The first thing you notice about Bob Shearer is his shoes. They are maroon high-top Chuck Taylor All-Stars.
Sweet kicks, Bob.
“Yeah,” Shearer says. “I get a lot of compliments.”
The second thing you notice is that he is at a women’s basketball game, which is odd in this part of the world. Chuck Taylor’s were once wildly popular. That’s not been the case for women’s basketball, at least in Mississippi.
Times are changing.
It is Thursday night at Humphrey Coliseum where Mississippi State’s 13th-ranked Lady Bulldogs will meet No. 16 Kentucky in a key Southeastern Conference contest. An hour before the game, fans are already beginning to pour into the coliseum. Shearer and his wife, Anne, are already in their seats – floor level, just behind south goal.
“We could come later,” Shearer says. “We have an assigned parking spot, but we kind of like getting here early.”
For less-connected fans, arriving early is not a preference. It is essential. It’s first-come, first-serve on parking and seating, which didn’t use to be a problem. These days, a late arrival means a long walk and whatever seats are available.
Bob and Anne are big MSU supporters. The recently-retired CPA has a home in Jackson, where he worked, and a second home in Starkville, which makes it easier for the couple to attend Bulldog sporting events.
They have season tickets for both men’s and women’s basketball and the Shearers have attended all of the women’s SEC games, plus a couple of early non-conference games.
The success of the women’s team since the arrival of head coach Vic Schaefer four years ago has caught the long-time women’s basketball season-ticket holder by surprise.
“I thought the days when Latoya Thomas (2000-2003) and Tan White (2002-2005) were here would be the best we would ever see,” Shearer says. “I was wrong. This is better.”
Maroon milestones
The story of the 2015-16 Lady Bulldogs is yet to be completed; there are two regular season games remaining, plus the SEC and NCAA tournaments.
But in some respects, the program has already succeeded.
On Jan. 28, MSU defeated traditional power Tennessee for its first win over the Volunteers in school history, snapping an 0-for-36 streak. Along the way, the Bulldogs gained their first-ever Top 10 ranking (seventh) and are still contending for their highest-ever SEC finish and their highest NCAA seeding.
The Bulldogs’ on-the-court success is impressive, but it’s not necessarily the most impressive aspect of the program.
Look around Humphrey Coliseum on a game night and you see the evidence of a remarkable phenomenon.
Through 15 home games, the Lady Bulldogs have drawn 74,481 fans, a little less than 5,000 per game. On Jan. 24, MSU drew 10,626 fans for its game against second-ranked South Carolina, the largest crowd ever to watch a women’s basketball game in the state and the fourth largest crowd in the history of Humphrey Coliseum, which is also the home of the MSU men’s team.
To put those number in perspective, even the most successful MSU women’s teams prior to Schaefer’s arrival drew fewer than 2,000 fans per game.
Let’s face it: Until recently, the Bulldogs couldn’t draw a crowd in an elevator.
It’s not just that the Bulldogs are now breaking attendance records: They are shattering them.
Nobody saw this coming. Nobody except Schaefer, that is.
A leap of faith
Last spring, MSU hired Ben Howland as its men’s basketball coach. The high-profile coach’s arrival gave the Bulldogs instant credibility.
Schaefer’s arrival as the women’s coach three year earlier came with far less fanfare. For the previous 12 years, he served as an assistant coach, first at Arkansas and later at Texas A&M. While he wasn’t a household name among casual fans, Schaefer was well-known and respected in the coaching fraternity. His arrival in Starkville was widely viewed as a real coup for the program, which had made it to the NCAA Tournament just six times in its 41-year history.
As he weighed his decision about taking over the program, Schaefer had to consider whether MSU had all the necessary ingredients to succeed.
There was some precedent for winning, of course. MSU had made it to the NCAA Tournament as recently as 2010.
But there were other aspects of building a program for which there was no real precedent, including a strong fan base.
If faith is, indeed, “the evidence of things not seen,” Schaefer’s decision to take over the program was a leap of faith.
“When you take over a program like Mississippi State and the community you are investing in and moving your family into, you’ve got to believe in all of the aspects of what are considered (in) building a program,” Schaefer said. “So, if I didn’t think we could average 5,000 fans a night and have 10,000 for a game, I wouldn’t be here.
“You’ve got to have players if you’re going to build a program. Any player across the country can look and see the excitement that’s going on here and realize they are going to play in front of that every night. That’s huge for recruiting.”
After a record of 13-17 first season, MSU improved to 22-14 in his second year. Last year, MSU posted a 27-7 record, making the NCAA Tournament field for the first time in five years. MSU is 22-6 so far this season and is a lock for a second straight NCAA bid. Attendance has followed success. Over the past three years, MSU has drawn 190,772 fans, more than the previous 10 season combined.
Those crowds may be unprecedented, but not unexpected, Schaefer said.
“I did think it could be done,” he said. “But, again, I didn’t think it would happen until we got the product right. I think the response we’ve had is in correlation to the product on the floor.”
More than wins and losses
Wins alone are not the only factor in building the kind of fan base the Bulldogs are presently enjoying, though.
“I don’t think we have the fan base we have if these kids are standing around in a 2-3 zone playing ‘hope they miss’ defense,” said Schaefer, who built is reputation as an expert in defense. “I think the fans appreciate how hard our kids play the game and they honor the game with the way they play, and that’s why we have what we have.”
Indeed, the Bulldogs are often far from an offensive powerhouse. They hang their hats on relentless, suffocating defense. For any offensive lapses they suffer, on the defensive end the Bulldogs cling to opponents like spandex on a fat man.
“I do like the way they play,” Shearer said. “They play hard. I think the other thing I like about the women’s game is that it’s something I can relate to a little better. With the men, everything is so fast, I can hardly keep up with what’s happening. With the women, you can see how the plays develop. It’s fun to watch.”
That “relatability” factor emerges in another context, as well.
Players seem to have a far more intimate, personal relationship with their fans than their male counterparts, where the roles are clear and strictly observed — players play, fans cheer and the twain never meet. It is understood.
It is decidedly different with the women.
“It’s the personality our kids have,” Schaefer said. “I think that’s the infectious piece of this. Our kids go into the stands after the game, and (fans) get to know our kids. I look up there and I’ve got Teirra McCowan (a 6-foot-7 freshman from Texas) and she’s holding a kid in each arm.
“Now, it’s not just kids wanting their (photos) with my players. It’s parents. It’s moms and dads. It’s students. That’s part of the program. That’s part of building the program. It’s not always what we do, but how we do it, too.”
The home stretch
The Bulldogs have one home game remaining, Sunday afternoon against Alabama. If the Bulldogs attract a slightly better than their average crowd for that game, attendance could reach the 80,000 mark, almost four times the amount of fans the Bulldogs drew in the season before Schaefer’s arrival.
On the court, the Bulldogs have yet to achieve their ultimate goal.
That’s true at the turnstiles, too.
“I look forward to the story being written that says we had to turn people away at the gate,” Schaefer said.
That story hasn’t been written.
Yet.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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