STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi State women's basketball coach Sam Purcell has hired former Bulldogs star and WNBA veteran Victoria Vivians as assistant coach and scouting director during the WNBA offseason, it was announced Monday.
Vivians, a sixth-year league guard/forward playing this season for the Seattle Storm after five seasons with the Indiana Fever, will join Mississippi State in October and continue her role through the WNBA offseason.
She was part of the Bulldogs' winningest class with 126 victories from 2014-18, highlighted by consecutive NCAA national championship game appearances in 2017 and '18 among four straight berths overall.
Purcell called Vivians a "home run hire" in a statement and believes she will be a great resource and mentor to student-athletes in her return to the program. He noted her contribution in helping Mississippi State attain national prominence during her college career.
"To have that energy, commitment and love for this place, combined with her knowledge of the game and her ability to teach it will be invaluable to our program and elevate it to another level," Purcell said.
Vivians was an Associated Press first-team All-America selection in 2018 and earned All-America honors all four seasons while scoring 2,527 points, second-most in school history. She also won the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award as the nation's top shooting guard as a senior and three All-Southeastern Conference first-team selections.
"I can't wait to learn from this staff every day and be a resource for the next generation of Bulldogs," Vivians said in a statement.