SWAC Basketball: Is Mississippi Valley State the toughest job in America?

Greetings to all, it's CWells your tour guide around the SWAC. In sports on every level, some programs are traditionally successful. Programs that fans want to support and players want to join. Since this is a SWAC basketball article, I will use Texas Southern as an example. TSU has been the king of SWAC basketball earning 7 NCAA tournament appearances since the 2013-14 season. You understand that a program like this will have its advantages and disadvantages but they will always find a way to be successful. If they happen to falter they won't be down for long.

But this article isn't about programs like that, I want to talk about the other side of the coin. Now this other group can be divided into a couple of categories. The teams that traditionally lose but will flirt with .500 records and even fight for a championship occasionally. And the other group is your traditional bottom feeder, these teams will usually finish last most years and typically are viewed as easy dubs. The subject of this article could be considered the final boss of that bottom-feeder group. That team is the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils. In this article, I will explain why I think the MVSU job is the hardest in Division 1 basketball. To understand where I'm going with this let's take a look at their history.

To get a better feeling of this program, let's take a look at how they've fared over the years. Winning has traditionally been difficult at MVSU, recording 12 winning seasons (overall record) since 1977-78. The Delta Devils have 18 winning seasons in SWAC play in that same time span, including a 17-1 record in 2011-12 (a record that may not be topped for quite some time). Valley has won 6 regular season titles (‘92, ‘96, ‘97, ‘04, ‘07, ‘12), as well as 5 SWAC Tournament Titles and 5 NCAA Tournament appearances (‘86, ‘92, ‘96, ‘08, ‘12).

Names such as Coach Lafayette Stribling, Coach Sean Woods, Alphonso Ford, George Ivory, and Marcus Mann led the way during this stretch. With the bright spots out of the way let's look at the darkness, the Delta Devils have a 37% winning percentage since '77-'78. Since the ‘12-'13 season MVSU has an overall record of 58-310 (18%) and a SWAC record of 48-165 (29%). As you can see it is extremely hard to win here in any given year, let alone being able to have long-term success. But all those numbers still don't answer why I think this is the hardest job in D1.

Let's start at the basic level, Mississippi Valley is a small university (2196 students) in the small town of Itta Bena (population: 2049). All the while being located in an area that is underfunded and let's just say it's aesthetically unappealing. Lots of programs are from small schools and small towns but Valley seems to be a different case. That leads me to my first factor, and that's money. In a league full of teams that don't have the biggest financial budgets, MVSU is working with the least. spending about $455K during the ‘22-'23 season.

The entire athletic budget is about 4 million dollars. That alone puts them behind the eight ball when you have small budgets for recruiting and coaches' salaries. Also being underfunded means an extreme reliance on money games since those games are on the road which equals fewer home games. And that doesn't allow for much money to be made from home game ticket sales. A renovation of the Harrison HPER Complex increased the attendance to 5,000. But drawing fans from a small alumni base (as well as a small area population) to a losing product is a tough task. All of this combines to make recruiting difficult.

That leads to my final factors: coaching, talent, and promotion. I put these together because they fit hand in hand. It takes a coach with a special vision and work ethic to win here. I don't think x's and o's need to be the first reason a coach is hired here. I think a coach needs to be able to operate outside the box to be successful here. A coach will have to find diamonds in the rough to build a team. Not only that but this coach must be able to sell their vision and the program itself to fans that have witnessed little success.  Throughout the years Valley has had spectacular players, including Rayquan Brown this year. Depth will always be an issue, Valley can usually field a starting 5 that can compete in the SWAC. But having the numbers to not put a strain on the starters is a huge problem.

And finally, that leads me to my final factor: social media and promotion. This factor may not be big for some but for me it's huge. Using social media properly (promoting players, and behind-the-scenes videos) can help make fans and others aware of your program. A prime example is the MVSU broadcast team, they went viral last season. Many people who have never watched a Valley game, tuned in to hear them. This season the games were behind a paywall. Now I totally understand why this move was made. But I still feel like this was a missed opportunity. You need hooks to draw in new eyes and that was a great hook.

In closing all of these factors are why I feel that MVSU is the hardest D1 job in America. The right coach can win here, but it will take a lot of work and an unorthodox approach to the job. There will be more SWAC articles coming your way. So keep it locked here with me. I'm your tour guide around the SWAC signing out make sure to exit the SWAC bus carefully.