Mississippi is now accepting applications to help struggling renters, three months after then-President Donald Trump signed a massive COVID-19 stimulus bill, including $25 billion for rental assistance.
Mississippi Home Corporation is taking applications from needy renters, as well as landlords who file on behalf of tenants, at ms-ramp.com. The home corporation program, called the Rental Assistance for Mississippians Program (RAMP), received $186 million of the $200 million U.S. Department of Treasury allocated to Mississippi through the Federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program.
Harrison and Hinds Counties secured a total of $14 million for themselves. Anyone living in Harrison should apply through the Open Doors Homeless Coalition at 228-604-8011. Hinds has not begun administering its portion, home corporation director Scott Spivey said, but Hinds County residents may apply to RAMP.
The assistance is meant to help renters who were financially impacted by COVID-19.
The Mississippi Home Corporation first began administering RAMP in July using $18 million the state received through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Emergency Solutions Grant. But the agency stopped offering rental assistance through the program in January, Spivey said, due to federal guidance. Spivey explained that because an eviction moratorium had begun Sept. 4, the federal government suggested renters were no longer at a great enough risk of homelessness to qualify for the grant.
That program also came with strict eligibility guidelines that caused several thousand to be denied, but the treasury money is more flexible. For one, the program announced today raises the income limit for eligibility from 50% to 80% of the area’s median income. In Hinds County, families of four would qualify if they earned under $56,700, instead of the previous $35,450.
Today, individuals can apply to the program for help paying up to 15 months of back due rent, which should help to reduce debts and the number of evictions to come once the moratorium is lifted. Applicants can also secure help to pay for the following utilities and energy costs: electricity, gas, water and sewer, trash removal and fuel oil. The program will not pay for telephone, cable or internet bills.
Renters will be eligible for the assistance if at least one person in the household meets three requirements: they qualify for unemployment or faced financial hardship as a result of COVID-19, are at risk of homelessness or unstable housing and pull no more than 80 percent of the area median household income.
The home corporation also directs applicants to call 601-533-8401 or 1-888-725-0063 to speak to a representative.
Gov. Tate Reeves has not made appointments to fill vacancies on Mississippi’s two main education boards — a move the chairwoman of the state Board of Education says has been “crippling” to the work of that panel.
Reeves’ slow-rolled appointments could leave the boards that govern K-12 education and universities with multiple vacancies until the next legislative session begins in January 2022. The delayed appointments have already affected the ability of one board to function as needed: the Board of Education had to cancel a meeting in November because it lacked a quorum.
The state Constitution requires Senate confirmation of the governor’s appointments to both the 12-member board of trustees of state Institutions of Higher Learning, which oversees the state’s eight public universities, and the nine-member Board of Education, which oversees the state’s K-12 public schools.
Reeves is currently due to make appointments for four vacancies that will occur on the IHL board on May 7. Without appointments by that date, the college board will be down to eight members — the exact number needed for a quorum. That means that if any board member had to miss a meeting, they would not have a quorum to legally meet.
The governor also must fill two current vacancies on the state Board of Education. There are currently five members on that board, which meets the exact quorum. One of the seats Reeves is responsible for filling on the Board of Education — a teacher representative — has been vacant since June 20, 2020. The other, representing the state’s southern district, has been vacant since Nov. 20, 2020.
Reeves, according to Senate staffers and the legislative web page, has not submitted nominations to the Senate for picks to either board. It is likely too late in the 2021 legislative session for the Senate to consider any appointments, which normally require a background check prior to confirmation.
When Mississippi Today reporters tried on Thursday to ask Reeves about the vacancies as he left the Capitol surrounded by security and staff, he refused to answer questions, saying to contact him via email. He has not responded to Mississippi Today’s emailed questions.
If Reeves makes the appointments after the 2021 session ends, legal experts told Mississippi Today there is question of whether the appointees could begin serving prior to the next legislative session, which begins in January 2022.
The attorney general, in a 1977 opinion, seemed to support the argument that if the governor does not make the appointments during the current legislative session, he must wait until next session. The opinion stated when a “term is about to expire and will expire by limitation before the next session of the Senate, the governor should nominate a person to fill the vacancy” and “if he fails to do so, he cannot make a valid appointment to fill such a vacancy in the vacation of the Senate.” If the governor tried to do so, it “would be to limit and abridge the right of the Senate to advise and consent to the appointment.”
Another option would be for Reeves to call a special session of the Senate to confirm any appointments he might make after the session ends.
In November, the Board of Education had to cancel their meeting because they could not meet five-member quorum. Rosemary Aultman, chairwoman of the Board of Education, said the five current members are doubling up on subcommittee work.
“There are so many good things going on despite the pandemic and despite having to convert to virtual education in some situations,” Aultman said. “Teachers have continued to do their best to teach, and districts have been working hard to keep the pace, and of course part of that equation is the board being able to approve grants, contracts, all the things that come into play to be able to function … It makes it very crippling not to have a complete board.”
Reeves, now in his first term as governor, has been known for moving slowly in appointments to boards and agencies, including during his former role as lieutenant governor. In 2020, he didn’t name people to the board to redesign the state flag until a week after the deadline set by the Legislature. That deadline was clearly spelled out in the bill Reeves signed into law himself.
In 2017, some blamed the state’s late start on its bicentennial celebration — it didn’t fully roll out until near the end of the state’s 200th year — in part because Reeves didn’t appoint people to long-vacant slots on the Bicentennial Commission until late that year.
In addition to Reeves’ two overdue appointments to the Board of Education, there are currently two others: one appointment to be filled by Speaker Philip Gunn, and the other to be filled by Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann.
Both Hosemann and Gunn said they are working to fill their seats.
“The chairman of the state Board of Education stepped down at the end of February, creating a vacancy which must be filled by an appointment of the lieutenant governor,” said Leah Rupp Smith, a spokeswoman for Hosemann. “The lieutenant governor will be considering candidates next week.”
In September, Sean Suggs of Tupelo, an appointee of the speaker’s, stepped down when he accepted a job in another state. Gunn told Mississippi Today he has a stack of resumes on his desk he must read, but the 2021 legislative session has kept him from conducting interviews. He said he plans to begin work after the session ends in coming days to name a replacement for Suggs and hopes to find another northeast Mississippian to fill the post.
The section of law that some believe would prevent an appointee of the governor from serving prior to the 2022 legislative session does not apply to the speaker and lieutenant governor. There seems to be legal consensus that Gunn and Hosemann could make appointments that could begin serving immediately and face Senate confirmation in 2021. They would not have to wait for a new session to begin serving.
To further complicate matters, the term of northern district Education Board member Karen Elam is set to expire this June. That post also is a gubernatorial appointee.
The IHL board has not discussed the pending vacancies, said Shane Hooper, one of the four IHL board members whose term ends in May.
“We’re not experiencing any problems (like the Board of Education) — we still have all of our members, but some of us roll off the board in May,” Hooper said. “That is strictly a governor’s appointment, and we have no involvement in that.”
Senate Universities and Colleges Chair Rita Potts Parks, R-Corinth, said she is ready to act if the governor sends appointments for the IHL board.
“I am sure as soon as we get them we would be glad to take them up in committee. I am just waiting,” Parks said, but acknowledged it “could be” too late to finish the confirmation process this close to the end of the current session.
Dr. LouAnn Woodward, the chief executive of the University of Mississippi Medical Center, joins Mississippi Today Editor-in-Chief Adam Ganucheau to reflect on the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic in Mississippi and discuss the days ahead.
Many of Mississippi’s more than 25,000 state employees will get a 3% pay raise under an agreement reached between House and Senate leaders as they work to finalize a budget this week and conclude the 2021 legislative session.
Under the same agreement, faculty and staff at the eight public universities and 15 community colleges could receive at least a 1% raise.
Many of the details of the roughly $6.2 billion state support budget have not yet been worked out, and legislative leaders were still meeting late Sunday to finalize next year’s budget.
