With the 2023-24 season in the books for Mississippi State athletics, The Dispatch is taking time this week to look back on the year that was. From a football coaching search to mixed success in the transfer portal, here are the top 10 storylines that defined the year in Bulldog sports.
Many on-campus athletic venues have received upgrades in recent years, and the MSU softball program was next in line when the Bulldogs’ new field house and practice facility down the third-base line at Nusz Park officially opened in August 2023. The building contains indoor pitching surfaces, five new batting cages, a players’ lounge, new locker rooms and showers and a media and film room.
“That’s when it really hit home was being able to unveil it to the team and get to see their faces of excitement and that whole moment,” head coach Samantha Ricketts said. “The biggest thing is what it means to us in terms of the investment from the university and the athletic department.”
Following the best season in program history that saw MSU reach the third round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever, Armstrong signed an extension in February that will keep him in Starkville through the 2027 season.
Armstrong had signed a four-year contract extension at the beginning of 2023 worth $192,000 per year after the Bulldogs won both a Southeastern Conference Tournament game and an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in program history. His new contract, according to public records obtained through a Mississippi Public Records Act request by The Dispatch, is worth $230,000 annually.
Armstrong made $130,000 per year during his first four seasons with MSU from 2019 to 2022. His new salary puts him on par with several of his SEC peers.
Head coach Chris Jans loves to say that he prefers to build a team for each season rather than building a program, and with only two starters back from the 2023-24 squad that reached the NCAA Tournament, the Bulldogs needed to reload in the transfer portal.
MSU added six transfers, most of them in the backcourt. But not all of the new pieces seem to be ideal fits with the way Jans’ teams have looked in the past. Matthew Winick, basketball editor at The Score, graded all six transfers with a B or lower, with Penn State guard Kanye Clary and Rhode Island big man Jeremy Foumena both receiving a C+.
Josh Hubbard and Cameron Matthews will be the headliners in 2024-25, but next season will test whether the new additions can make the Bulldogs a cohesive unit.
The home of MSU basketball looked a bit different when the 2023-24 season began, with wider concourses, a new premium seating area known as the Legends Club and a new court design featuring “Mississippi State” written in block lettering inside the outline of the state of Mississippi. The student section was also moved closer to the court and the atria have been expanded, with large video boards just inside each entrance.
With Will Rogers out the door, the Bulldogs needed a change at quarterback after an inconsistent season at football’s most important position last fall. Blake Shapen played in 27 games over three seasons at Baylor, and he was excellent in MSU’s spring game, completing 18 of 22 passes for 312 yards and three touchdowns.
The Bulldogs are also excited about their revamped wide receiving corps, which lost Lideatrick “Tulu” Griffin, Zavion Thomas and Justin Robinson but added impact transfers Kelly Akharaiyi from Texas-El Paso and Kevin Coleman from Louisville to go along with freshmen JJ Harrell, Mario Craver and Braylon Burnside.
Sam Purcell’s second season at MSU did not go quite as well as his first, with the Bulldogs fading late in the season and missing the NCAA Tournament. The offseason saw assistant coach Michelle Clark-Heard leave to become the head coach at Mercer and Corry Irvin depart for the head coaching job at Chicago State. Gabe Lazo was promoted to associate head coach — but less than a week later, he left to join the staff at Tennessee.
Purcell brought on Anita Howard, the former head coach at Georgia Southern, as well as former Eastern Michigan head coach Fred Castro to join his new staff. Experienced assistant Samantha Williams, who was most recently at Tennessee, was hired to complete the new staff with Tony Dukes staying on board and Jimmy Yu promoted to assistant athletic director for women’s basketball operations.
It was no secret that Chris Lemonis was coaching for his job this spring after back-to-back years without postseason baseball following MSU’s 2021 national championship. His first move last summer was to hire pitching coach Justin Parker away from South Carolina, and with Parker on board, the Bulldogs’ team ERA dropped from 7.01 to 4.17.
MSU won 17 games in SEC play, narrowly missing out on hosting an NCAA regional. Nearly the entire starting lineup and weekend rotation is likely out the door, so the transfer portal is a top priority this offseason, but Lemonis bought himself at least one more year with a 40-win season.
A high-profile transfer from Marshall, Taylor was expected to be one of the Bulldogs’ top outside shooters last season. But Taylor ended up playing in just seven games, none after Dec. 13, and scored a total of 27 points, topping out at nine against North Alabama in mid-November. He was out due to a personal matter for the rest of December and nearly all of January before Jans said he was no longer on the team on Jan. 29.
Forward KeShawn Murphy also missed most of January due to a personal matter, but returned in early February and gave MSU’s offense a much-needed jolt of energy. Murphy entered the transfer portal after the season but opted to withdraw his name and return to Starkville.
The Bulldogs had lost their first three SEC games but were close to wrapping up a non-conference win over Western Michigan on Oct. 7 when Rogers, who had started 38 consecutive games behind center, injured his left (non-throwing) shoulder in the fourth quarter. Rogers missed the next four games, and MSU’s offense managed just 26 points in that stretch with Mike Wright and Chris Parson at quarterback.
Rogers returned for the final two games of the season, but a loss to Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl left the Bulldogs at 5-7, without a bowl trip for the first time since 2009. The next day, Rogers entered the transfer portal, ultimately landing at Washington.
Arnett, previously MSU’s defensive coordinator, took over as head coach under unfortunate circumstances following the death of Mike Leach in December 2022. But following a 51-10 beatdown at Texas A&M on Nov. 11, athletic director Zac Selmon fired Arnett and named Greg Knox the Bulldogs’ interim head coach while beginning a search for Arnett’s full-time successor.
Three days after the Egg Bowl loss, MSU made the hiring of former Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby official. The move did not come without some controversy — Lebby was part of his father-in-law Art Briles’ staff at Baylor and was involved in a scandal that ultimately led to Briles’ firing after an investigation revealed concerns about how the Bears’ program handled sexual assault.
Prior to Oklahoma, Lebby was the offensive coordinator at Central Florida and Ole Miss, where his offenses consistently ranked among college football’s best. He will continue to call offensive plays as head coach with the Bulldogs.
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