Mississippi State Bulldogs
Encyclopedia
The Mississippi State Bulldogs are the athletic teams of Mississippi State University
. They participate in NCAA's
Division I in the competitive 12-member Southeastern Conference
under the mascot Bulldogs and the school colors of maroon
and white
. Mississippi State competes in the NCAA in football
, basketball
(men's and women's), baseball
, softball
, tennis
(men's & women's), golf
(men's & women's), soccer (women's), volleyball
, track and field
(men's outdoor & women's indoor & outdoor), and cross country running
(men's & women's).
Overall, Mississippi State Bulldogs teams have earned 28 SEC Championships.
(Ole Miss) Rebels. Many also feel that a few other teams in the Southeastern Conference, such as Alabama
and LSU
, serve as rivals in specific sports.
The Bulldogs and Rebels close each football season with the Egg Bowl
, with the victor receiving possession of the Golden Egg Trophy. Mississippi leads the series, one of the south's most played, 60-42-6, dating back to 1901. In 1998 The Mississippi State Bulldogs captured their first SEC Western Division Title with a 28-6 win over the Mississippi Rebels. The Bulldogs have won the last three in the series behind head coach Dan Mullen
.
in 1963, 1991, 1995, 1996, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, and 2009. They played in the National Invitation Tournament
(NIT) in 1979, 1990, 1994, 1999, 2001, 2007, and 2010. In 1996, MSU made it to the NCAA Final Four
before losing in the national semi-finals to the Syracuse Orangemen.
In 1963, the team made history by defying an order from then Governor of Mississippi, Ross Barnett
, not to play in the NCAA tournament, because the team they faced, Loyola University of Chicago, had African-Americans on its squad (4 of them were starters). (The Jackson Daily News also tried to intimidate the Bulldogs against playing the Ramblers by prominently featuring pictures of the 4 black players on the front page of the paper.) Coach Babe McCarthy
sneaked the team out of Starkville to travel to East Lansing, Michigan, to face Loyola
, only to lose to the Ramblers, who went on to win the title that year. This was one of the first times that an all-white school faced a team with black members, and it is considered to be a watershed moment in the Civil Rights era.
Boston Celtics great Bailey Howell
played at Mississippi State and is the only MSU player to be in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
The 1995-96 team reached a pinnacle in MSU's basketball history, winning a second-straight SEC
Western Division title, claiming a first-ever SEC Tournament Championship over top-ranked and eventual national champion Kentucky, and gaining a berth in the NCAA's national championship Final Four. That team earned its national championship ticket with impressive regional wins over #1 seed Connecticut and #2 seed Cincinnati. State's 26 wins that season were the most in school history at the time.
Mississippi State's Humphrey Coliseum
is the largest on-campus basketball arena in the state of Mississippi. Opened in 1975, Humphrey Coliseum has undergone many modifications during recent years to rank as one of the finest multi-purpose facilities in the Southeastern Conference. The arena seats 11,000 fans. The Bulldogs have sold out of season tickets for the fourth year in a row.
Under the guidance of former Bulldog and current head coach Sylvain Guichard the past three seasons, State's netmen have continued that steadfastness in the national title hunt, making their 12th, 13th, and 14th straight appearances in the NCAA Championship
, one of only seven schools nationally to have done so. State has made the round of 16 or better in the tournament in 10 of those 14 seasons, one of only nine schools nationally to do so.
State has also claimed one SEC title (1993), two regular season league championships and an SEC tournament crown (1996) during the past decade and a half. The Bulldogs made school-best NCAA semifinal appearances in 1994 and 1998 and have been national quarterfinalists five times. The netmen have won nearly 70% of their matches since 1991, scored the third-most SEC wins by any SEC member since 1990, and have been ranked as high as third in the country.
Individually, Bulldogs have been fixtures in the national rankings. Four State players have been ranked No. 1 in the nation in singles—Daniel Courcol in 1992-93, Laurent Orsini in 1993-94, Thomas Dupré in 1996-97, and Marco Baron in 2000-01. Dupre was the National Player of the Year following the 1997 season, and he and Baron were SEC Players of the Year in '97 and '01, respectively. Laurent Miquelard and Joc Simmons captured the 1994 NCAA doubles championship.
. The game was first played in 1901, with the Rebels currently leading the all-time series 60-41-5. MSU has won two straight and 3 of the last 4.
In basketball, MSU leads the series over Mississippi 138-105 and has won 16 of the last 20 and 20 of the last 26.
In baseball, Mississippi State now leads the series 239-195-5. Over the last 30 years, the Bulldogs are 90-52 against the Rebels. The recently retired Mississippi State head baseball coach, Ron Polk, was 85-49 against Ole Miss.
For the "Big 3" sports (football, men's basketball, and baseball), head-to-head Mississippi State leads Mississippi 418-360-11.