The pay raise agreements reached by legislative leaders — made possible after higher-than-expected state revenue collections last year and an influx of cash from federal stimulus packages — must be approved by both chambers of the Legislature.
Senate Appropriations Chair Briggs Hopson, R-Vicksburg, explained that money was set aside — about $13.9 million in general fund revenue — to begin the salary increase for state employees at the start of the new calendar year on Jan. 1 rather than the start of the new fiscal year on July 1. Delaying the pay raise by half a fiscal year will reduce the cost of the pay raise for the first year of its enactment.
The leaders also reached an agreement to set aside enough funds to provide faculty and staff at the state’s eight public universities and 15 community colleges at least a 1% raise starting with the new fiscal year on July 1.
The higher ed raises, though, will be awarded at the discretion of the leadership of the universities and community colleges. The institutions’ leaders can use the funds to provide across the board 1% pay raises or target the funds to provide a salary increase of up to 5% for specified employees.
Hopson said the flexibility would allow institution leaders to reward employees who they want to make an extra effort to keep on staff. It is possible that not every higher ed employee will receive a raise.
House Appropriations Chair John Read, R-Gautier, told members Sunday afternoon that there was not yet an agreement on the entire budget “at this point in time, although I do see a light at the end of the tunnel. I just do not know how long that tunnel is right now.”
But Read and Hopson both told their colleagues that there was agreement on the pay raise for state employees and higher ed employees in addition to the $1,000 per year pay raise for public school teachers agreed to earlier this session.
Even though Mississippi’s K-12 teachers and most state employees received salary increases in 2019, the state still lags the nation the contiguous states in pay for public school teachers and for state employees.
According to the Mississippi Personnel Board, for instance, the average pay for state employees is $39,896 per year compared to the average for the four adjoining states of $49,392. Additionally, Mississippi’s average pay for K-12 teachers is the lowest of any state in the nation.
“I am glad to see we are addressing some of the deficiencies we have had for some of the agencies that have been working with underfunded budgets the last couple of years,” said Rep. Robert Johnson, D-Natchez, the House minority leader. “In addition, I am glad we are giving at least a nominal pay raise for state employees.”
On Sunday, the Legislature voted to expand Medicaid for some inmates so that the federal government instead of the state would pay the cost of their health care, but the Republican legislative leadership continues to refuse to consider an overall expansion of the federal-state health care program.
“I do not understand it,” Johnson said. “We are expanding it for prisoners, but not for working people. I am for doing it for both.”
Don’t call state Sen. Juan Barnett “a bleeding heart liberal” just because he believes state laws should be changed to expand the opportunity for earlier release for many in Mississippi prisons.
Barnett, a 51-year-old Democrat from Heidelberg and chair of the Senate Corrections Committee, knows the despair that can be experienced by victims of crime. After all, Barnett and his family in Jasper County are crime victims — victims of violent crime.
But now Barnett is working in the Mississippi Senate to shorten the sentences for many state inmates.
This could be considered an unusual priority for a legislator who, as a 20-year-old Army soldier deployed to Iraq in the early 1990s in the first Gulf War, received word his father had been shot to death in his hometown of Heidelberg. The death occurred during a confrontation where to this day Barnett said the exact details of what occurred are not known.
What Barnett does know is that the incident, after which a person was sent away to prison for a short period of time, left Barnett feeling both heartbroken and vengeful. Those feelings, he said, lingered for years while he went away to college at Livingston University in Alabama.
He later worked in Indonesia for a period in the telecommunications industry before returning to his hometown and to his mother’s house without much direction on what the next phase of his life would entail.
“I was sitting around at my mother’s house one day, not feeling good, by myself, talking to myself about what had happened, when I realized that I could not move forward until I was able to forgive like the Bible teaches,” he recalled. “I truly believe being able to do that put me in the position I am in today, working on the things I am working on.”
