STARKVILLE — Three months after being named Mississippi State’s men’s basketball coach, Ben Howland made his first appearance before the Starkville Rotary Club at its regular meeting Monday at Starkville Country Club.
Howland expects to see much of the group, beginning this fall when his first Bulldog team takes the court for the 2015-16 season.
“I think it should be a requirement that if you live in Starkville, you come to every game,” Howland quipped. “If you live in Jackson and it’s a Wednesday night game and you don’t want to make that two-hour drive, I can understand that, I guess. But if you live here in Starkville, we expect to see you. When the Hump (MSU’s Humphrey Coliseum) is packed its one of the most intimidating places in the country.”
Howland also plans to spend plenty of time near Starkville Country Club.
“It’s beautiful out here,” said Howland, who grew up in Oregon before moving to Southern California as a youth. “In fact, we’re planning to build a home here at Country Club Estates. We just love the area.”
Howland spent about 20 minutes speaking to the group and touched on a variety of topics. He was effusive in his praise of the MSU administration, his coaching peers in the Bulldogs’ other sports and the rich legacy of Bulldog basketball under previous coaches Richard Williams and Rick Stansbury.
“When you think of the outstanding job Richard Williams did, with a Final Four appearance and a Sweet 16, that’s impressive. Then what Rick Stansbury did in his 14 years at Mississippi State was phenomenal — six NCAA (tournaments) and a couple of SEC titles. That’s a quarter-century of success right there.”
He also turned his attention to the more recent seasons.
“It’s been a tough time, the last three years, with three losing seasons,” he said. “That’s why I’m so excited about the opportunity we have this year. We have five seniors, and I want them to go out feeling they have achieved something.”
Howland said the seniors will be the core of the team, along with the much-anticipated arrival of five-star guard Malik Newman, who will become the highest rated freshman to ever put on a Bulldog uniform. The 6-foot-4 guard from Jackson was rated as the No. 1 guard prospect in the nation and the 10th overall prospect, and Howland was not reluctant to say that Newman’s time at MSU will be brief.
“He’ll have a chance to move on to the NBA after a year here,” Howland said.
In that respect, Howland said the rebuilding job he faces will really come in 2016-17.
“We will lose those five seniors and Malik, so recruiting will be critical,” he said. “Success always comes down to your ability to recruit. We’re going to put our noses to the grindstone and recruit, recruit, recruit.”
The Bulldogs have two other highly-regarded freshman coming into the program this fall — 6-10 forward Aric Holman of Kentucky and 6-5 shooting guard Quinndary Weatherspoon of Velma Jackson High School. MSU also picked up its first commitment in the 2016 recruiting class in four-star point guard Lamar Peters of New Orleans.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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