Scott Padgett reportedly joining Mississippi State staff as assistant coach

Former Kentucky men’s basketball All-American Scott Padgett is coming back to the Southeastern Conference.

According to Stadium’s Jeff Goodman, Padgett is joining the Mississippi State staff as an assistant under new head coach Chris Jans. Stefan Krajisnik of the Clarion Ledger reports that Padgett will serve as the “assistant to the head coach”. He was previously an assistant at Manhattan under Steve Masiello during the 2021-22 season.

Mississippi State coach Chris Jans is bringing on Scott Padgett (Manhattan) and Patrice Days (ETSU) on his staff, source told @Stadium.

Padgett will be special assistant while Days will be director of recruiting.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) August 28, 2022

Padgett played four total seasons at Kentucky under Rick Pitino and Tubby Smith from 1994-99, winning a national title in 1998 with the Wildcats. A 6-foot-9 native of Louisville, he was named an All-American in ’97-98 and All-SEC in ’98-99. After college, Padgett was taken with the 28th overall pick in the 1999 NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz and played eight years in the league.

Once his playing days were behind him, Padgett moved on to coaching. He started at his alma mater during the 2009-10 season, John Calipari’s first season as the Kentucky head coach. Padgett then took an assistant position with Manhattan from ’10-12 before spending two years as an assistant at Samford from ’12-14.

Padgett was eventually promoted to head coach at Samford ahead of the ’14-15 season, where he would stay for the next six seasons. He posted an overall coaching record of 84-115 while at Samford, including a 34-74 mark in the Southern Conference. Padgett’s best run was in ’16-17 when his squad went 20-16 on the season and made it to the second round of the CIT.

Following the ’19-20 season, Padgett was let go by Samford and took an assistant job at New Mexico for the following year. He then returned to Manhattan as an assistant last season and will now make the move to the SEC.

Mississippi State fired previous head coach Ben Howland in March after his seventh season in charge. The Bulldogs then hired Jans, who was the head coach at New Mexico State for five years, a few days later and he’s been filling out his staff ever since. Padgett is the piece that completes the coaching core.

See you at Rupp, Scott.