MSU makes it official: Ben Howland is new coach
Scott Stricklin needed a no-doubt hire, someone who would energize a Mississippi State fan base that was tired of losing. It did not take long for the athletic director to find his man.
Mississippi State announced Ben Howland as its new basketball coach Monday night. The school will officially announce the hire of the former UCLA coach on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. at Humphrey Coliseum. Fans are invited to attend.
"We have a coach who is a proven winner that's taken three schools to the NCAA Tournament," MSU athletic director Scott Stricklin said in a statement. "Ben is someone who is ready to invest in the people of Mississippi and Bulldogs everywhere, while bringing championship basketball back to the Hump."
Howland took the Bruins to three Final Fours from 2006-08. MSU has gone to one as a program.
Stricklin filled the vacant position in about 55 hours after firing third year coach Rick Ray on Saturday.
It was clear from the moment the position opened that Stricklin had an idea of who he was going after, and on Sunday Howland was the rumored frontrunner.
"I'm just so humble and grateful to be the new basketball coach at Mississippi State University," Howland said in a statement released by MSU. "I'm elated and excited the opportunity build a consistent winner here at State. I know we have some of the greatest fans in the country and I look forward to making them proud of our team and our efforts. Hail State."
Mississippi State and Howland negotiated the contract details today, leading to the announcement Monday night on Twitter.
Howland was 233-107 in 10 seasons at UCLA, taking the Bruins to three consecutive Final Fours and producing 18 NBA players (many of whom, including Oklahoma City Thunder star Russell Westbrook, were not highly-ranked out of high school). He was fired in 2013 despite winning the Pac-12 Conference Championship and 25 total games.
With its addition of Howland, Mississippi State becomes the only school in the Southeastern Conference whose coaches boast a New Year's Six Bowl, a College World Series appearance and a Final Four.
Detractors blamed his slow-down style of play, but Howland's final Bruins team was the fastest team in the conference. Most likely his dismissal was related to attitude problems with players in the program and an inability to recruit the southern California area.
Howland has been out of coaching the last two seasons, doing TV work for Fox Sports 1, and living in Santa Barbara, California.
"I know I'm a really good coach," Howland told USA Today Sports in February. "I've seen a lot of people coach this year, and it's given me a new bounce and confidence in myself."
The Clarion-Ledger confirmed the report by ESPN.com's Jeff Goodman that Howland would hire Korey McCray as an assistant coach. McCray was an assistant at LSU (which is recruiting the best player in the state of Mississippi, Callaway's Malik Newman) until stepping down in 2014, and was previously on Howland's staff at UCLA. McCray entered the college ranks because of his connection to the Atlanta Celtics AAU program, and that's a pipeline of Adidas-sponsored talent that could start to make its way to Starkville (Mississippi State is an Adidas school, as is UCLA).
Howland, 57, played two years at Weber State before starting his coaching career as an assistant at Gonzaga and UC Santa Barbara. He became the Northern Arizona head coach in 1994 and took the program to one NCAA Tournament in five seasons. Howland was hired at Pittsburgh and resurrected that program, leaving for UCLA after two Sweet 16 appearances in four seasons.
"Mississippi State basketball can compete at the highest level, just as several of our other teams have done in recent years," Stricklin said. "I'm excited to have coach Howland lead us back to that level."
In addition to Tuesday's 2:30 p.m. press conference, Howland will be throwing out the first pitch at the MSU-USM game at Trustmark Park in Pearl.