Mississippi State hands Sam Purcell contract extension

After delivering Mississippi State’s second NCAA Tournament berth in three seasons, Sam Purcell has plans of sticking around in Starkville for a while.

Zac Selmon and the Bulldog administration have extended the State coach’s contract two more seasons which takes him out to the 2028-29 season and gets him back to four years. That’s the maximum years allowed by the IHL in the state of Mississippi. Maroon and White Daily first reported the news and the University made it official on Thursday.

Purcell was last extended following his first year on campus in which he led the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament and earned two postseason wins.

“I would like to thank Dr. Mark Keenum and Director of Athletics Zac Selmon for their trust to build on the success we have had. I’m extremely excited to work with Zac as he continues to take our athletic department to new heights,” Purcell said in a school-issued release. “I am blessed to be surrounded by an amazing staff and to coach great young women who represent their families, our program, the University and the state of Mississippi with pride. Life is about people, and my family and I could not be more excited to continue to call Starkville home and play in front of the best fans in women’s basketball inside The Hump. Hail State!”

Purcell is heading into year four on the job at MSU and he has stabilized a program that was in desperate need of it following the exit of Vic Schaefer to Texas back in 2020. After Schaefer led MSU to four-straight Sweet 16s and delivered two Final Four appearances as well as the first two SEC Championships in school history, he took the job with the Longhorns and State was looking to keep the train rolling.

Nikki McCray-Penson was hired from Old Dominion and the Bulldogs missed postseason. Just prior to the next season, McCray-Penson would step down as the head coach due to health-related reasons and she would tragically pass away from her heroic battle with cancer in 2023.

Assistant coach Doug Novak led the State team after McCray-Penson stepped down and put together a valiant effort with just seven scholarship players before the team missed the tournament for the second-straight year. Purcell would come in as a first-time head coach following nearly a decade with Jeff Walz at Louisville and the coach brought some new excitement back to women’s hoops in Starkville.

Purcell’s work has been extensive since his arrival

In year one, Purcell put together a roster filled with transfer portal talent and helped the Bulldogs back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018-19. State would win the play-in game against Illinois and then took down Creighton in Round One before coming up just short against host Notre Dame with a chance at the Sweet 16 on the line.

In year two, Purcell had a marquee win over defending National Champions LSU and won 23 games but the Bulldogs missed the tournament. They would make the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament and advance to the Quarterfinal round before falling to Penn State on the road.

Last year, Purcell and his team finished 22-12 but were firmly in the Big Dance. The Bulldogs went to Los Angeles and knocked off California in game one before seeing the season come to an end against No. 1 seed USC.

In three years, Purcell has amassed 67 wins and is the winningest Bulldog coach in his first three seasons in school history. He’s also the first coach to make postseason in all three years to tip things off.

The Bulldogs will try to make it four-straight 20-win seasons and land another NCAA Tournament berth this year with a team made up of a whole lot of new faces. Purcell returns just two contributors from last year’s team in Chandler Prater and Destiney McPhaul, but he landed a top 10 high school signing class and some pieces out of the portal and internationally including his latest addition of 6’3 Nigerian Favour Nwaedozi.