Barnett, who represents all of rural Jasper County and portions of Jones and Forrest, is one of the Senate leaders on bipartisan efforts to expand the opportunities for early release from prison. A wide range of advocacy groups, such as the American Conservative Union and the American Civil Liberties Union, support the concept of expanded early release opportunities.
David Safavian, general counsel for the American Conservative Union, recently wrote to legislative leaders: “If long sentences and high incarceration rates were correlated with greater public safety, Mississippi, which has the third highest incarceration rate in the country, should be one of the safest jurisdictions in the United States. Unfortunately, that is not the case” based on FBI crime data.
The efforts to change laws surrounding parole and early release and other laws related to the state’s prison system continue to be considered during the final days of the 2021 legislative session. Last session, Gov. Tate Reeves vetoed those efforts after many in law enforcement expressed opposition. Barnett expressed optimism that a compromise could be reached this year.
Barnett said he and other advocates for criminal justice reform are not talking about people not being punished — especially for violent crimes. But he said there are instances in Mississippi where people are being locked up for much longer periods of time than they are in other states for the same crime, resulting in state revenue that could go to education and other services being diverted to the prison system.
In addition, Barnett said he believes it will make a difference for some inmates if they know there are politicians who are fighting for them to have a second chance.
“Being able to help some people change their lives is a lot better than helping no one,” Barnett said.
Barnett said he understands the hurt of crime victims, but also understands the circumstances that can lead to criminal activity. He referenced going into a convenience store and seeing a group of young boys “with $1.50 to buy a bag of potato chips. That won’t go far. One of those boys might, because of circumstances, commit a crime one day.”
He said he is not making excuses, but believes many people turn to crime because of mistakes and circumstances in their lives. “Most people don’t choose to commit a crime when they have other choices,” he said.
Before being elected to the Senate in 2015, Barnett served four terms as mayor of Heidelberg, a predominantly African American town of less than 1,000 between Meridian and Laurel.
He said he recently ran into the mother of the man convicted of shooting his father in 1991 at a cancer survivors meeting.
“We stopped and talked,” he said. Barnett said what he tries to practice in his everyday life is a willingness to forgive and to move on. That, he believes, is also good public policy, in some instances, for the state of Mississippi.
“At some point we need to stop building fences and build bridges,” he said.
The Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus on Saturday said state coffers are full and called for the state to spend $436 million on healthcare, education and other proposals to help improve quality of life for the poor, elderly, youth and minorities to help move the state from the bottom of most socioeconomic lists.
“When you didn’t have, we understood,” Rep. Omeria Scott, D-Laurel, said at a press conference Saturday outlining the caucus’ request to state GOP budget leaders. “But we have been blessed. And we have, now … Now is the time to address these needs.”
The Black Caucus — 52 of the Legislature’s 174 members — request comes on “conference weekend” as legislative leaders get down to brass tacks on setting a nearly $6 billion state-support budget (the total budget will be more than $20 billion counting federal and other funds). They’re also working to reach final agreements on other legislation and end the 2021 legislative session, likely sometime next week. House and Senate negotiators haggled over budget bills into Saturday night, hoping to begin voting on final spending proposals on Sunday.
Sen. Angela Turner Ford listens during a committee meeting at the Capitol. Credit: Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today, Report For America
Legislative Black Caucus Chairwoman Sen. Angela Turner Ford, D-West Point, itemized the spending requests on Saturday. She said the caucus’ budget committee did its research and numbers crunching on how much each initiative would cost and is not proposing anything “reckless or random” or that the state cannot afford. She said many of these requests were in bills introduced earlier this session that have since died. Some are in measures still alive and others are new requests, given recent updates on the state’s financial status.
“Any strategic plan that is going to address Mississippi’s needs should include and consider the plight of Black Mississippians as well as the white working poor,” Ford said.
House and Senate budget leaders last week said Mississippi’s tax collections are more than $500 million above the estimate used to set the current year’s budget and the state economy appears to be chugging along. They estimate the state will have $5.93 billion —about $173 million, or 3%, more in state dollars than lawmakers had estimated in November to spend for fiscal 2022 that begins July 1.
