Mississippi State women’s head basketball coach Sam Purcell speaks during Southeastern Conference Basketball Media Days on Wednesday in Birmingham.
MSU Athletics
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – When Purcell took over as the head coach at Mississippi State in 2022, he was entering a new realm going from a top assistant to the man in charge. He entered the Southeastern Conference as a first-time head coach and has been dealing with a landscape of college basketball that is constantly changing and he has no problems changing with it.
One of the biggest things that he, and everyone else, have had to combat is the transfer portal and the roster turnover that comes with it. In his first year, Purcell had to add six players to the roster and he led the Bulldogs to an NCAA Tournament berth and a second round finish. In year two, Purcell had seven new faces on the squad and MSU finished with more than 20 wins again while advancing to the WBIT quarterfinal round. The Bulldogs were safely in the Big Dance again last year despite having 10 new roster players from the season before.
Now with three-straight seasons with 20 or more wins and two NCAA Tournaments under his belt, another challenge has come his way. MSU lost all five of its regular starters from a season ago and over 80% of its scoring left either via the transfer portal or graduation. It sent Purcell back into roster building mode through his high school recruiting class, the portal and beyond.
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