From Special Reports
STARKVILLE – Mississippi State head women’s basketball coach Vic Schaefer has been named a finalist for the 2019 Werner Ladder Naismith Women’s Coach of the Year Award, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced on Thursday.
Schaefer is seeking to become just the third coach to win the honor in consecutive seasons. Fans will be able to support Schaefer by voting at NaismithFanVote.com until April 3. Fan votes will account for five percent of the overall total. The winner will be announced on April 6.
He has already earned his third SEC Coach of the Year honor and was the ESPNW National Coach of the Year this season. Schaefer earned national recognition from the USBWA and WBCA last season.
No. 4 Mississippi State won the SEC regular-season title outright before claiming the program’s first SEC Tournament championship. The Bulldogs have played in consecutive National Championship games and will look to advance to a third straight when they open tournament play on Friday.
The Dawgs are 30-2 with a 15-1 mark in conference play and are 6-1 against ranked opponents. MSU has been in the Associated Press Top 25 poll for 93 straight weeks, including a 57-week run inside the Top 10.
Schaefer has developed a roster that features no McDonald’s High School All-Americans as he signed the program’s first such player in the 2019 signing class.
Of the seven players to start a game for MSU this season, only All-American Teaira McCowan had started for Schaefer before this season. Three of those starters, Anriel Howard, Andra Espinoza-Hunter and Xaria Wiggins are in their first year in the program.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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