Van Chancellor understands the challenge that awaits the next Mississippi State University women’s basketball coach.
Chancellor won 439 games in 19 seasons as coach of the University of Mississippi women’s basketball team. He went on to win four WNBA titles as coach of the Houston Comets, and then led the LSU women’s basketball team to the NCAA tournament three times before stepping down following the 2010-11 season.
Chancellor was in Starkville on Feb. 12 to work as a broadcaster for MSU’s 53-50 overtime victory against Ole Miss, so he is familiar with the program coach Sharon Fanning-Otis will leave behind after this season. On Monday, Fanning-Otis announced her 17th season as head coach at MSU would be her last. That announcement started a whirlwind of speculation about who will succeed MSU’s all-time winningest coach. Chancellor said the key for the next coach to build on Fanning-Otis’ record is simple.
“You have to be able to go in and recruit and get the very best players from your state,” Chancellor said. “Every year when you have a player of the year in Mississippi, Mississippi State is going to have to be in on one of those top two.”
Chancellor said it doesn’t matter if the next coach recruits high school or junior college players. He said it is crucial for the next coach to be enthusiastic and willing to canvas the state and to build interest and energy in MSU.
With the completion of the Mize Pavilion at Humphrey Coliseum, the $11.2 million practice facility for the MSU men’s and women’s basketball program, Chancellor feels the school has facilities that are “second to none.” He said now MSU will have to win games to raise its profile so the nation’s best players see it is as a destination.
In 2009-10, MSU made history when it advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament for the first time. The Lady Bulldogs relied on the senior leadership of Alexis Rack and Tysheka Grimes and the contributions of junior college transfers Rima Kalonda, Armelie Lumanu, and Chanel Mokango.
But MSU slipped to 13-17 the following season and is 14-13 (4-10 in the Southeastern Conference) with two regular-season games remaining this season. The Lady Bulldogs will have at least one game in the SEC tournament on March 1-4 in Nashville, Tenn., so they still have hopes to extend their season beyond that event.
Still, MSU’s record of postseason play pales in comparison to many of its SEC counterparts. Fanning-Otis led MSU to all six of its trips to the NCAA tournament. That number of appearances in the “Big Dance” is last in the 12-team league.
Chancellor said the way to fix that is to bring “difference-makers” to the program. He said there is “no doubt in his mind” MSU is ready to make that commitment.
The key will be to find the right coach to lead that charge.
“For you to draw more interest in the program you’re going to have to get out and sell your program 24-7,” Chancellor said. “You can win there. If you win, the fans will come. If you win, the players are going to come.”
Veteran broadcaster Debbie Antonelli agrees with Chancellor. She said several times Tuesday the primary selling point for the next coach will be MSU is in the SEC, which year in and year out is one of the nation’s top leagues for women’s basketball.
“It is an interesting challenge and it will be a difficult climb. That is because that league has gotten better this year,” Antonelli said. “I can’t imagine Mississippi State without Sharon and a Bulldog around her neck. The athletic director will find someone qualified, but off the top of my head I can’t think of who that might be.”
Antonelli said it will be important for the next coach to “understand the culture of Mississippi State basketball.” She said it would help if that person was a player Fanning-Otis coached, or if it was someone who was from the South. Regardless of the résumé of the next coach, Antonelli said the next coach will take a job that isn’t blessed with the deepest talent pool of recruits. The next coach also will have to do their best to fend off advances from Ole Miss and Southern Miss as well as other SEC programs, like LSU and Georgia, that have had success in recent years raiding the state for its top talent.
Antonelli said Fanning-Otis realized that goal when she and her staff recruited LaToya Thomas and Tan White to MSU. Those players led MSU to four NCAA tournament appearances in careers that overlapped from 1999-2005.
“Certainly there are going to be some good people interested, but I don’t think it is one of the top 10 jobs in the country,” Antonelli said. “I think it is in a great league, and I think it has to be someone with Southern roots who can understand the way of life in the South.
“It is a head coaching position in the SEC first and foremost. Whatever Sharon was getting, she maximized it. Whatever tools she was allowed to have, she took full advantage of them. I think it takes someone with a lot of energy to want to come in and do the same with the same amount of resources.”
Fanning-Otis made her decision with one year remaining on her contract. She was making $230,000 a year, which ranks among the bottom of the league. According to a recent USA Today survey of salaries of women’s basketball coaches, that salary is significantly less than many of the top coaches, many of whom coach prorgams in Bowl Championship Conferences like MSU.
Antonelli said it will be up to the MSU administration to decide how it is going to determine success. She said she is wary women’s basketball will fall victim to higher expectations as salaries for head coaches continue to climb. In regard to MSU, she said the administration will have to sell the school and the program to the next coach and make sure it finds someone who has the drive it takes to push things forward.
MSU’s search may have become a little more interesting Tuesday with the announcement that Nell Fortner will resign as head coach at Auburn University at the end of the season. Antonelli said historically Auburn, which is playing in a new basketball arena this season, has had more success, and its opening for a women’s basketball coach likely would be more appealing than the one at MSU.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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