Ben Howland plans to bring big-name talent to MSU

STARKVILLE – Ben Howland, who grew up a Los Angeles Laker fan, smiled at Bailey Howell, a former Boston Celtic.

The two were inside Humphrey Coliseum Tuesday afternoon as Mississippi State introduced Howland as the 20th head coach in program history.

"Bailey Howell and the Boston Celtics ruined my childhood year after year," Howland said.

Howell smiled back as a the hundreds fans in attendance applauded MSU's first 2,000 point scorer.

It's been more than 50 years since Howell played for Mississippi State. Howland's prerogative is to bring more Bailey Howell's to Starkville.

"It's going to take a lot of hard work. It's going to take the players to sell the program, a great staff that sells it to recruits," Howland said. "You're selling an unbelievably special league. Kids want to play here."

Howland attracted players to UCLA. He dropped household names during Tuesday's press conference, which included Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook.

Among the annals of Bruins basketball, those names are buried among Hall of Famers Bill Walton and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. In Starkville, their on-court performance would command more notoriety.

Mississippi State has had one first-round draft pick since 1997.

"I hope he can get me there," MSU senior Craig Sword said. "I want to be there one day, I hope a couple more guys on the team too."

Howland has four seniors on the 2015-16 roster, led by Sword, a second-team All-SEC selection. He has yet to meet with MSU's 2015 signees, but plans to soon. The 2002 Naismith Coach of the Year is scheduled to meet with Quinndary Weatherspoon, the Bulldogs' top signee, on Thursday.

Howland has yet to announce a staff. He's expected to hire Korey McCray, a former LSU assistant coach. McCray has recruited Malik Newman, the top player in Mississippi, since his freshman season.

McCray worked with Howland at UCLA as well and won with high level talent. They hope to do the same in Starkville.

"I have 280 text messages since yesterday afternoon, and a number of them are from Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, Darren Collison, etc., etc.," Howland said. "That makes me feel great that they feel so connected."

Starkville isn't Los Angeles and Mississippi State isn't UCLA. Neither deterred Howland from high expectations.

He led Northern Arizona and Pittsburgh to NCAA Tournament appearances. Neither school was known for its basketball before Howland stepped on campus.

"That's a steel town. You think about toughness. You think about blue-collar," Howland said. "You think about hard-noised kids that represent that city. We're building a team here that represents the state of Mississippi. I'm very proud of that."

Howland met with the current players on Monday night. The seniors have experienced losing seasons in their first three seasons.

The roster won't change too much, yet the level of expectations still increase with the arrival of Howland.

"I'm excited about the opportunity," Howland said. "I think we can build something special here."

The big-name players brought Howland success. He's reached three final fours in 10 NCAA Tournament appearance.

MSU played in its last NCAA tourney in 2009. Its only Final Four came in 1996.

Howland remembers it, but doesn't expect to be Mississippi State's last.

"Richard Williams led this program to the Final Four with a chance to win a national championship," Howland said. "Make no mistake about it, that is our goal to get back there again."

Contact Michael Bonner at mbonner@gannett.com. Follow @MichaelBBonner on Twitter.