MSU alum brings player-perspective as women’s basketball coach
With a loss to the Las Vegas Aces in the 2024 WNBA playoffs, Seattle Storm shooting guard Victoria Vivian’s professional basketball season ended—just in time to start her collegiate coaching career with her alma mater.
Just two months before the college basketball season started, Vivians traveled from Seattle, Washington, to Starkville, becoming a new assistant coach with Mississippi State.
“While playing professionally, I was on call but MSU let me focus on playing basketball,” Vivians said. “When I got here, I really locked in as a coach.”
The 2024-25 season was Vivians’ first year as a basketball coach, but it’s not her first time coaching in MSU’s Humphrey Coliseum. During her junior year, the Bulldogs hosted a basketball camp for young students. She led a group of aspiring athletes that included girls who are now NCAA stars. With an admittedly weaker team, Vivians focused on improving her players and developed a game plan before the end-of-camp competition.
“By competition time, we had the best team and won every game. I knew then—this is what I want to do,” she said. “It’s weird, everything just came full circle. I’m doing what I love, both playing and coaching.”
Switching from being coached to being the coach wasn’t a difficult transition for Vivians to make. She quickly embraced her role in player development for the Bulldogs—from practicing against the starting squad to pushing each player during early morning workouts.
“It’s been a learning point for me,” she said. “My first week, I didn’t say much at all. It wasn’t because I was afraid or anything. I was just observing the players, observing the culture, just trying not to step on toes. But I’m a player at heart. Eventually, it all came out.”
Starkville’s rise in women’s sports
During Vivians’ MSU career from 2014-18, the talent-stacked Bulldog squad took women’s sports to unseen heights in Starkville. Attendance skyrocketed, tickets sold out, businesses closed during game time and fans made The Hump unsustainable for opposing teams. In 2018, a record-breaking crowd of 10,794 fans watched the Bulldogs defeat the reigning national champions South Carolina. That record stands as the university’s largest basketball crowd for both the men or women’s teams.
“It’s super surreal because that doesn’t happen everywhere,” Vivians said. “You go to some of these games and there’s barely 20 people in the stands. To see how this program grew and to play a part in it, it makes me feel like I did something good.”
Sam Purcell, MSU head women’s basketball coach, knew the impact Vivians would make on his staff. As an assistant coach with Louisville in 2013, he traveled to Scott Central High School to recruit her for the Cardinals. He crossed paths with her again five years later in the 2018 Final Four matchup. As an opposing coach with Louisville, Purcell stood and watched Vivians score 25 points as the Bulldogs won in overtime.
“There are moments when you sit there and watch someone like her and you’re just in awe,” Purcell said. “That’s what I won’t forget—just how special she was, how quick her release was, how strong she was, and, most importantly, how she carried herself. That’s the beauty of the women’s game—just watching these players become who we thought they would and take the women’s game to another level.”
Though, the national popularity of women’s sports has increased as well, Mississippi State fans were ahead of the curve, having packed The Hump for nearly a decade, and as an athlete Vivians played a pivotal role in building the program. With that power, impact and experience, Purcell knows her leadership as a coach will continue to grow the program.
“It’s one thing for me to speak on Mississippi State’s history, but it’s another level when Victoria does,” Purcell said. “It gives you goosebumps. She commands a room. It means something different with her having worn that jersey.”
Elevating players, living her role
Sitting on the bench in The Hump is a different perspective for Vivians. But just as she quickly learned the game of basketball, she’s picking up the art of coaching it.
“The hardest thing for me is not subbing myself in,” she laughed. “I’m very passionate about this game. After my first week, it felt like I’d been here for 10 years. I tell the players, ‘If it’s broken, fix it. If it’s not broken, just go in and make it better.’”
Purcell said having Vivians on staff serves the team in various capacities. As a professional athlete, she’s an expert in the game. As a Bulldog alum, she knows the environment and the fan’s expectations. After taking the Bulldogs to back-to-back national championships and unseen heights as a player, Purcell is excited to see her make that same mark as a coach. That path starts with Vivians reminding players of the trajectory this program can take and the responsibility that comes with that.
“I can’t say enough great things about who she is as a person,” Purcell said. “She’s got a heart of gold. You’re kind of in awe because she’s a pro, but then when you get to talk to her, you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, she’s one of us.’”
The Mississippi State family
Vivians felt the family tie with the university almost immediately as a high school recruit. Even with a list of collegiate offers, she was going to be a Bulldog.
“It was a no-brainer,” she said. “I got here, and everything was so family oriented. It was all about family. I knew if I stayed here, my parents, my family—everybody could just come to all the games and watch me play.”
Vivians is always locked in, whether she’s playing in the WNBA, helping facilitate MSU practices or staying up late reviewing game film. That drive is what helped her rack up accolades as a high school and college athlete. That intensity will also push her as she helps lead the team. Vivians has felt the family atmosphere and the buy-in from the community, as a player and a coach. To her, Mississippi State is family.
“Everybody embraced me as a player—Mississippi State fans, the team, coaching staff and the community,” she said. “Coming back here, it couldn’t go any smoother.”
By Mary Poltiz
