STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi State women’s basketball coach Sam Purcell has hired former Bulldogs star and WNBA veteran Victoria Vivians as assistant coach and scouting director.

The school said in a statement Monday that Vivians, a sixth-year league guard/forward playing this season for the Seattle Storm after five 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 the 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 and added, “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.”

Vivians was an Associated Press first-team All-American selection in 2018 and earned All-America honors all four seasons while scoring 2,527 points, second best 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.

Vivians said it’s a dream come true to join Purcell’s staff at Mississippi State and is thankful for the opportunity to be part of a program she loves. She added, “I can’t wait to learn from this staff every day and be a resource for the next generation of Bulldogs.”

___

AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball