Doug Novak made the most of his audition for the head coaching job at Mississippi State, but the Bulldogs officially decided to go in another direction Saturday.
MSU hired Louisville associate coach Sam Purcell to lead its women’s basketball program, taking over for Novak, who spent the 2021-22 season as the Bulldogs’ interim coach. Novak replaced Nikki McCray-Penson, who stepped down Oct. 12 citing health concerns.
Purcell will finish out the season with Louisville, one of the nation’s top teams, before being introduced in Starkville.
“I’m honored and humbled to be the head women’s basketball coach at Mississippi State University, and I am appreciative to John Cohen and the entire university administration for this opportunity,” Purcell said in a news release from Mississippi State. “The Purcell family is thrilled to be coming to Starkville, and we can’t wait to meet the team and the entire Bulldog Family. Mississippi State women’s basketball is synonymous with winning, and I fully intend to continue that winning culture. Hail State!”
Purcell had been the Cardinals’ associate coach since 2013 and an assistant coach from 2013-17. He spent 2007-09 as Georgia Tech’s video coordinator before becoming an assistant from 2009-13.
“During our search, Sam Purcell routinely emerged as one of the nation’s elite recruiters and more importantly, a terrific fit to lead our program,” Cohen said in the release. “Sam has been an integral part of some of the most successful teams in women’s basketball. He is creative, meticulous, and has shown a proven ability to recruit the nation’s top talent and develop student-athletes.”
Purcell was a student coach at Auburn from 2000-2003 and spent the next two years as a video coordinator and administrative assistant for the Tigers. He was an assistant coach at Tulsa from 2005-07.
For his first head coaching job, he will inherit a Bulldogs team that played much of the season with just seven players due to injuries, transfers and more. Mississippi State went 15-14 under Novak, running out of gas and losing its final six games.
Purcell takes over a program that reached the national championship game in back-to-back seasons under Vic Schaefer, who left for Texas after the 2019-20 campaign. The Bulldogs were poised to be a high seed that season, but the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the NCAA tournament.
MSU hasn’t been back to the Big Dance since but hopes Purcell can help it make a return. Under Jeff Walz at Louisville, Purcell has helped lead the Cardinals to a 262-47 (.847) overall record. Louisville has made the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament six times, getting to the Elite Eight four times and making one Final Four.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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