| 1996 | Oct | Nov | Dec | |||||||||
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| 1997 | Jan | Feb | Mar | April | May | June | July | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
| 1998 | Jan | Feb |
03/31/98 - Since I have posted info on my page about possible MSU signees David Fisher and Joe Marshall, I have received several emails from folks who had the chance to talk with both of these young men and everybody has come away extremely impressed with both of them. Talent alone is not the only reason you recruit a young man. The character of the individual also seems to be a high priority for new head basketball coach Rick Stansbury.
03/31/98 - Not sure if we are still recruiting him, but I was told today that Northeast MS CC 2-guard Tim Cole could still be had by MSU if they are interested. According to my source, a very well informed Memphis recruiting scene source believes if Cole had decided who he was going to sign with, he would have said something publicly by now. Considering that Memphis' head coach Tic Price is recruiting a very good Juco 2-guard, Carl Boyd, this very well may be correct.
03/30/98 - The 6-9 kid that MSU is recruiting is David Fisher. He possesses good perimeter skills and good post up ability. He is at SMSU-West Plains (Missouri) juco and will have 3 years of eligibility. I was also told he is a really super nice young man.
03/29/98 - New assistant basketball coach Robert Kirby, according to one fairly knowlegeable source, is nearly as good of a recruiter as Head Coach Rick Stansbury. Considering how great Stansbury is, that is a tall statment, but if it is close to being correct, look for MSU to be hard to be beat in the State of Mississippi when it comes to recruiting. Welcome aboard (and back), Coach Kirby.
03/25/98 - Thanks to StateDOG for finding this Joe Marshall info on the internet. It's nice to see Joe comes from a winner:
I see on CSI's basketball page that (Joe) Marshall is listed 6-3, 195....CSI was ranked in the top 5 defensively nationally in Juco.
Conference Record 15-3
Overall Record 27-3
Regional Record 1-1
Season Record 28-4
Click here to see a picture of future Bulldog Joe Marshall. He is the one on the left. Don't forget to read the story and click here to read another story which mentions Joe. Here's another article which mentions Joe. It appears Joe can shoot the three as well as hit free throws, folks. Click here to read an excellent article about Joe and how he ended up at the College of Southern Idaho. Coach Stansbury sure knows how to find them.
03/25/98 - I guess I should have told you guys the 6-9 forward is a white guy who averaged 12 ppg (can shoot the 3-pointer is what I was told). Wish I knew more, but I don't. Hopes this helps you private eyes who are trying to figure out who he is.
03/24/98 - Look for Miss State to sign two players during the spring signing period -- 6-2 two-guard Joe Marshall (Southern Idaho College, 13.8 ppg, 43% 3-pt fg%) and a 6-9 power forward from a Missouri juco. Not sure of the name of the power forward. Both of these guys will be considered sophomores next season and will have three years of eligibility left.
03/21/98 - Former Bulldog Assistant Coach Robert Kirby will be announced as the newest addition to the MSU basketball coaching staff. Present assistant coach Greg Carter will remain on the staff at his present position. I'm not sure of the status of present administrative assistant coach John Sherman, although I have heard from a good source there is a good chance he will remain on the staff. A very wise choice if it turns out to be correct. John is an excellent coach with great contacts in Mississippi and is a great person as well.
03/20/98 - According to The Clarion-Ledger, new MSU head basketball coach Rick Stansbury will be receiving a raise of $24,750 as well as a $15,000 housing allowance. He will now make $100,000 a year as well as receive the housing allowance. Stansbury's total package amount is not available. Former head coach Richard Williams total package was $350,000, including a base pay of $130,000, plus the same housing allowance as Stansbury.
03/16/98 - This is speculation on my part but these are the coaches I believe Coach Stansbury will consider when he selects his assistant coaches:
03/15/98 - I talked to several individuals who know our new head basketball coach about as well as you can know him. Here are their comments:
1) Former Austin Peay University Head Basketball Coach Lake Kelly (Rick coached for him five years prior to coming to Miss State):
2) Former Miss State basketball player Russell Walters:
3) Former Miss State player Jay Walton:
4) Former Miss State basketball player David Rula:
5) Former Miss State assistant coach Owen Miller:
03/14/98 - In a press conference yesterday, Associate Head Basketball Coach Rick Stansbury was named Head Basketball Coach at Miss State, replacing the retiring Richard Williams.
