A Howland wind of change for MSU
STARKVILLE – Scott Stricklin orchestrated an extreme makeover in about 55 hours.
The facelift concluded Monday night when Stricklin, the school's athletic director, announced Ben Howland as Mississippi State's new basketball coach.
"We have a coach who is a proven winner that's taken three schools to the NCAA Tournament," 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."
Humphrey Coliseum will be the site of Howland's introductory press conference at 2:30 p.m. today. Fans are invited.
The Hump also housed Mississippi State's regular-season finale three weeks ago. The contest solidified the fourth-lowest average attendance in 25 years.
A week later, MSU concluded its third straight losing season under Rick Ray with a loss in the Southeastern Conference Tournament.
On Saturday, Stricklin changed the direction of the program with a tweet, announcing he had fired Ray. Fifty-five hours later Stricklin tweeted again, this time with a picture of Howland wearing an MSU baseball cap with a silver cowbell in his right hand.
"I'm just so humble and grateful to be the new basketball coach at Mississippi State University," Howland said in a release. "I'm elated and excited at the opportunity to 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."
It's difficult to imagine a better hire for Mississippi State among the coaches that were available. Howland's personal resume trumps MSU's in many categories.
Howland was 233-107 in 10 seasons at UCLA. He guided the Bruins to three consecutive Final Fours and produced 18 NBA players.
Mississippi State has been to one Final Four. It's had 24 players taken in the NBA Draft.
Howland has guided 10 teams to the Sweet 16. MSU has 11 NCAA Tournament wins in program history.
With its addition of Howland, Mississippi State becomes the only school in the SEC whose coaches boast a New Year's Six Bowl, a College World Series appearance and a Final Four. Only two other schools in the country – Texas and Louisville – have coaches possessing the same accomplishments.
"I am impressed with Coach Howland's resume," MSU president Mark E. Keenum said in a release. "He has been successful at the highest levels of college basketball, and I have every confidence he will bring that same proven winning formula to Mississippi State."
UCLA fired Howland in 2013 despite the Bruins winning the Pac-12 Conference Championship and 25 total games.
Howland spent the last two seasons working with Fox Sports 1 and living in Santa Barbara, California.
"I know the MSU family will embrace Coach Howland and his family and will fully support his efforts to put our Bulldog basketball team in position to compete for championships," Keenum said.
Howland won't be the only new face on the bench in 2015.
The Clarion-Ledger confirmed a report by ESPN.com's Jeff Goodman that Howland is expected to hire Korey McCray as an assistant coach. McCray worked as an assistant at LSU until stepping down in 2014.
An assistant under Howland at UCLA, McCray recruited Callaway guard Malik Newman for LSU. He began recruiting the nation's top guard as a freshman.
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, before leaving for UCLA after two Sweet 16 appearances in four seasons.
He has won a regular-season and postseason tournament championships in every conference that he's coached. He's also won Big Sky, Big East and Pac-10 Coach of the Year Awards.
In 2002, he became the first Pitt coach to win Naismith Coach of the Year in 26 years.
MSU hasn't earned a conference Coach of the Year award in more than a decade. The program has never won National Coach of the Year.
It's just a couple of things MSU hopes Howland will change.
"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."
Contact Michael Bonner at mbonner@gannett.com. Follow @MichaelBBonner on Twitter.
HOWLAND INTRODUCTION
TODAY, 2:30 P.M., HUMPHREY COLISEUM, STARKVILLE (PUBLIC INVITED)