SANDESTIN, Fla. - My first memory of basketball coach Matthew Mitchell is that of a 6-foot-5 guy lying in the aisle of a bus with a mask over his face. He had assumed the position following a late night in Paris, after which sleep must have seemed far more appealing than the French countryside.

Mitchell was in his first year as a graduate assistant coach with the Tennessee Lady Vols. His first road trip was a 12-day tour of Europe during which the team would manage to work in five games between stops in Paris, Switzerland and the French Rivera.

This was more playtime than work for coach Pat Summitt's team and staff, and it was all play for the 100-or-so fans who tagged along. Still, I wondered about the career expectancy of a 28-year-old graduate assistant, who was relaxed enough on his first trip with a new employer to ask the veteran coaches for a sleep mask before stretching out on a bus floor.

I didn't realize Mitchell already had made a favorable impression on Summitt while working her summer camps. Nor did I have any inkling of his job history, which provided compelling evidence that his bus nap was well earned.

The trip was in 1999. Eight years later, Mitchell will be attending his first SEC spring meetings this week, as the new women's basketball coach at the University of Kentucky. He succeeded his friend and former boss, Mickie DeMoss, who resigned after her fourth season.

If you trace Mitchell's career from UT to Kentucky, you see a logical, swift progression from assistant coaching jobs at Florida and Kentucky, to the head job at Morehead State University and finally Kentucky. But there's nothing logical or direct about his route to UT. Instead, his circuitous path from a three-sports star in Louisville, Miss., to college coaching probably has left him with the most diverse resume in SEC coaching.

He has sold clothes, cleaned clothes and waited tables. He has worked in golf clubs and in construction. He has been the lead singer in a rock 'n' roll band. He has driven escort trucks for mobile homes, taught school and coached just about everything.

All those jobs are serving him well in a profession, where the practitioners are more often single-minded, rather than well rounded.

"It has made me really comfortable in a lot of different situations," Mitchell said. "You're working with very affluent people at golf clubs. You're meeting a different type of person when you're working at dry cleaners or driving escort."

He didn't plan to zigzag his way into coaching. As a star pitcher, quarterback and basketball player at Winston Academy, he didn't have to think much beyond a stadium or arena. Although a case of mononucleosis cost Mitchell his senior season of football, then-Ole Miss coach Billy Brewer still offered him a full scholarship.

Mitchell never played a down at Ole Miss. When his high school girlfriend became pregnant, they got married, and Mitchell went to work to support his family after graduating from high school.

The marriage lasted only two years. His average job didn't last nearly that long. But eventually, those odd jobs led him back to sports. He played basketball and golf at Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss., and at one time considered trying to make it on the pro tour.

He opted for coaching instead.

As the head coach at Central Holmes Academy in Lexington, Miss., Mitchell coached football and basketball (boys and girls), and taught three classes.

"I'd get to school about 7 and leave about 9 or 10 at night," Mitchell said. "It was good for my work ethic."

And it also helped him appreciate a trip to Europe when he left high school coaching behind.

"That was like hitting the lottery," Mitchell said. "I should have been coaching two-a-day football in Mississippi. Instead, I was traveling around Europe with the greatest basketball coach of all-time."

Mitchell says Summitt and DeMoss, a longtime UT assistant, have had a huge impact on his career. So there will continue to be a UT influence on Kentucky women's basketball. Mitchell and former UT player Niya Butts will see to that.

Butts, who is an assistant coach at Kentucky, was a UT senior when Mitchell was a graduate assistant coach.

"She's one of the best (assistant coaches) in the country," Mitchell said. "She's a relentless recruiter, is incredibly organized and has great relationships all over the country."

Kentucky made significant progress under DeMoss. Mitchell, who also is regarded as an outstanding recruiter, expects the upswing to continue.

"What he (athletic director Mitch Barnhardt) has done is unbelievable," Mitchell said. "He's given us a great budget for recruiting. Our practice facility is unbelievable.

"There are no excuses. Everything is in place."

A good situation soon could get even better. Before DeMoss resigned, Kentucky was considering a European trip after the 2007-2008 season. Mitchell said he hadn't heard about the trip but was all for it.

Memo to team: Keep the aisle open. The head coach might need a nap.

Sports editor John Adams may be reached at 865-342-6284 or adamsj@knews.com.