Vic Schaefer knew he could win at Mississippi State.
The veteran coach realized someone could be successful in Starkville shortly after talking with school administrators and touring the athletic facilities in 2012.
Schaefer had been to MSU plenty of times in the past as a coach at Arkansas, so he understood the women’s basketball team didn’t draw robust numbers to Humphrey Coliseum. But Schaefer sensed something more was there. The construction of Mize Pavilion was part of it. In addition to the new practice facility built onto the Hump, there also was an energy and a willingness to believe that magic could be created
If Schaefer needed any further convincing, he only needed to talk to his wife, Holly, another former coach, who saw the same things in MSU.
“When she came home that night she said, ‘Vic, we can win and we can win big there,’ ” Schafer said in 2012. “Part of it was facilities, part of it was the people, part of it was the town. She kept thinking there might be a roadblock here or here or here and I am going to run into one, but she never ran into that wall. Trust me, she was a coach when we met. The most valuable piece of advice I learned in coaching came from her when we first met and we first got married. This goes back to that intensity thing I think I am known for a little bit, but it also can be carried a little too far. She said, ‘If they don’t like you, they’re not going to play hard for you.’ I think that is an unbelievable, valuable lesson I learned a long time ago that changed my career.”
It’s telling to re-visit Schaefer’s remarks from nearly three years ago as MSU (24-4, 9-4 Southeastern Conference) enjoys a night off from a game on a typical SEC play date. At No. 14 in The Associated Press poll, Schaefer’s Bulldogs are one win from creating another slice of history. A win Sunday at Alabama would help MSU set a single-season mark for victories. Two more SEC wins would give the Bulldogs a program-record 11 league victories. All this from a program that suffered a 63-36 loss to Alabama in the first round of the SEC tournament on March 6, 2013. That loss ranks as one of the toughest Schaefer has endured as a coach. It capped a 13-17 season, Schaefer’s first in Starkville, and set the tone for a change in attitude for the Bulldogs.
A year ago, MSU started to alter the perception of its program by going 22-14 and advancing to the quarterfinals of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. MSU played its best basketball at the end of the season and, in the process, captured the attention of its fans by playing hard and showing a resiliency that kept it in games it had no business being in. The action wasn’t always pretty, but there was no denying the Bulldogs were working hard and trying to live up to the standards set by the “Secretary of Defense” and his staff. That’s why MSU finished the 2013-14 season No. 7 in the nation in largest attendance increase from the previous season (1,317 to 2,321).
MSU figures to shatter that number this season. With one regular-season home game remaining against Ole Miss, MSU is sixth in the SEC in average attendance (3,545). Coming off a season-high crowd of 5,183 that pushed the total home attendance to a program record 60,272, MSU could climb past Vanderbilt into fifth place in the league and record another season-high crowd Sunday, March 1, when Ole Miss comes to town.
MSU has done it with a mix of old and new. Seniors Martha Alwal, Kendra Grant, and Jerica James are holdovers from coach Sharon Fanning-Otis’ tenure. They have learned new lessons and integrated their skills with back-to-back nationally ranked recruiting classes to elevate MSU’s profile. This season, the arrival of freshman Victoria Vivians, the state’s all-time leading high school scorer, has heightened the excitement surrounding the program. Last week, Vivians raised that energy another notch by scoring a career-high 39 points in a double-overtime loss at then-No. 10 Kentucky. Vivians’ performance earned her U.S. Basketball Writers Association National Freshman of the Week honors.
You only need to look at Vivians’ maturation to see a bright future at MSU. Vivians arrived at MSU as a “volume shooter,” a term one coach this season used to describe her. And while Vivians has attempted more than double the number of shots than all of her teammates except Breanna Richardson, her game has evolved. She has learned to attack the basket and isn’t settling only for 3-pointers. She also has watched teammates like Dominique Dillingham take charges and play defense and has come to understand the importance of playing hard on both ends of the floor.
But Vivians isn’t the only one. MSU has 14 pieces to the puzzle that appear to fit together very well. The players enjoy each other and want to dig deep to play hard for their teammates when things get tough. That’s a true sign of an effective coach. It shouldn’t be surprising, though, because Schaefer took a piece of what he learned in helping to build a national champion at Texas A&M and brought it to MSU. Twenty-four wins later, MSU is in the discussion to play host to the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament for the first time in program history.
Schaefer knew it was possible. He just had to get players to listen to him. Now that Schaefer and the Bulldogs have everyone’s attention, they don’t intend to stop the ride anytime soon.
“Our kids love College Station. We can’t get rid of them in the summertime because the community embraces them,” Schaefer said in 2012 when asked about the challenges of building a successful program at MSU. “I see the same thing happening here in Starkville. No. 2, the parents want to know wherever their kids are that they are in an environment that is conducive to learning and they’re in an environment that is conducive to success. I think that is provided for in Starkville and here at Mississippi State. As a parent, that is all I want for for my child. When you drive up and come onto this campus and you see the buildings and you see the facilities, there is nothing in my mind that doesn’t say that this is a great place and it is important what we’re doing, basketball is important.”
Nearly three years later, Schaefer isn’t the only believer.
Adam Minichino is sports editor at The Dispatch. You can email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ctsporteditor.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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