STARKVILLE — For nearly a decade and a half, every single person involved with Mississippi State University men’s basketball has never had to wonder about the value of the head coaching position.
The reason is simple — Rick Stansbury has always been there. For 14 years, since taking over for his boss Richard Williams in 1998, Stansbury has always led the program and been the face of Bulldogs basketball. This fact alone has made such an exercise essentially meaningless.
Thursday’s announcement of Stansbury starting “a new chapter” with his retirement from the position he’s been associated with in Starkville, makes those thoughts, questions and evaluations incredibly critical.
The question among MSU administration being asked currently is essentially: has it been the man or the office that has thrived for 15 years. Judging by the national reaction to Thursday’s announcement, the answer might be — a little bit of both.
“The Mississippi State job has appeal because the previous coach has been winning fairly regularly,” Sporting News national college basketball writer Mike DeCourcey said. “It’s not a disastrous situation where the new coach has to invent the notion of success.
“Obviously it’s been a little while since the Bulldogs have gone deep into the NCAAs, but they’ve been in the SEC title game, reached the tournament, won games, sent guys to the NBA.”
All of those things DeCourcey mentioned in his checklist are under Stansbury’s watch as he became the school’s all-time wins leader, the ninth-winningest coach in league history and recorded 11 postseason appearances.
“It would not be considered an elite job, but it would be high-level and would attract a high-quality candidate if Mississippi State looks in the right places,” says DeCourcey.
Some of the early candidates likely to be considered to fill Stansbury’s void are University of Kentucky assistant coach Kenny Payne, Florida State University assistant coach Stan Jones, Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall and Mississippi Valley State head coach Sean Woods among others.
“If I were Mississippi State, I’d try to beat South Carolina (who fired Darrin Horn this week) to Gregg Marshall, pointing out the difference in recent track record between the two schools,” DeCourcey said.
“If Marshall is unavailable, I’m telling you the guy I would go after is Ron Everhart at Duquesne. Some of the other names I’ve seen might have better records but are far less impressive. Everhart took the worst major program in America over the past three decades and made it consistently respectable in a solid league.”
Dee Bost, the Bulldogs’ departing senior point guard, went to his Twitter account to put in a plug for long-time assistant coach Phil Cunningham.
“Coach Stans retired,” tweeted Bost. “I think all alumni and fans should try to get Coach Cunningham as coach.”
After the media conference, Stricklin also would not give a timetable for the press for having a new coach hired. The Dispatch learned Thursday evening MSU will hire the Parker Executive Search firm based out of Atlanta, Ga., to help with the process. It is the same firm the University of Illinois is using to find its next men’s basketball coach after firing Bruce Weber.
Asked what he’s seeking in a head coach, Stricklin said: “I don’t care if it’s a head coach, assistant coach, big school, small school, young or old.”
This philosophy also didn’t rule out interviewing current MSU assistants for the job.
“We’ll see,” Stricklin said. “We’re wide open. I wouldn’t dismiss that idea.”
Stansbury had two years remaining on a contract that pays between $1.4 million and $1.5 million per year. Stricklin said salary would not be a factor in not hiring the correct fit for MSU.
“I’m going to pay whatever we need to get to whatever works for them,” Stricklin said. “You know, right now Rick is making a top-thirty salary; that’s top-ten percent in the country. I think we’re pretty committed to the sport of men’s basketball, and I think we’ve got a really unique situation.”
In terms of prerequisites for the position, Stricklin laid out more personality traits that the university could sell to the public than resume builders like pervious head-coaching experience and in-state ties.
“I don’t think it’s any different (than when MSU hired football coach Dan Mullen or baseball coach John Cohen,” Stricklin said. “I still think smart, competitive, intelligent, hard-working people who understand how to attract and sell what we have here at Mississippi State University (and) attract people to it.”
Stricklin’s boss, MSU president Mark Keenum, told The Dispatch he sees the open men’s basketball job as “one of the most promising in the country” citing the Mize Pavilion practice facility and the membership of Southeastern Conference as reasons for several top candidates to be interested.
“It’s very attractive,” Keenum said. “There’s somebody in the coaching world looking around wanting to be a part of this environment and I also have confidence in Scott Stricklin to find him.”
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