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Miss State's New Coach

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Breaking News C-USA Coach of the Year Nikki McCray-Penson has been offered the position and accepted to be the next Head Coach for the
@HailStateWBK
program. She is currently working out the details of the contract and should be completed by the end of the night.

If so, I wish her the best. She's got plenty of talent on hand.

Her resume seems a bit thin, but, only time, and opportunity will tell.
 

Carnac

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It remains to be seen what McCray-Penson's salary will be at MSU, but she stands to receive a major pay raise. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, she made $200,000 in base salary in 2018-19. By contrast, a source with immediate knowledge of the situation told The Dispatch last week Schaefer was slated to make nearly $2 million annually had he stayed.

ESPN's Mechelle Voepel writes a brief narrative on MSU's new hire -

MSU's Chole Bibby has entered the transfer portal.
 
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oldude

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McCray-Penson’s name has been mentioned frequently in various forums. She is a really good hire imo. Her 4 years as a player at TN & 10 years as a top assistant at SC, including the Gamecocks National Championship season, gives her a strong understanding of the SEC. While she’s only been a HC for 3 years, she did turnaround a miserable ODU team in only 3 years to become the co-champions of C-USA this season.
 
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There is a wealth of talent that I feel has been untapped in the State of Mississippi. If she can tap into it Mississippi State will be a powerhouse for years to come.
 
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"A miserable ODU team"????
17-14 is miserable? Please, let's not overstate the case.
We'll see if she's got the coaching chops to handle the job. But, please, the tenure as a player or assistant coach, has little to do with how one handles head coaching challenges, especially, on the P5 level. And, let's be honest she's only had one stellar year as a coach. But, we'll see.
 

oldude

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"A miserable ODU team"????
17-14 is miserable? Please, let's not overstate the case.
We'll see if she's got the coaching chops to handle the job. But, please, the tenure as a player or assistant coach, has little to do with how one handles head coaching challenges, especially, on the P5 level. And, let's be honest she's only had one stellar year as a coach. But, we'll see.
I agree. Miserable was a bad adjective. A better word choice would have been “mediocre.” As for having only one stellar year, I look at her 3 year progression from 8 wins to 21, to 24 in a shortened season. As for her tenure as a player (under Pat), long-time assistant (under Dawn), in addition to a very successful career as a pro/Olympian, I believe it has everything to do with how she will handle the HC challenges at MSU.

McCray has been successful in everything she’s done. While many LV fans were pleased with their hire of KJH last season, we certainly can’t say the same thing about KJH, given her lack of success at NC St.
 
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I agree. Miserable was a bad adjective. A better word choice would have been “mediocre.” As for having only one stellar year, I look at her 3 year progression from 8 wins to 21, to 24 in a shortened season. As for her tenure as a player (under Pat), long-time assistant (under Dawn), in addition to a very successful career as a pro/Olympian, I believe it has everything to do with how she will handle the HC challenges at MSU.
;)
 
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I agree. Miserable was a bad adjective. A better word choice would have been “mediocre.” As for having only one stellar year, I look at her 3 year progression from 8 wins to 21, to 24 in a shortened season. As for her tenure as a player (under Pat), long-time assistant (under Dawn), in addition to a very successful career as a pro/Olympian, I believe it has everything to do with how she will handle the HC challenges at MSU.
Her pedigree, her battle/story with cancer, her ability to recruit will make kids like her and will be more than enough imo to keep this program in an upward trend.
 
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"The Bulldogs went with McCray-Penson over a candidate pool that included Louisville's Jeff Walz and Schaefer disciple Johnnie Harris. A source confirmed to The Dispatch Thursday finalists had been narrowed to McCray-Penson and Walz."

Jeff Walz? The guy keeps getting mentioned as ready to move. Why? What's wrong with Louisville? Just how much more money does he need?

Makes me appreciate Coach Geno even more. 36 years at the same school, where he just kept doing it better and better.
 
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"The Bulldogs went with McCray-Penson over a candidate pool that included Louisville's Jeff Walz and Schaefer disciple Johnnie Harris. A source confirmed to The Dispatch Thursday finalists had been narrowed to McCray-Penson and Walz."

Jeff Walz? The guy keeps getting mentioned as ready to move. Why? What's wrong with Louisville? Just how much more money does he need?

Makes me appreciate Coach Geno even more. 36 years at the same school, where he just kept doing it better and better.
There was a story/rumor a number of years ago that Ohio State offered Geno a “blank check”?
 

Waquoit

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There was a story/rumor a number of years ago that Ohio State offered Geno a “blank check”?
That was a shot across the bow telling the "rock star" to cut the crap.
 
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McCray-Penson’s name has been mentioned frequently in various forums. She is a really good hire imo. Her 4 years as a player at TN & 10 years as a top assistant at SC, including the Gamecocks National Championship season, gives her a strong understanding of the SEC. While she’s only been a HC for 3 years, she did turnaround a miserable ODU team in only 3 years to become the co-champions of C-USA this season.

I think it's a good hire, but I've never quite understood the phrase: "understands the SEC" as a job qualification.

Generally speaking it tends to be a primary requirement in a lot of SEC job searches and I'm not sure it has done most of them very much good.
 

oldude

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I think it's a good hire, but I've never quite understood the phrase: "understands the SEC" as a job qualification.

Generally speaking it tends to be a primary requirement in a lot of SEC job searches and I'm not sure it has done most of them very much good.
How about, based on her experience at TN as a player and SC as an assistant, she understands what it takes to WIN in the SEC?
 

Waquoit

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How about, based on her experience at TN as a player and SC as an assistant, she understands what it takes to WIN in the SEC?
The only experience I have with the SEC is when I went to the UConn FB at Vandy. But I can tell you what it takes to win in the SEC: Good Players.
 

oldude

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The only experience I have with the SEC is when I went to the UConn FB at Vandy. But I can tell you what it takes to win in the SEC: Good Players.
So Long as McCray can keep the rest of the returning MS St players from transferring, she’ll have plenty of Good Players.
 
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How about, based on her experience at TN as a player and SC as an assistant, she understands what it takes to WIN in the SEC?

I mean the SEC tends to be a competition on who can hire the most SEC people and generally speaking it tends to be dominated by folks who came from outside (Saban, Meyer, Pitino, Donovan (yeah I know he was asst for Pitino), Calipari, Staley).
 

RockyMTblue2

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Perhaps they figure Staley will dominate for at least several years and Nikki can grow on the job at a not outlandish sum.
 

UConnCat

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In the thread on this topic on the general board @DaBball says it’s now being reported that McCray is balking at an SEC no-compete clause MSU wants in the contract.

As of now no announcement on the MSU site, and all the articles announcing the alleged hiring are 12-13 hours old and don’t quote any credible sources.

So she's not willing to give up the Tenn job should it open up.
 

RockyMTblue2

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In the thread on this topic on the general board @DaBball says it’s now being reported that McCray is balking at an SEC no-compete clause MSU wants in the contract.

As of now no announcement on the MSU site, and all the articles announcing the alleged hiring are 12-13 hours old and don’t quote any credible sources.

Also no credible (no wait, no source) source for @DaBball's report.
 

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