Rick Stansbury Biography
Rick Stansbury currently serves as the head basketball coach of the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the NCAA's Southeastern Conference.
Because Mississippi State is a slightly lower profile school than some of the other larger SEC powers, Stansbury sometimes goes overlooked when discussing elite basketball coaches within the conference. However, if he continues to succeed at a level similar to that which has thus far, that will likely not be the case much longer.
Rick Stansbury was a good young basketball player while he was growing up in his hometown of Brandenburg, Kentucky. He was one of the key players on his high school squad, which was Meade County High School in Brandenburg, where he eventually graduated in 1977.
From there, he went on to attend Campbellsville College (which has since been renamed Campbellsville University) in Campbellsville, Kentucky). He attended Campbellsville for four years from 1977 until 1981. During his senior season in 1981, he was a key cog in the team as they made a run to the NAIA Tournament.
Stansbury was hired by Mississippi State following successful stints as an Assistant Coach at his alma mater, Campbellsville, Cumberland, and Austin Peay. While at Austin Peay, that team was elevated to a higher level on the national profile, and experienced unprecedented success on the national stage.
Rick Stansbury.
Over the course of his 6 seasons at Austin Peay, he helped lead the team to a series of winning seasons that ultimately led to an NCAA Tournament berth in 1987, a Tournament in which Austin Peay managed to pull off a first round upset and advance to the 2nd round. That team finished the season with a record of 20-12.
Following his stint at Austin Peay, Stansbury was hired by then Head Coach of Mississippi State Richard Williams, who at the time was the all-time winningest head coach in Mississippi State University history. Stansbury served as an Assistant Coach from 1990 until 1994. Following the 1994 season, Williams tabbed Stansbury as his heir-apparent and named him the team's Associate Head Coach.
From the time Stansbury joined Mississippi State in 1990, until his eventual promotion to Head Coach in 1998, the team experienced unprecedented success. During that stretch, the team won an SEC regular season championship, two SEC regular season championships, and one SEC tournament championship. The team also advanced to the Final Four in consecutive seasons in 1995 and 1996.
Following the departure of Richard Williams, Stansbury was elevated to the level of Head Coach with the Mississippi State basketball program, and helped to continue the schools winning ways. Since taking over in 1998, Stansbury has led the Mississippi State Bulldogs to 4 NCAA Tournaments, and has also led the program to 3 additional NIT Tournament appearances, for a total of 7 postseason tournament appearances.
During this span, the Bulldogs have also experienced extraordinary success within the Southeastern Conference, winning 3 SEC West Championships (those coming in 2003, 2004, and 2007), and also managed to win one SEC regular season championship outright. Stansbury also led the 2001-2002 team to its most successful single season in school history in regards to total wins, with 27.
As a result of his continued success at Mississippi State, Stansbury has steadily climbed the ranks of all time success at the University. And that culminated during the current 2007-2008 season when Stansbury passed his mentor and predecessor Richard Williams for most all-time wins as a Head Coach in Mississippi State basketball history.
If you are a Mississippi basketball fan, you should read our current Mississippi State Bulldogs Basketball and Mississippi State Bulldogs Basketball History page.
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