STARKVILLE — Mississippi State women’s basketball’s home game Thursday versus Texas already carries significance.
The Bulldogs (19-9, 6-8 SEC) and third-year coach Sam Purcell are fighting to secure an NCAA tournament bid. Texas (27-2, 13-1) became the No. 1 team in the country this week. It’s also the final home game of the regular season. A victory for MSU would almost certainly lock it into March Madness.
The game also marks the return of Vic Schaefer, the Texas coach who led Mississippi State to some of its best seasons in program history. Thursday’s tipoff (6:30 p.m., SEC Network+) will be Schaefer’s first game back at Humphrey Coliseum since he left for the Texas job five years ago.
“Respect, first and foremost,” Purcell said. “Vic’s been in this business for many years. Well thought of, future hall of famer.”
Here’s what to know about Schaefer’s return to MSU.
Who is Vic Schaefer?
Schaefer, who turns 64 on Sunday, got his first head coaching gig at Sam Houston State from 1990-97. He then worked as an assistant at Arkansas and Texas A&M. Mississippi State was his next head coaching job when he was hired in 2012.
His first season at MSU did not go well after he replaced the retired Sharon Fanning-Otis. The Bulldogs went 13-17 in Schaefer’s first season, one less win than the previous season. They improved to 22-14 the next season, but that wasn’t enough to reach the NCAA tournament.
Schaefer brought Mississippi State to the NCAA tournament in his third season. That’s when the program really took off.
MSU reached the Sweet 16 in 2016, then lost to South Carolina in the national championship game the next season. Mississippi State knocked off UConn in overtime of the national semifinals on a buzzer beater by Morgan William, ending the Huskies’ 111-game winning streak. It made the title game in 2018 too, but lost again one win away from a national championship. In 2019, MSU’s season ended in the Elite Eight.
Mississippi State had another great run in 2019-20 at 27-6, but COVID ended the season before the NCAA tournament.
Why did Vic Schaefer leave Mississippi State?
On April 5, 2020, one month after MSU’s last game, Schaefer was hired by Texas.
He cited it as “a chance to come home.” Schaefer was born in Austin and attended Texas A&M. His daughter, Blair, is in her third season as an assistant coach at Texas and played for him at Mississippi State from 2014-18.
Schaefer said he still owns two farms in the Starkville area.
“Those eight years that we spent there are the eight best years of the Schaefer family’s lives,” he said on Tuesday. “Both my kids are graduates from Mississippi State. They’re Bulldogs. We just had so much great fun, great success there and still have so many good friends there.”
The Bulldogs hired Nikki McCray-Penson from Old Dominion, but she resigned a month before her second season citing health reasons. Doug Novak was the interim coach for the season until Purcell was hired.
How has Vic Schaefer done at Texas?
Schaefer has been successful at Texas, too, reaching the Elite Eight in three of his first four seasons. However, he hasn’t brought the Longhorns to the national championship game like he did with Mississippi State.
This could be the season it happens though. Texas is No. 1 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll for the first time in program history with its only losses to Notre Dame and South Carolina. It beat South Carolina in a rematch on Feb. 9. Texas has the No. 1 defense in the SEC, allowing 55.7 points per game.
MORE: How Mississippi State basketball’s 3-point defensive issues magnified vs Alabama
Schaefer signed a three-year contract extension on Feb. 15 that will pay him $2.6 million by 2030, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
“I’m sure it’ll be emotional, but for me, I’ve got a heck of a team that I got to go in there and try to win a road game,” Schaefer said. “That’s it for me.”
Sam Sklar is the Mississippi State beat reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at ssklar@gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Vic Schaefer: Texas coach returns to Mississippi State for game
