Oct 30 | General
SMU men's lacrosse took another step toward its 2028 debut Thursday, introducing Jim Mitchell as the program's first head coach.
Mitchell joins the Mustangs after seven years at Princeton, where he served as offensive coordinator and helped the Tigers win three Ivy League titles and last season's national championship.
SMU Director of Athletics Damon Evans called the process fast and furious but fun.
"When you go on a journey like this and you're trying to build something new, you want to make sure you get off on the right foot," Evans said. "Obviously, finding the right person to do that is key. The process was fun, fast, furious, but we got our guy.
"We knew that it was going to be important that we find an exceptional leader, a program builder, and I truly believe that we found that in Jim Mitchell."
Fast and furious might also describe the playing style of the Mustangs under Mitchell.
"Here's my promise: we're going to play fast. We're going to be dynamic. We're going to be creative. We're going to be innovative. We're going to be physical. We're going to be unselfish," Mitchell said. "We're going to compete like there's something to prove, because there is."
Last season, Princeton's offense scored a program-record 282 goals, breaking the mark set by Mitchell's offense in 2022. The Tigers also recorded a program-best 18 games with at least 10 goals and had four 30-goal scorers for the first time in program history.
But Mitchell's record of success wasn't the only reason he stood out to SMU.
"What really stood out to me about Jim were things beyond his coaching acumen," Evans said. "I thought about this individual as someone who's courageous, who has great character, someone who believes in what we are doing, but more importantly, believes in what we can become. We all love winning here. I wanted to find a winner, someone who could come in and help us compete right away but build this program for a sustainable future."
The Mustangs are the first Division I men's lacrosse program in Texas and the Southwest. Only the University of Denver, the Air Force Academy and the University of Utah are further west than SMU.
With the opportunity to bring college lacrosse at the highest level to a new part of the country, Mitchell was interested from the moment he heard about SMU's plans.
"This is the most exciting start to a program that I can remember in my college career," Mitchell said. "There's been other ones, nothing quite like this. I think this is going to kick off an amazing expansion of lacrosse in the southwest and the western United States as a whole."
When SMU made the official announcement that lacrosse was coming, it also announced that nearly $15 million of the $25 million goal had been raised. On Thursday, the total had already reached $20 million.
But the founders have contributed more than money to making lacrosse at SMU a reality.
"When you're building a program from scratch, it really takes a village," Evans said. "It takes people who are willing to put in their time, their energy, their resources, and most importantly, their belief behind an idea to bring a vision to fruition.
"I want to thank them for their financial commitment, but it's more than just that. Their knowledge of the game, their understanding of what it takes to build something, to start something up. All of them are successful in their own right. So they were able to provide some knowledge with regard to lacrosse and what the landscape looks like but also help how we build this thing."
The Mustangs have their coach and are well on their way to reaching their financial goal, but there is still a lot of work to be done before they take the field in 2028.
Mitchell will draw on two decades of experience across every level of competition.
"The good thing is, I've been at this for 20 years, so everything I'm doing is something I've done before," Mitchell said. "It's an accelerated timeline, so leaning on the right people. Again, a career's worth of resources and friendships is going to help me along the way. And then building a staff. I've already had the department here help me in a lot of ways to kick things off and get going. And then as I continue to build my staff, we'll build our roster at the same time."
SMU has experienced success across its athletic department. Men's soccer, football and volleyball are all in the national rankings, while men's basketball returned to the NCAA Tournament last season and diver Luke Sitz won ACC and NCAA titles.
SMU's success across its athletic department showed Mitchell that the university was committed not just to launching a lacrosse program, but to building one that could compete.
"It's very clear SMU's commitment to athletics, not just lacrosse, but all the sports here that are experiencing tremendous, in some ways unprecedented, success," Mitchell said. "We're that next program. We're next up."
As Mitchell builds his staff and roster, he believes others will be drawn to the same opportunity.
"Right now, we don't have a single player on this roster yet, or a game on the schedule," Mitchell said. "That's not a weakness. That's the greatest recruiting pitch this country and this sport has ever had. Every single player that comes here gets to write the first chapter. I could not be more proud standing in front of you on Day 1, helping lead this charge."
And the Mustangs aren't just happy to be there; they're coming to win.
"I said to him, and I'll tell you guys this, and I'll tell everybody in the lacrosse world," Evans said. "Simply put, here we come."