The Black Caucus request includes:
Expanding Medicaid to cover up to 300,000 people. Ford said the caucus’ budget document lists this cost at $159 million — which would be matched by $1.2 billion in federal money — but that the state didn’t have updated, accurate figures. Hospitals and numerous healthcare advocates have for years pushed for Mississippi to join 39 other states that have expanded Medicaid per the federal Affordable Care Act, but the state’s Republican leaders have refused.
$17 million for perinatal high risk management/infant services. This would help improve access to care for Medicaid-eligible pregnant or postpartum women and to infants, with a goal of reducing infant mortality and low birth weight. Senate GOP leaders also are pushing for more postpartum care and spending in the Medicaid program.
$104 million to expand chemical dependency programs in Mississippi. Scott said Saturday that the state has only 123 chemical dependency facility beds. The proposal would expand this to 500.
$3 million to expand dental health services for children and poor people.
$10 million for summer youth employment programs. This would match young people with entry level summer jobs.
$5 million for a housing initiative to assist low- and moderate-income people in accessing affordable rental and ownership housing and help revitalize distressed neighborhoods.
$2 million for after-school remediation program. Remedial instruction, Ford said, is extremely important now with the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting normal school attendance, classes and schedules.
$60 million for capital improvements to historically black colleges and universities. This would help HBCUs upgrade, repair and renovate campus buildings and infrastructure.
$41 million to expand the Home and Community Based Waiver program. This would help thousands of elderly and disabled people with assisted and independent living receive services at home instead of being institutionalized or going without care.
Lawmakers faced a Saturday night deadline to reach agreement on spending bills and were also haggling over a “bond bill,” or borrowing for projects statewide, always of keen interest to lawmakers wanting projects for their districts. If they fail to reach agreements by the deadline, lawmakers often file “dummy bills” full of zeroes to technically meet deadlines and buy more time for negotiation. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and other legislative leaders said late Saturday that negotiations were going well and they did not expect to file too many blank budget bills.
Lawmakers return Sunday afternoon for the full House and Senate chambers to begin passing final versions of bills. Legislative leaders said they hope to end this year’s session by the middle of next week.
Besides the budget, lawmakers are still negotiating on Medicaid rules and spending, criminal justice reform and numerous other measures.
Gov. Tate Reeves, in a live interview on national television on Friday, revisited an old strategy he employs when he’s backed into a corner, struggling to defend his actions or inactions: He questioned scientific data, challenged experts and blamed the press.
On Friday morning, a CNBC anchor asked Reeves about two troubling statistics: Mississippi has fully vaccinated just 14% of the state’s residents and ranks 47th in the nation in administering the COVID-19 vaccines that the state has received.
Reeves disputed the data, saying, “Actually, I don’t think those numbers are accurate.” The CNBC host rebutted with, “I didn’t pull that number out of thin air. That’s from a publication in your own state, governor. It’s called Mississippi Today, I’m sure you’re familiar with it.”
“Well Mississippi Today is certainly a very liberal rag that’s a website, it’s not even a real news source,” the governor said.
Reeves never backed up his claim that the vaccine numbers were inaccurate, and he didn’t acknowledge the data he questioned definitively shows that Mississippi lags behind most other states in putting shots in arms.
The playbook for many politicians is simple: If data show that things are bad, question the data. If experts say things are bad, challenge the experts. If reporters ask why things are bad, blame the reporters. Reeves, who has taken this approach for years, isn’t the first to do it and won’t be the last.
But Reeves has relied on this playbook since the pandemic began — a troubling trend for the first-term governor responsible for leading the state’s pandemic response and recovery. Here are a few of several examples:
In March 2021, shortly after he rescinded the state’s COVID-19 orders like mask mandates and capacity limits, Reeves was asked by a reporter to respond to a warning from CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky that states not reopen too soon. In response, Reeves said, “Many of the folks that are in charge, including even the CDC, tend to take a more political approach than a scientific approach when trying to address this virus.”
