The score is tied. With three seconds remaining in the 2018 NCAA women’s basketball championship, Notre Dame inbounds the ball to senior guard Arike Ogunbowale. Mississippi State senior guard Victoria Vivians guards her closely as she lunges to block Ogunbowale’s shot that could end her college career.
The shot goes in as the clock hits zero. Vivians, along with her head coach Vic Schaefer, came up just short for the second season in a row.
Eight years later, Vivians and Schaefer will join forces once again at Texas, with her being hired as an assistant coach to Schaefer’s staff.
“When I hire people, I love to get them from my tree. You know, I love to get them from the family,” Schaefer said. “It doesn’t work that way all the time, but most of the time I feel fairly confident in their loyalty, and they know what being in our program is all about.”
After her time at Mississippi State, Vivians was drafted eighth overall into the WNBA by the Indiana Fever, where she played until 2023 before playing her final season in 2024 with the Seattle Storm. After playing one season overseas in 2025, Vivians has found herself back with the coach who transitioned her into that journey.
During the 2024-2025 season, Vivians served as an assistant coach and director of scouting at her alma mater. She’ll be coming into Austin to replace the role of Sydney Carter, who also played for Schaefer while he was an assistant at Texas A&M. Carter transferred to be an assistant coach at Auburn over the offseason.
Her experience with Schaefer’s philosophy, along with her playing and coaching experience, makes Vivian a perfect hire to get this Texas team over that Final Four hump.
“She just knows what it takes, I think. She’s played for me, so she’s been through those practices and those seasons. Then at the same time, she’s just able to really share with our kids that have ambitions, a plan. ‘Hey, what’s important?’ You know, what’s really looked at as far as the next level.”
At the next level, both Vivians and Schaefer have never reached any level of a championship game since being apart from each other. Vivians played in one playoff game during her entire WNBA career and did not score, compared to her Mississippi State championship games in 2017 and 2018, in which she was the team’s leading scorer for both.
Vivians said that this homecoming is meaningful to her, and that she will be happy to contribute however she can towards a winning program.
“Joining the Texas women’s basketball program is incredibly special to me,” Vivians said. “Having the opportunity to work alongside a coach who played such an important role in my own development as a college player makes this a true full-circle moment.”
If Schaefer and Vivians do get an opportunity to reach a national championship this season, they’ll surely be hoping that the saying “the third time is the charm” is true.
