STARKVILLE — Mississippi State officially has its women’s basketball coach.
Following a search that lasted just five days to replace Vic Schaefer, who left Starkville for the head coaching job at Texas, Old Dominion’s Nikki McCray-Penson has officially been named the head coach per MSU Athletics.
A source with immediate knowledge of the situation told The Dispatch the team spoke with their new head coach Saturday morning ahead of the official announcement.
“Nikki brings energy, creativity, and a winning mentality to Mississippi State that will inspire our student-athletes and community,” MSU Athletic Director John Cohen said in a news release. “She has earned a national reputation as an outstanding teacher of the game, dynamic recruiter and a developer of young women on and off the court. Nikki has achieved success at every step of her career, both as a coach and player. She is a proven winner who will lead one of the best women’s basketball programs in the nation. We are excited to welcome Nikki and her family to Starkville and are thrilled that she will lead us into the next chapter of Mississippi State women’s basketball.”
A former Southeastern Conference standout herself, McCray-Penson was twice named conference player of the year under legendary Volunteers coach Pat Summitt. After her time on Rocky Top, the Collierville, Tennessee native was a three-time WNBA All-Star and a two-time Olympic medalist during her 11 year professional career.
McCray-Penson’s first venture into coaching began with a two-year stint at Western Kentucky where she helped the HIlltoppers to the 2008 Sun Belt Tournament championship and an appearance in the NCAA tournament.
Following the 2008 season, she joined Dawn Staley’s staff at South Carolina where she would spent the next nine season. During McCray-Penson’s time in Columbia, she’d help the Gamecocks to four SEC regular season titles, three conference tournament championships and the 2017 national title.
Her first head coaching job came with the Monarchs. Taking over a program that hadn’t made the NCAA tournament since 2008, McCray-Penson guided ODU to a 53-40 record in her three seasons — including back-to-back 20 win seasons in 2019 and 2020. The Monarchs’ 13-win turnaround between 2018 and 2019 was also the sixth-best in the nation and was done with the seventh-youngest roster in America.
“It’s been a dream of mine to be a head coach in the SEC, and I’m so grateful and blessed for this incredible honor and opportunity to lead Mississippi State women’s basketball,” McCray-Penson said in a news release. “This is a national brand with incredible people, a storied tradition and an outstanding community that is second to none. I am confident that my experiences as a coach and player have prepared me for this, and I will pour everything I have into our student-athletes and program. My family and I are so happy to be a part of the Bulldog Family and we can’t wait to get started.”
Salary details have not been released, but McCray-Penson is slated for a heavy raise. The Richmond Times-Dispatch previously reported she earned a $200,000 base salary in 2018-19. For context, a source with immediate knowledge of the situation told The Dispatch last week Schaefer was slated to make nearly $2 million annually had he stuck around in Starkville.
The Bulldogs chose McCray-Penson over a candidate pool that also included Louisville’s Jeff Walz and longtime Schaefer-associate head coach Johnnie Harris.
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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