In November 2020, many of the state’s top medical experts penned a letter to Reeves asking him to re-implement a statewide mask mandate. They argued that the growing number of cases were overloading the state’s hospital system and that the governor’s county-by-county mask mandate strategy wasn’t working. In a press conference, Reeves blasted who he called “so-called experts” who challenged his decisions.
In August 2020, during a significant surge in COVID-19 cases, CBS “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan asked Reeves about data showing 11 Mississippi hospitals had zero ICU beds available. After downplaying the severity of the virus spread in the state, Reeves told Brennan: “I think the data you’re looking at is two or three weeks old.” Brennan was citing up-to-date data from State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs.
In July 2020, Reeves took to Facebook Live and blamed the “hypocrisy of the media” for covering Black Lives Matter protests rather than the coronavirus, saying that gap in coverage led many Mississippians to believe COVID was a hoax and to stop wearing masks. But most Mississippi news outlets had posted daily updates about the virus since the first case reached the state. After backlash, he said he was referring to the “national media,” not local press.
Today, he seldom talks to the media — just at them or about them. His staff takes days to answer basic questions, or sometimes doesn’t answer them or even acknowledge them. As the pandemic worsened in 2020, Reeves held fewer public appearances and press conferences.
Reeves, who has long been careful to calculate decisions and messaging based on future political ambitions, may believe such attacks on the press poll well in pockets of Mississippi. But the attacks are rarely defensible or based in fact, and they most often come when he’s clearly uncomfortable.
As for the governor’s comments about Mississippi Today not being a “real news outlet”: he’s wrong and he knows it, considering he has shared many of our articles from his own social media accounts. Our COVID-19 coverage, in particular, provided context and data to his own staff, who used it as they navigated difficult policy decisions, a former Reeves senior staffer told us last year.
Our journalism, regularly published by dozens of others news outlets across the state, has reached tens of millions of readers. We closely adhere to the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics, and we’re proud members of the Mississippi Press Association.
Journalists don’t like being the story. We’re taught to avoid it at all costs. Unfortunately, the governor made us the story by criticizing our work on a national platform, deflecting attention from the real one: the state’s struggles to administer vaccines.
Last week was our newsroom’s fifth anniversary, and in reflecting on where we’ve been and where we’re headed, I wrote about how we’ve been perceived through the lens of politics. Readers on the right have sometimes criticized us for being too left-leaning. Readers on the left have sometimes criticized us for not doing more to directly bring about political change.
But there’s common ground I know we can all stand on: Unchecked power is harmful to every Mississippian. That’s why we launched this newsroom five years ago. We tell stories and share perspectives we believe to be true, and we work to hold elected officials — Republicans and Democrats — accountable. All the while, we focus our reporting on the experiences of Mississippians most marginalized by the decisions those powerful officials make. Truth, not politics, is our guiding principle.
The trauma and loss so many have experienced during the pandemic will continue to be difficult to manage. Seeing the signs of normalcy is so encouraging. Dwelling on problems can be difficult, but we believe a better future for Mississippi cannot come unless we’re honest about our past and present.
While Mississippi’s current cases and hospitalization have improved, our health leaders are telling us to stay vigilant — to wear masks and get vaccinated — because the virus is not gone, though Reeves’ executive orders are. We’ll keep boosting their voices and the data they’re collecting because they know better than anyone that Mississippians have suffered. We, after all, have the fifth-highest number of deaths per 100,000 of any state in the nation.
More than ever, Mississippians need leaders to be honest about our challenges and do everything they can to get more people vaccinated so fewer families will have to suffer and we can all get back to normal. Questioning data, challenging experts and blaming the press does nothing to get us there. Nothing.
Mississippians deserve truth, from our governor and from all our elected officials. Too many lives remain on the line for anything less.
Gov. Tate Reeves, on national television on Friday, was confronted with two troubling statistics: Mississippi has fully vaccinated just 14% of the state’s residents and ranks 47th in the nation in administering the COVID-19 vaccines that the state has received.
That data — widely reported by Mississippi Today and other state and national outlets — comes from the Mississippi State Department of Health, which Reeves has heavily relied on the past year, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Pressed during the live CNBC interview on why those numbers are so low, Reeves pushed back, saying, “Actually, I don’t think those numbers are accurate.” The governor said federal agencies like the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs are administering vaccines and not reporting the data to the state.
“I think the difference in being 20th or 40th (in the nation) is just a couple percentage points, and once we get accurate data in the system… what you’ll find is we’re going to be middle of the pack in terms of total vaccines distributed,” Reeves said.
Health care experts, including State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs, have discussed that many providers in Mississippi who have administered vaccines — particularly small clinics in rural parts of the state — have not been quick to update the vaccine database. That delay may result, officials say, in lower-than-actual percentages of vaccines administered showing in the database.
Reeves on Monday said those lags could mean the state’s public reporting of vaccine data is as far as 10% behind actual shots administered. But that statement is speculation without the numbers to back it up.
According to the most recent data data from the CDC and MSDH, Mississippi has administered 1,134,883 of the 1,594,445 doses of COVID-19 vaccine that have been delivered to the state. That moves the state up one place in the national rankings reported earlier this week — now 46th in the percentage of doses administered.
Across Mississippi, 733,010 people — 24% of the state’s total population — have received at least their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. More than 426,000 people have been fully inoculated since the state began distributing vaccines in December.
Whit Hughes, Mississippi State’s dependable sixth man, celebrates during the net-cutting ceremony 25 years ago, when the Bulldogs defeated both Connecticut and Cincinnati at Lexington, Ky., to advance to the NCAA Final Four. (Photo courtesy MSU Athletics.)
Twenty-five years ago this weekend, Mississippians by the thousands traveled to Lexington, Ky. Most wore maroon. They were there for a basketball tournament that turned into a wild celebration.
Darryl Wilson, left, and Richard Williams discuss strategy during State’s victory over Cincinnati. (MSU Athletics)
The Mississippi State Bulldogs, coached by Richard Williams, were decided underdogs against first UConn and then Cincinnati in the NCAA Tournaments Sweet 16. The ‘Dogs needed to beat both in order to become the first Mississippi men’s basketball team in history to reach the NCAA Final Four. A quarter century later, they remain the only Mississippi team that has.
Today’s column will consist of memories of that special weekend in Magnolia State sports history. There are so many, beginning with this one: Williams went head to head, clipboard to clipboard with college coaching superstars Jim Calhoun and Bob Huggins — and out-coached them both.
The specifics: State first defeated UConn and Ray Allen, their All-American guard, 60-55 behind a spectacular shooting performance by Darryl Wilson. Then, State out-fought Cincinnati 73-63 in the South Regional final.
The memories:
The Bulldogs were 8.5-point underdogs to UConn, which had won 32 of 34 games and had lived in the top five of national polls all season long. Allen, who would go on to score 24,000 points in the NBA, was a leading candidate for National Player of the Year. The Huskies scarcely knew what hit them. Both Allen and State’s Wilson made nine field goals. But Allen needed 25 shots to make his nine. Wilson took only 14 shots. At halftime, after Wilson had swished five 3-pointers, one New York writer made his way down to where we Mississippians were sitting at the press table. “Who is this guy Wilson?” he asked. “I’ve never heard of him. Where’d he come from? Does he ever miss?”
So many of Wilson’s open shots came off bruising screens set by Russell “Big Country” Walters, who surely made ice packs a popular item in the Huskies’ locker room. Asked about all those picks in the locker room afterward, Walters said this: “That’s my job to get Darryl open. I did my job tonight. When he hits that open jumper, that’s when I get my satisfaction. That’s my role, and I realize that.”