Athletic Director Larry Templeton said, in announcing Stansbury as the new coach, he is "the right man at the right time to keep MSU on the right path."
Comments by Rick Stansbury:
Very complimentary of former Head Coach Richard Williams. Thanked him for the opportunity and for hiring him eight years ago.
Thanked the MSU players and high school players for choosing to come to State and their coaches and families for letting their players and sons attend State. They are the ones that make MSU so successful.
Thanked his beautiful wife Meo for her support.
Being named head basketball coach at a school in the SEC is a lifelong dream of his.
Since he was a 4th grader playing on the 7th-8th grade team, he has had a burning passion for the game of basketball. And after twenty-eight years, his passion for the game is stronger than ever.
To be successful, you have to have that passion and your team has to play with the same passion.
The staff he puts together will be extremely hard workers.
His goal is to continue to compete for championhips, including the National Championship.
When he first got to State, he saw a lot of great high school basketball players leaving the State of Mississippi. He never accepted that and set out to prove to the Mississippi HS kids that the only place for them was Miss State.
The little things wins games and he will work on those little things so that Miss State will not lose 9 games by 6 or less points as they did this past season.
Even though there were jobs available, which he felt he could have gotten, he never applied for them and remained patient waiting for the Miss State job which Richard Williams told him he wanted him to have it when he retired.
03/14/98 - Tomorrow, I will have comments by coaches he has worked for and with and former MSU players who have played at MSU while Stansbury has been an assistant coach there.
03/14/98 - To the folks who are spreading the rumor about former Bulldog Quentin Smith transferring back to State because Rick Stansbury is the new head coach: the answer is no he will not be coming back. Trust me, folks.
03/12/98 - Miss State Head Basketball Coach Richard Williams has announced his retirement effective immediately. There will be a news conference at 3 p.m. Friday at the Bryan Building on the Campus of Mississippi State University.
I personally want to thank Coach Williams for some of the best years Miss State has ever had in basketball. What makes me even prouder is he is a graduate of Miss State and a true Bulldog.
Richard Williams' achievements:
Thank you coach!
03/12/98 - Darryl Cooper is no longer being looked at by Miss State.
03/11/98 - According to Coach Boone, Clinton HS basketball coach, MSU signee Ontario Harper has a good chance of qualifying. My source also was told by Coach Boone that he believes Harper will fit in quickly at MSU because he is comfortable as a "go-to" guy at crunch time.
03/11/98 - The basketball season is over at Winchendon Prep. Their record was 26-7. MSU signee Tyrus Boswell averaged 16 points and 12 rebounds a game.
03/10/98 - The latest word is MSU is recruiting Darryl Cooper, a 6-3 2-Guard from Stone Mountain, Ga. Darryl is rated by Bob Gibbons as a player who has a chance to be one of the Top 100 players in the country. Recruiter's Handbook listed him as the 209th best player in the country in their post-summer issue. Post-season ratings are not out as of this date.
03/07/98 - Here what one of you said about MSU signee Ontario Harper after seeing him play last night:
"Just got back from the Clinton vs. Gulfport game. Thought I would let you know what I thought of Ontario Harper. I had him with 39 points, 11 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 steals. He can jump as high as any high school player I've ever seen. On one dunk his chest was at the rim. He has a sweet shot and handles the ball well for a big man. About the only thing negative I could say is that he needs more muscle and he needs to work on his man- to-man defense. By the way, Ontario played the entire game and was as energetic at the end of the game as he was at the beginning."
03/06/98 - Miss State lost to Georgia 79 to 76 in the SEC basketball tournament. Miss State played with a lot of effort, but, in a snake-bitten year, came up short. Tyrone Washington led the team in scoring with 18 points, followed by three other Bulldogs in double figures; Horatio Webster with 14, Bart Hyche with 12 and Detrick White with 11. State ended the season with a 15-15 record.
03/05/98 - Our basketball Bulldogs take on Georgia at 2:15 today. Good luck MSU Dawgs!
03/05/98 - Kentucky Head Basketball Coach Tubby Smith was at Mississippi College at the Juco Tournament Tuesday night looking at NECC 2-G Tim Cole. My source told me Tim was incredible and can shoot the lights out.
03/02/98 - In case some of you didn't see it in yesterday's Clarion-Ledger, Rusty Hampton wrote a great article about MSU basketball signees Robert Jackson and Tyrus Boswell:
The players are 6-foot-8, 245-pound Robert Jackson of Milwaukee and 6-8, 235-pound Tyrus Boswell of Mountain Brook, Ala.
