Ronald L. "Fang" Mitchell (born February 8, 1948) is an American

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach and the former head men's basketball coach at

Coppin State University Coppin State University (Coppin) is a public historically black university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is part of the University System of Maryland and a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. History Coppin State Univer ...

Early life, education, and business career

Born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

and raised in

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a City (New Jersey), city in Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan region. The city was incorporated on February 13, 1828.Snyder, John P''The Story of ...

, Mitchell graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Camden. Because he could not afford college, Mitchell worked factory and service jobs before attending

Gloucester County College Rowan College of South Jersey (RCSJ) is a public university, public community college with two campuses in the South Jersey region of New Jersey. The first, Gloucester Main Campus, is in Sewell, New Jersey, Sewell. The second, Cumberland Branc ...

. Mitchell played on the Gloucester basketball team while also working the night shift as a computer operator at a bank. Mitchell then attended

Rutgers University–Camden Rutgers University–Camden is one of three regional campuses of Rutgers University, a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. It is located in Camden, New Jersey. Founded in 1926 as the South Jersey Law ...

for a year, before embarking on a business career. He worked as a shoe company manager and printing sales representative. In

Glassboro, New Jersey Glassboro is a Borough (New Jersey), borough within Gloucester County, New Jersey, Gloucester County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, within the Philadelphia metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 2 ...

, Mitchell founded a clothing store, Mr. Fang's Athletic Attire, which expanded from one to three locations.

Coaching career

Gloucester County College

With no coaching experience, Mitchell became head coach at

in 1978. In his first season, he led the previously struggling Gloucester County Roadrunners to a stunning 19–11 record, then to consecutive seasons with 26 or more wins per year until the 1985–86 season. Gloucester County also made the NJCAA tournament in 1980, 1981, 1985, and 1986. While Gloucester County head coach, Mitchell also assisted at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

basketball camps and became a good friend of Temple coach John Chaney. Additionally, Mitchell completed his

Bachelor of Business Administration A Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is an undergraduate degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of four years and typically 120 credits of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of busine ...

degree at

Thomas Edison State College Thomas Edison State University (TESU) is a public university in Trenton, New Jersey, United States. The university is one of New Jersey's 11 senior public institutions of higher education. Thomas Edison State University offers degrees at the und ...

in 1984.

Coppin State

In 1986,

, a member of the

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC ) is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and the Mid-A ...

(MEAC), hired Mitchell to be head coach for the

Coppin State Eagles men's basketball The Coppin State Eagles men's basketball team represents Coppin State University in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The school's team currently competes in the NCAA Division I in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Before joining NCAA Divisio ...

team; Mitchell would hold this position for 28 seasons. Mitchell earned his master's degree in adult and continuing education at Coppin State in 1994 while head coach. In his 28 seasons as head coach, Mitchell was named MEAC Coach of the Year six times. He also led Coppin State to first place in the MEAC regular season standings ten times and four NCAA tournament appearances. The Coppin State Eagles improved annually from 8–19 in Mitchell's first season to 26–7 in the 1989–90 season and a berth in the 1990 NCAA tournament. The season also included an upset over

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. After being projected to finish seventh in the conference in coaches' and sports information directors' preseason polls, Coppin State finished the season 22–8 and first in the MEAC and also made the

1993 NCAA tournament The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

. In 1995, Mitchell turned down an offer to be head coach at

FIU Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. FIU is the third-largest uni ...

with a salary of $150,000, 90 percent higher than his current pay at Coppin State. Coppin State next made the NCAA Tournament in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

as a #15 seed and upset #2

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

in the first round before losing to

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

in the second round 82–81. Coppin State's last NCAA Tournament berth under Mitchell was in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

. On March 28, 2014, Coppin State opted not to renew Mitchell's contract, following three consecutive losing seasons and nine losing seasons in the last ten.

Personal life

Mitchell married the former Yvonne Forston in 1990; they remained married until her death in 2002.

Head coaching record

Junior college

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Fang 1948 births Living people African-American basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from New Jersey Basketball coaches from Pennsylvania Basketball players from Camden, New Jersey Basketball players from Philadelphia College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Coppin State Eagles men's basketball coaches Coppin State University alumni Junior college men's basketball coaches in the United States Junior college men's basketball players in the United States Rutgers University–Camden alumni Thomas Edison State University alumni Eastside High School (Camden, New Jersey) alumni 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen