STARKVILLE — Former Tennessee Lady Vol Nikki McCray-Penson is returning to the Southeastern Conference.
Mississippi State announced that McCray-Penson will be its next women’s basketball coach on Saturday.
All-American. Olympian. All Star. Hall of Famer.
And now, Nikki McCray-Penson is a BULLDOG!#HailStateđ¶ | @NikkiMccray15 pic.twitter.com/G1nDDIVz2e
— Mississippi State WBK (@HailStateWBK) April 11, 2020
She will be formally introduced in a teleconference on Monday at 1 p.m. (ET).
The former Lady Vol was previously the head coach at Old Dominion University and coached the Monarchs from 2017-20.
There she had a record of 53-39 and guided Old Dominion to a 24-6 record last season before the college basketball season was brought to an end prematurely by the COVID-19 pandemic. She was the Conference-USA Coach of the Year in 2020.
McCray-Penson, 48, replaces Vic Schaefer, who left to become the head coach at Texas.
McCray-Penson was formerly an assistant coach under Dawn Staley at South Carolina after serving as an assistant coach at Western Kentucky.
She was inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville in 2012 and was a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist in 1996 and 2000.