Notable Club Sports accomplishments have come from the Men's Soccer club, Men's Ice Hockey club, Men's Cricket club and Men's Disc Golf club. In 2006 the soccer club received a bid to the National Intramural Recreational Sports Association's national tournament in Tempe, Arizona
. In 2008 the ice hockey club garnered more than 1,200 fans at their first ever home games in Tupelo, MS, at the BancorpSouth Arena and followed in 2009 with nearly 5,000 in attendance for a series with Ole Miss. MSU cricket club won the mega event of 3rd annual Bulldawg Championship Trophy-08 beating Vanderbilt university held at Mississippi state university on July 12 and 13, 2008. In 2009, the disc golf club won the National Championship at the Collegiate Disc Golf Championship in Augusta, Ga., where they won by seven strokes over runner-up Arkansas.
became Mississippi State's official mascot in 1961. The mascot is lovingly named " Bully
." Past mascots have been the Aggies and the Maroons.
Cow bell
s are a significant part of any Mississippi State University experience. The tradition began after a jersey cow wandered on to the football field in the early 1900s, disrupting a game. Subsequently, State won the football game, and the cow became a symbol of good luck. Eventually, the cow was replaced with just the cow's bell. Handles were welded onto the bells to ease ringing, and cowbells are now manufactured and sold specifically as athletic noisemakers. Clanging cowbells rung by many of the State fans is a part of the tradition of MSU football games, despite the Southeastern Conference's banning of "artificial noise-makers, which was lifted at the beginning of the 2010 season. Ringing of cow bells is now permitted at designated times such as halftime, time-outs, and after touchdowns. "
The school's fight song is "Hail State," which is played by the Famous Maroon Band
.
Mississippi State University
The Mississippi State University of Agriculture and Applied Science commonly known as Mississippi State University is a land-grant university located in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States, partially in the town of Starkville and partially in an unincorporated area...
. They participate in NCAA's
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
Division I in the competitive 12-member Southeastern Conference
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
under the mascot Bulldogs and the school colors of maroon
Maroon (color)
Maroon is a dark red color.-Etymology:Maroon is derived from French marron .The first recorded use of maroon as a color name in English was in 1789.-Maroon :...
and white
White
White is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in nearly equal amounts and with high brightness compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of hue and grayness.White light can be...
. Mississippi State competes in the NCAA in football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
(men's and women's), baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, softball
Softball
Softball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
(men's & women's), golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
(men's & women's), soccer (women's), volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
, track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
(men's outdoor & women's indoor & outdoor), and cross country running
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
(men's & women's).
Overall, Mississippi State Bulldogs teams have earned 28 SEC Championships.
Football
Mississippi State's main rival is The University of MississippiUniversity of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, is a public, coeducational research university located in Oxford, Mississippi. Founded in 1844, the school is composed of the main campus in Oxford, four branch campuses located in Booneville, Grenada, Tupelo, and Southaven as well as the...
(Ole Miss) Rebels. Many also feel that a few other teams in the Southeastern Conference, such as Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....
and LSU
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
, serve as rivals in specific sports.
The Bulldogs and Rebels close each football season with the Egg Bowl
Egg Bowl
The Battle for the Golden Egg, also known as the Egg Bowl, is an American college football rivalry game between played annually by the Mississippi State Bulldogs football team of Mississippi State University and the Ole Miss Rebels football team of the University of Mississippi . The rivalry is...
, with the victor receiving possession of the Golden Egg Trophy. Mississippi leads the series, one of the south's most played, 60-42-6, dating back to 1901. In 1998 The Mississippi State Bulldogs captured their first SEC Western Division Title with a 28-6 win over the Mississippi Rebels. The Bulldogs have won the last three in the series behind head coach Dan Mullen
Dan Mullen
-External links:** on Bulldog Junction's website* article on Coach Mullen as new MSU head coach* Dan Mullen goes from Trinity star QB to Mississippi State head coach...
.
Men's basketball
In basketball, Mississippi State has won SEC Championships in 1959, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1991, and 2004, and SEC Tournament Championships in 1996, 2002, and 2009. The Bulldogs have played in the NCAA Basketball TournamentNCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
in 1963, 1991, 1995, 1996, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, and 2009. They played in the National Invitation Tournament
National Invitation Tournament
The National Invitation Tournament is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. There are two NIT events each season. The first, played in November and known as the Dick's Sporting Goods NIT Season Tip-Off , was founded in 1985...
(NIT) in 1979, 1990, 1994, 1999, 2001, 2007, and 2010. In 1996, MSU made it to the NCAA Final Four
Final four
Final Four isa sports term that is commonly applied to the last four teams remaining in a playoff tournament, most notably NCAA Division I college basketball tournaments. The term usually refers to the four teams who compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final round...
before losing in the national semi-finals to the Syracuse Orangemen.
In 1963, the team made history by defying an order from then Governor of Mississippi, Ross Barnett
Ross Barnett
Ross Robert Barnett was the governor of Mississippi from 1960 to 1964. He was a States' Rights Democrat.- Early life :...
, not to play in the NCAA tournament, because the team they faced, Loyola University of Chicago, had African-Americans on its squad (4 of them were starters). (The Jackson Daily News also tried to intimidate the Bulldogs against playing the Ramblers by prominently featuring pictures of the 4 black players on the front page of the paper.) Coach Babe McCarthy
Babe McCarthy
James Harrison "Babe" McCarthy , sometimes called "Ol' Magnolia Mouth" or just "Magnolia Mouth", was an American professional and collegiate basketball coach. McCarthy was originally from Baldwyn, Mississippi...
sneaked the team out of Starkville to travel to East Lansing, Michigan, to face Loyola
Loyola University Chicago
Loyola University Chicago is a private Jesuit research university located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1870 under the title St...
, only to lose to the Ramblers, who went on to win the title that year. This was one of the first times that an all-white school faced a team with black members, and it is considered to be a watershed moment in the Civil Rights era.
Boston Celtics great Bailey Howell
Bailey Howell
Bailey E. Howell is a former professional basketball player now enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. A 6'7" forward from Mississippi State University, he played 12 seasons in the NBA as a member of the Detroit Pistons, Baltimore Bullets, Boston Celtics, and Philadelphia...
played at Mississippi State and is the only MSU player to be in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
The 1995-96 team reached a pinnacle in MSU's basketball history, winning a second-straight SEC
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
Western Division title, claiming a first-ever SEC Tournament Championship over top-ranked and eventual national champion Kentucky, and gaining a berth in the NCAA's national championship Final Four. That team earned its national championship ticket with impressive regional wins over #1 seed Connecticut and #2 seed Cincinnati. State's 26 wins that season were the most in school history at the time.
Mississippi State's Humphrey Coliseum
Humphrey Coliseum
Humphrey Coliseum is a 10,500-seat multi-purpose arena in Starkville, Mississippi, that opened for the 1975-76 basketball season. Nicknamed The Hump, it is home to the Mississippi State University Bulldogs men's and women's basketball teams. It is the largest on-campus basketball arena in the...
is the largest on-campus basketball arena in the state of Mississippi. Opened in 1975, Humphrey Coliseum has undergone many modifications during recent years to rank as one of the finest multi-purpose facilities in the Southeastern Conference. The arena seats 11,000 fans. The Bulldogs have sold out of season tickets for the fourth year in a row.
Women's basketball
The Lady Bulldogs have shown marked improvement over the last decade. Nine Lady Bulldogs have made the All-SEC team 16 times, and even more impressive, the women have earned 28 SEC honor roll memberships since 1990.Tennis
One of the greatest Bulldog success stories since 1990 has been a tennis program firmly established among the nation's elite. The program has finished in the final top 25 rankings 12 times in that stretch (1990–2001) and in the top 10 seven times in that span.Under the guidance of former Bulldog and current head coach Sylvain Guichard the past three seasons, State's netmen have continued that steadfastness in the national title hunt, making their 12th, 13th, and 14th straight appearances in the NCAA Championship
NCAA Men's Tennis Championship
The NCAA Men's Tennis Championships are held to crown a team, individual, and doubles champion in American college tennis. The first intercollegiate championship was held in 1883, 23 years before the founding of the NCAA, with Harvard's Joseph Clark taking the singles title...
, one of only seven schools nationally to have done so. State has made the round of 16 or better in the tournament in 10 of those 14 seasons, one of only nine schools nationally to do so.
State has also claimed one SEC title (1993), two regular season league championships and an SEC tournament crown (1996) during the past decade and a half. The Bulldogs made school-best NCAA semifinal appearances in 1994 and 1998 and have been national quarterfinalists five times. The netmen have won nearly 70% of their matches since 1991, scored the third-most SEC wins by any SEC member since 1990, and have been ranked as high as third in the country.
Individually, Bulldogs have been fixtures in the national rankings. Four State players have been ranked No. 1 in the nation in singles—Daniel Courcol in 1992-93, Laurent Orsini in 1993-94, Thomas Dupré in 1996-97, and Marco Baron in 2000-01. Dupre was the National Player of the Year following the 1997 season, and he and Baron were SEC Players of the Year in '97 and '01, respectively. Laurent Miquelard and Joc Simmons captured the 1994 NCAA doubles championship.
Rivals
In football, Mississippi State and Mississippi meet each year in the Egg BowlEgg Bowl
The Battle for the Golden Egg, also known as the Egg Bowl, is an American college football rivalry game between played annually by the Mississippi State Bulldogs football team of Mississippi State University and the Ole Miss Rebels football team of the University of Mississippi . The rivalry is...