Wilson was a great shooter; I mean, a great shooter. He was not a great interview. He avoided microphones like wasps. And when cornered by reporters, he never used 10 words when one would do. In contrast, Wilson’s teammate, Dontae’ Jones, loved microphones and cameras almost as much as he loved to play basketball. Jones overheard my post-game interview with Wilson and took over for his buddy. “Man, when Darryl had the ball tonight the basket was as big as a hula hoop,” Jones said. “When he shot it, man, that ball was going down.”
Williams, the Pearl native and former volunteer junior high coach in Natchez, was irritated and prickly much of that weekend in Lexington. That was mostly because he felt his team, a No. 5 seed even after defeating No. 1 Kentucky for the SEC Tournament championship, had been under-valued on a national scale. Someone asked him at the post-game press conference if he was surprised that his team dominated UConn early and never once trailed in the game. Williams glared at the reporter for what seemed like several seconds. “No,” he finally answered.
The UConn game was on a Friday. The Cincinnati game was on a Sunday. In between, there was Saturday, when both State players coaches and Cincinnati players and coaches were available in back-to-back press conferences. Cincinnati went first and much of the talk was about how physically strong and imposing the Bearcats players were and how so many of their players could bench-press 300 pounds and more. (They did look like an assortment of NFL tight ends.) Even Cincinnati point guard Keith LeGree looked like a bodybuilder. He talked that way, too. When asked about all the screening Mississippi State did to beat UConn, LeGree said, “At Cincinnati, we’re not allowed to be screened. You gotta be tough, you gotta fight through them. We will.”
State was up next. As you might suspect, State players were asked at length about what Cincinnati players had said about how strong and how tough they were. Walters, specifically, was told what LeGree said about screening. “Well, maybe he can fight through them,” Walters said in his decidedly Jones County drawl. “We’ll see.”
Erick Dampier, State’s center who would bat away so many Cincinnati shots the next day, was asked about how strong and physical the Bearcats were. Dampier, who like Wilson is a man of few words, leaned down into the microphone and answered, “We lift weights, too.”
Few words do I remember typing more than these in the final paragraph of the column about the State-Cincinnati matchup: “There is, however, one wild card. His name is Dontae’ Jones. If he goes off, State goes to the Final Four. Remember, you read it here first.” And, boy, did Basketball Jones go off the next day.
State’s victory over Cincinnati now seems a blur, mostly with Jones running around and shooting over the muscular Bearcats. He scored 23 points. He grabbed 13 rebounds. He also blocked two shots and led the cheers, shaking his fist throughout at the State cheering sections. He played almost as hard on defense as he did on offense, which is what Williams had been trying to get him to do all season long. Said Jones when asked about his defensive effort, “I knew if I didn’t guard I’d be sitting over there on the bench by Coach.”
There was one moment late in the game when Cincinnati was fighting back and making it close that Williams says he will never forget. One of those Cincinnati brutes came barreling down the court in the middle of a three-on-one fast break. The “one” was State’s Whit Hughes, a former basketball walk-on from Jackson Prep. Hughes stepped right in front of the Bearcat, took the charge, and was slammed to the floor banging the back of his head. Before he could get up, here came Darryl Wilson, diving on him, on the floor. They were face to face, hugging, laughing, yelling at each other and celebrating the moment. Said Williams in a conversation years later, “That moment to me epitomized that team, that season. You had two players, barely recruited, one from Jackson Prep and one from a small, Black school in rural Alabama, hugging each other and celebrating an effort play that helped win the game. That’s what that team was all about.”
Rick Cleveland
The Cincinnati victory was State’s eighth straight. In a span of two weeks, the Bulldogs had defeated the nation’s No. 1, 3 and 7th ranked teams. And we know what happened next. The Bulldogs played poorly and lost to Syracuse in the national semifinals at The Meadowlands, before Kentucky beat the Orangemen in the national championship. In retrospect, the Bulldogs were due a sub-par game. They played one.
But the NCAA Tournament, as CBS reminds us every year, is all about shining moments. Twenty-five years ago this weekend, those Bulldogs certainly had theirs.
Bart Hyche (22) and Russell Walters embrace during final moments of State’s victory in the Sweet 16. (MSU Athletics)
