed players that made Birmingham–Southern competitive despite a five-year postseason ban. In the 2003–04 season, in Birmingham–Southern's first full season as a member of Division I, he helped the team finish 20–7 and win the Big South Conference Co-Championship. Due to player defections, Birmingham–Southern did not field a basketball team in the 2006–07 season. Cole was responsible for building the program from the ground up and posted a 13–12 record with 15 freshmen in 2007–08. The Panthers went 20–5 two years later and won the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) East Division title.

Under Billy Kennedy, Cole spent five seasons on the bench at Texas A&M. He helped the Aggies win a school-record 28 games in 2015–16, win the Southeastern Conference, and reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division I tournament after a last-minute win over Northern Iowa. He coached the Trojans for two seasons. In April 2018, Cole was announced as the head coach at Berry College. He won his 100th game in January 2020 over his former team, Birmingham–Southern. During the 2020–21 season, Cole led the Vikings to the Southern Athletic Association regular season and tournament championship and earned 2021 SAA Coach of the Year honors. He finished with a 51–17 record at Berry.

In July 2021, Cole was hired as an assistant coach at Samford under Bucky McMillan. On April 5th, 2025, it was announced that Cole would return to Texas A&M University as an assistant to follow McMillan.

Personal life Cole is married to Amy and has three children: daughter Laura Kate and sons Carson and Joshua.