NCAA rules require incoming freshman to have at least a 2.5 grade point average in a core curriculum, plus an 18 (actually a 17 according to the NCAA website) or above on the American College Test score. Those figures can slide either way and a player can still be eligible.
Marty McGlothan, Jackson's coach at Washington High, said Jackson has a 2.6 GPA, which means if he maintains that GPA through graduation, he would need a 17 on the ACT to be eligible. McGlothan said Jackson scored 15 on the ACT last fall and is awaiting results from a January test. McGlothan said Jackson will have two more chances to make a needed score if the results of his latest test doesn't measure up.
"I think he's going to make it," McGlothan said. "He's so close right now."
On the court, Jackson is averaging 18 points and 7 rebounds a game, said McGlothan. Washington is 20-2 and opens play in the Milwaukee city playoffs this week.
Boswell signed with State last spring but did not graduate from Mountain Brook High and was thus ineligible to enroll at State this school year. Instead, he's attending Winchendon (Mass.) Academy, which competes in the New England Prep School League, one of the most competitive high school leagues in the country.
Winchendon coach Michael Burns said Boswell, who re-signed with State in November, leads the team in scoring (15 ppg) and rebounding (12 rpg) and is the team's second-best 3-point shooter (43 percent).
Winchendon was 24-6 before playing twice over the weekend and Burns expects his team to be seeded second in its league playoffs that start this week.
Burns said Boswell has a 2.8 GPA (calculated weekly) but has yet to make a qualifying ACT score.
"All the teachers here are very happy with Tyrus," Burns said. "He's an intelligent kid; I just don't think he disciplined himself very well in the classroom (at Mountain Brook).
"The teachers here are very confident he'll be able to attain the test score he needs."
Burns said he probably won't know until June at the earliest whether Boswell will qualify, but he has a pretty good idea right now what Boswell can do on the court in the Southeastern Conference.
Burns said Boswell is a power forward for Winchendon, but shoots the 3 so well they often run plays to get him outside jumpers. "He can step out and shoot the jump shot and make it so regularly that I think he'll be a three (small forward) in college," Burns said.
McGlothan said Jackson can be a good inside player in the SEC, but can also help the Bulldogs some from the perimeter. "He can shoot the 15-foot jumper," McGlothan said. "He can put it on the floor, but he can also be a power forward and go inside."
03/02/98 - Some of you have asked if Associate Head Coach Rick Stansbury is ready to be a Head Coach in the SEC: According to Richard Williams he is. Williams said, according to Sunday's edition of The Clarion-Ledger, Stansbury's strengths are his personality and ability to relate to people. He says that's what makes him a good recruiter and communicator, with players and their parents.
The question is, can he coach?
Williams says yes.
"I see him every day in practice," Williams said. "And Rick is the one mainly responsible for putting together our game plans."
03/02/98 - Just thought you guys would enjoy reading this email:
"I lived in Clarksville, TN back in 1985 when Rick joined head coach Lake Kelly at Austin Peay State University, and I can tell you that it was amazing at the immediate increase in the talent level at APSU as a result of Rick's work. I had an opportunity to meet some of the recruits/transfers he brought in, and they were fine young men as well as very talented players."
03/01/98 - There has been a lot of talk recently about whether Head Basketball Coach Richard Williams will retire after this season. Based on strong evidence, I fully believe this is his last year. I also expect MSU Associate Head Basketball Coach Rick Stansbury, 38, to be named the new head coach at Miss State. Coach Stansbury has my complete endorsement. I feel he will make an outstanding coach who will continue to recruit extremely well. He knows our program as well as any body could and has a great reputation with the high school coaches in Mississipp, plus he has contacts nationwide. He has coached on the college level since 1982, having coached at Campbellsville College (1982-1983), Cumberland College (1983-1984), Austin Peay State (1985-1990), and Miss State (1990-Present). At various times thoughout his coaching career, he has been responsible for recruiting, scouting opponents, creating game plans, coordinating academics, running basketball camps, and schedule-making. He was a 4-year starter at guard for Campbellsville College. Look for Stansbury to work extremely hard and also to be more involved in community activities similar to MSU Head Baseball Coach Pat McMahon.
03/01/98 - Miss State (15-14) defeated LSU 63-62 on a last second basket by Horatio Webster. Click here for a recap.