Good morning, Bulldogs! Former Diamond Dawg Adam Frazier — really good pro!

What else do we have brewing today?

🏀 Keep the Faith
⚾️ Tournament test
🐶 And much, much more!

It’s a great day to be a Bulldog. That’s something I’ve said and believed since I was born nearly 40 years ago. It’s something I’ve noticed my boss and our director of athletics, Zac Selmon, often says as well, and I hope it’s something all of you feel and believe!

Personally, I think that sentiment applies regardless of what’s happening, but some Dawg days are even better than others. In looking over some of State’s overall success recently, it came to me: it’s been a great spring to be a Bulldog.

There has been so much Mississippi State momentum built ever since the calendar flipped to 2025. And while I know it’s easy this time of year to already start peeking towards our next athletic year, I believe it bears celebrating the department-wide wins that have happened these last few months in Starkville. So, let’s take just a moment to stop and smell the roses, so to speak.

A lot has happened since March, but it bears remembering once again what a special basketball season we had. Chris Jans and Sam Purcell both led their squads back to the NCAA Tournament. It was the men’s team’s third-straight trip to the big dance and was the women’s group’s second in three years. The goal for every single college basketball team every year is to be involved in the madness of March. Jans and Purcell keep making sure that, at MSU, the NCAA Tournament isn’t just a hope – it’s an expectation.

How about men’s tennis? Matt Roberts continues to run one of the most consistently successful athletic programs in the country. Sweet 16s have essentially become a yearly tradition now for the Bulldogs, and this season, they did that one better. MSU reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018. State was one of only two Southeastern Conference schools to make it that far. It was another special year for a special group.

The success kept coming on the links. Dusty Smith’s men’s golf team reached the NCAA Tournament for the seventh-straight year. Women’s golf secured their fifth-straight postseason bid in five seasons under Charlie Ewing. It was a year that didn’t conclude until the NCAA Championship event.

Chris Woods’ track squad has had many reasons to celebrate. At the NCAA Indoor Championships, the Bulldogs had their highest finish and point total in program history. Peyton Bair won a national title in the heptathlon. Earlier this week, following the SEC Outdoor Championships, four Bulldogs were named All-SEC performers.

State softball had a stellar season. Samantha Ricketts led her club back to the NCAA Tournament and reached a regional final. Don’t forget either how the Dawgs finished above .500 in the ultra-tough SEC for the first time since 2001, despite being picked by conference coaches in the preseason to finish 13th in the league.

As for baseball, the Diamond Dawgs’ fate is still yet to be determined, but they’ve put themselves in fantastic position. Almost assuredly, MSU will be back in the NCAA Tournament when the field is announced next week and that’s a credit to State’s toughness and resilience in recent days. It’s a group that just kept fighting and overcame plenty of early-season speedbumps and should be rewarded for those efforts with a regional berth. And as everyone knows – and as MSU has proven several times throughout history – once you get in the tourney, absolutely anything can happen.

Don’t forget the recent off-the-field wins for Mississippi State as well. This month, MSU announced Howard Industries and the Howard family contributed the lead gift for what will be State football’s Billy W. Howard Sr. Indoor Practice Facility. Only days later, another $1 million gift towards the project was announced courtesy of a family from Jackson, Miss.

Those two gifts were the sixth and seventh seven-figure gifts given to MSU in the last nine months, setting a record for State athletics in one fiscal year. The previous high was four.

So indeed, it’s a great, great day to be a Bulldog. Odds are tomorrow and the next day and the next day will be, too.

Hail State!

(Coleman’s Corner is brought to you each Thursday by Mississippi State athletics senior writer Joel Coleman. A 2007 and 2009 graduate of Mississippi State, Coleman has worked inside and around MSU sports for nearly two decades with prior stops also including the Starkville Daily News and Sports Illustrated.)

📈 STOCK UP

🔼 Another Year. After sticking his toes in the NBA Draft waters for a few weeks, star Mississippi State guard Josh Hubbard has made it official: he's heading back to Starkville!

Hubbard announced Wednesday he's removing his name from the draft process and now has his sights fully set on a big junior year with the Bulldogs.

🔼 Have Faith. Mississippi State women’s basketball head coach Sam Purcell has announced the signing of Stony Brook transfer Faith Wylder, a 6-foot-6 forward from New York City.

🔼 Tournament Test. Mississippi State baseball fell in its SEC Tournament opener to Texas A&M on Wednesday, 9-0. MSU had six hits in the ballgame, all singles. Reigning SEC Player of the Week Ace Reese had two of those as he extended his hitting streak to 22 games. Noah Sullivan also had a pair of hits for the Diamond Dawgs, who left nine on base as they were shut out for only the second time all season.

🤔 BULLDOG TRIVIA

Touch ‘Em All. Where do Ace Reese’s 21 home runs this season rank among all SEC hitters?

Got a guess? 

Scroll to the bottom of the Bulldog Brew to see if you know your stuff!

🤝 SHARE THE BREW

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📆 LOOKING AHEAD

Wednesday, May 28 — Saturday, May 31
👟 Track & Field at NCAA East First Round (Jacksonville, Fla.)

🐶 Click here to see the full Mississippi State Athletics Calendar

🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: Second!

🐶 Have a great Thursday, y’all!