. The game was first played in 1901, with the Rebels currently leading the all-time series 60-41-5. MSU has won two straight and 3 of the last 4.
In basketball, MSU leads the series over Mississippi 138-105 and has won 16 of the last 20 and 20 of the last 26.
In baseball, Mississippi State now leads the series 239-195-5. Over the last 30 years, the Bulldogs are 90-52 against the Rebels. The recently retired Mississippi State head baseball coach, Ron Polk, was 85-49 against Ole Miss.
For the "Big 3" sports (football, men's basketball, and baseball), head-to-head Mississippi State leads Mississippi 418-360-11.
Club Sports
Mississippi State University through the University Rec Sports office also fields several club sports which compete against several other SEC universities. MSU Club Sports include rugby, cricket, men's ice hockey, lacrosse, disc golf (Club Team acquired first national championship in school history), fencing, tactical airsoft, paintball, men's soccer, women's soccer, volleyball, ultimate, ballroom dance, table tennis, aikido, and yoga.Notable Club Sports accomplishments have come from the Men's Soccer club, Men's Ice Hockey club, Men's Cricket club and Men's Disc Golf club. In 2006 the soccer club received a bid to the National Intramural Recreational Sports Association's national tournament in Tempe, Arizona
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2010 population of 161,719. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in the East Valley section of metropolitan Phoenix; it is bordered by Phoenix and Guadalupe on the west, Scottsdale...
. In 2008 the ice hockey club garnered more than 1,200 fans at their first ever home games in Tupelo, MS, at the BancorpSouth Arena and followed in 2009 with nearly 5,000 in attendance for a series with Ole Miss. MSU cricket club won the mega event of 3rd annual Bulldawg Championship Trophy-08 beating Vanderbilt university held at Mississippi state university on July 12 and 13, 2008. In 2009, the disc golf club won the National Championship at the Collegiate Disc Golf Championship in Augusta, Ga., where they won by seven strokes over runner-up Arkansas.
Traditions
The school colors are maroon and white. The BulldogBulldog
Bulldog is the name for a breed of dog commonly referred to as the English Bulldog. Other Bulldog breeds include the American Bulldog, Olde English Bulldogge and the French Bulldog. The Bulldog is a muscular heavy dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose...
became Mississippi State's official mascot in 1961. The mascot is lovingly named " Bully
Bully (Mascot)
Bully, the official school mascot of Mississippi State University, is an American Kennel Club registered English Bulldog, given the inherited title of "Bully". In 1935 the first official bulldog mascot was named "Ptolemy" though there are earlier reports of other bulldogs serving as unofficial...
." Past mascots have been the Aggies and the Maroons.
Cow bell
Cow bell
A cowbell or cow bell is a bell worn by freely roaming livestock, so that they do not run away or wander off without being heard. While bells were used on various types of animals, they are typically referred to as "cowbells" due to their extensive use with cattle.A trychel is a large cow bell...
s are a significant part of any Mississippi State University experience. The tradition began after a jersey cow wandered on to the football field in the early 1900s, disrupting a game. Subsequently, State won the football game, and the cow became a symbol of good luck. Eventually, the cow was replaced with just the cow's bell. Handles were welded onto the bells to ease ringing, and cowbells are now manufactured and sold specifically as athletic noisemakers. Clanging cowbells rung by many of the State fans is a part of the tradition of MSU football games, despite the Southeastern Conference's banning of "artificial noise-makers, which was lifted at the beginning of the 2010 season. Ringing of cow bells is now permitted at designated times such as halftime, time-outs, and after touchdowns. "
The school's fight song is "Hail State," which is played by the Famous Maroon Band
Famous Maroon Band
The Famous Maroon Band is the name of the marching band at Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi. The Maroon Band plays at all Mississippi State home football games and sends at least a pep band to a majority of the football away games...
.
Hall of Fame
MSU has honored many athletes with induction to its Mississippi State University Sports Hall of Fame.See also
- Rick StansburyRick StansburyRick Stansbury is the current head men's basketball coach at Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi....
- Men's basketball coach - Dan MullenDan Mullen-External links:** on Bulldog Junction's website* article on Coach Mullen as new MSU head coach* Dan Mullen goes from Trinity star QB to Mississippi State head coach...
- Football coach - John CohenJohn Cohen (baseball coach)-External links:*...
- Baseball Coach - Egg BowlEgg BowlThe Battle for the Golden Egg, also known as the Egg Bowl, is an American college football rivalry game between played annually by the Mississippi State Bulldogs football team of Mississippi State University and the Ole Miss Rebels football team of the University of Mississippi . The rivalry is...
- Jack Cristil - Legendary radio broadcaster