Named the Trojans’ first ever men’s lacrosse head coach on August 5, 2019, Albert Mitchell wrapped up his fifth year leading the Black and Gold in 2025.
The 2025 season was one of many broken records for the Trojans, as Mitchell led his squad to the winningest campaign in program history, going 13-5 overall and 9-1 in league play. Anderson was voted to finish fifth in the conference in the preseason polls, but rounded out the season in second, earning a program-first first-round bye in the SAC Tournament. AU hosted Lenoir-Rhyne for the SAC Semis, earning a thrilling 16-15 overtime win to advance to the conference championship game, where they ended up falling short of Wingate in Matthews.
The Trojans went unbeaten for the month of March, tying their longest winning streak with six consecutive victories. Among the season’s stats are program bests in goals (342), assists (236), points (578), shots (978), SOGs (495), shot percentage (35%), man-up percentage (50.6%), CTOs (192), GBs (760), FO wins (372) saves (243), save percentage (53.3%) and clear percentage (90.5%).
The season resume was enough to solidify an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Trojans were selected as the three-seed in the South Region and hosted Maryville for the program’s first-ever NCAA postseason game. The contest favored the Saints, ending AU’s historic season.
The Trojans had a record eight players named to All-Conference teams at the end of the year and were the only team with at least one player represented in every position. Sophomore FOGO Aiden Dixon was named the 2025 SAC Specialist of the Year.
Ryan Bitterman, Radyn Badraun, Dixon and Nash Perry were named to the USILA All-Region Team, with Bitterman and Badraun also named All-Americans from both USA Lacrosse and the USILA. Dixon also earned USILA All-American honors, while Cole Sparks was selected as a USA Lacrosse All-American.
AU also had five SAC Athlete of the Week selections throughout the season, along with three USILA National Team of the Week recognitions.
The Trojans earned their second-consecutive SAC playoff berth in 2024, finishing the season 7-9 overall and 5-4 in conference play. The season is highlighted by program bests in faceoff win percentage at 64% (6th in the NCAA DII) and clearing percentage at 89.9% (8th in NCAA DII). Freshman Aiden Dixon’s faceoff win percentage (67%) led the conference and finished 5th in the country. Dixon was named Second-Team All-Conference, while Peyton Jefferson earned Third-Team, his third-straight All-Conference recognition.
Seventeen seniors graduated after the 2024 season, the fourth and final year for Mitchell’s inaugural recruiting class.
Year three at the helm saw Mitchell lead his squad to a 12-6 season, recording team program-highs in points (432), goals (270), assists (162), caused turnovers (192) and ground balls (662). The 2023 season featured the Trojans’ largest margin of victory at 20 goals (32-12 vs Chowan, Feb. 4) as well as their first win over a ranked opponent (15-14 vs No. 13 Limestone, March 11). The Black and Gold also posted their highest-scoring game with 32 goals (vs Chowan, Feb. 4) and their least-goals-conceded game, allowing only three goals from Young Harris (Feb. 18).
This on-field success led to the most awarded season in Trojan men’s lacrosse history, with 12 South Atlantic Conference Player of the Week recognitions, four All-Conference honors, three All-Region (USILA) honors and two All-American honors. The 2023 season also concluded with Radyn Badraun winning the third-straight SAC Freshman of the Year for Anderson.
After a great first year, Mitchell led the Trojans to a winning record of 9-7 in 2022 during his second season at the helm which included a six-game winning streak. The Trojans defeated third nationally ranked Wingate at home by a score of 14-12, which propelled Anderson to a spot in the USILA National Rankings at No.19 for the first time in program history. Under Mitchell's watch, Cam Weeks had another historic season in which he set the SAC single season record with 174 ground balls and had a faceoff percentage of 82% to set an all-time high for all three divisions of the NCAA. Peyton Jefferson, Beau Henson, and Joey Heckel also had great seasons as they were named to the All-SAC teams. Triston Schaffer was named SAC Freshman of the Year.
Mitchell led the Black and Gold to four wins in inaugural season, including a trip to the South Atlantic Conference tournament. Anderson picked up conference victories over Mars Hill and Lincoln Memorial, and non-conference wins over Montevallo and Alabama Huntsville. Under Mitchell, freshman Cam Weeks had an historic season by earning a spot on the All-SAC First Team, while also winning SAC Freshman of the Year and AU Male Athlete of the Year. After the season, Weeks earned USILA All-Region and All-American honors.
The Trojans joined nine other South Atlantic Conference members who currently offer men’s lacrosse and with the addition of men’s lacrosse in the Electric City, the SAC will boast 11 members sponsoring the sport (UVa Wise and Carson-Newman are the exceptions), including national powerhouse Limestone, which joined the league as a full-time member in July, 2020.
Mitchell, who spent the prior two seasons at UMass Lowell as the co-recruiting coordinator, defensive coordinator and face-off coordinator, took the reins of the brand new program that is set to begin competition in the spring of 2021. The initial year has been spent recruiting student-athletes as well as preparing a schedule and gathering equipment needed to run the program.
Mitchell helped lead the River Hawks to 13 victories over the past two seasons, including tying a program high with eight wins in 2018. His defense allowed just 10.6 goals per game during the 2018 campaign, while also posting program records with 13.53 saves per game, in man-down percentage, face-off percentage and face-offs won.
Along with his other coaching responsibilities, Mitchell served as camp coordinator and worked with community service, alumni relations, team travel, budgets and academic supervision.
Prior to his time with the River Hawks, Mitchell spent two seasons at Mercer University in Macon, Ga., as offensive coordinator and face-off coach. He also served as an assistant coach at Bryant University and Assumption College prior to his time at Mercer.
"I would like to thank Dr. Whitaker, Dr. Epting and Mr. Landrith for giving me this opportunity to be the first head coach of Anderson University lacrosse," said Mitchell. “My family and I are honored to plant our roots in the Anderson community and lay a strong foundation for lacrosse in this area. The excitement for adding men’s lacrosse is evident on campus and lacrosse is a perfect sport for Anderson with the sport’s consistent growth in the region.
Mitchell was a four-year player on the St. Mary's College of Maryland men's lacrosse team from 2009 to 2013. He was captain of the team when they won the Capital Athletic Conference Championship in 2013. He was a USILA Scholar All-American in 2013 and was a two-time All-Capital Athletic Conference Team selection in 2012 and 2013.
“I’m excited to start the recruiting process for Anderson’s first class of freshmen and to get this program underway,” added Mitchell at the time. “The school’s commitment to faith, high academic standards and its’ beautiful campus make this an ideal university for student-athletes who are looking for a great college lacrosse experience.”
Mitchell graduated from St. Mary's College in 2013 with a degree in sociology. He also earned his master's degree in higher educational leadership while at Mercer. He is married to Carolyn Mitchell and they are the proud parents of Claire and Luke.
