There’s a new No. 1 in women’s college basketball. For the first time in 21 years, it’s the Texas Longhorns.

“I’m so happy for my kids. They’ve earned where they are today,” Texas head coach Vic Schaefer told the Associated Press on Monday.

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Schaefer’s team is 27-2 with its next test coming Thursday night against a familiar foe: Mississippi State, where Schaefer spent eight seasons before heading back home to coach at Texas. The decision to leave at the end of the 2019-20 season was a tough one for Schaefer, especially after building a perennial national championship contender in Starkville. The Bulldogs finished as national runners-up in 2017 and 2018.

“It was a calling,” Schaefer told reporters in 2020 about his decision to return to Austin, where he was born. “It was a chance to come home, y’all. … It comes back to a calling, an opportunity you just can’t walk away from.”

Much like he did at Mississippi State, Schaefer has built Texas into a national powerhouse and championship contender, reaching the Elite Eight three times already in his four-plus seasons. Texas rewarded him last week with a three-year contract extension.

In addition to on-court success, Schaefer has garnered a reputation for being outspoken about his faith in God and caring deeply for his players. For eight years at Mississippi State, he ended his press conferences by saying, “Praise the Lord, and go Dawgs.” He’s kept that up, but instead has swapped out the ending phrase to “Hook ‘Em Horns.”

Even after his team fell to North Carolina State in the Elite Eight last season, he gave God glory in defeat in a post on X.

You have to give God the glory in victory and give Him the glory in defeat. He had His hands on this team from day one. His influence and guidance throughout this season was so evident to me. Our steps are numbered. His will. We will be back. Get ready! #Response #PTL&HH

— Vic Schaefer (@CoachVic_UT) April 1, 2024

Schaefer has also said many times that he believes God has him where he is at in that specific time for a specific reason. He believes that now at Texas, and he believed it when he was as Mississippi State, even after going 13-17 his first season. It was an unfamiliar community where he and his family didn’t really know anyone, but he kept his faith in God that he was there for a reason.

“I have to fall back on my Christian background and beliefs,” he said in a 2019 interview with Pine Lake Church in Starkville. “At that point professionally, it would be real easy to panic, but you’ve got to believe in something bigger than that. Five years later we were in the national championship game. I felt like our season was a God thing. It was so special, so magical. To know where we were five years ago to where we are today, it’s hard to do in college athletics and to do it that fast.”

“At the end of the day, this is not just about winning basketball games,” he added. “This is about getting these young ladies ready for the real world. I’m really proud that I think we do a great job of that.”

Schaefer’s coaching philosophy stems from his faith in God, he said.

“I can’t be that person that people look to for answers without His divine intervention,” he told Pine Lake. “When things do get tough, our flesh sometimes doesn’t look at Him and we think we can do it. I’ve learned really quick that I can’t. I can’t imagine living in this world not having a Lord and Savior and having faith in what that means.”

Schaefer’s approach and demeanor has remained the same at Texas, and he’s still preaching the same values to his players about being accountable and prepared for the real world.

“I talk to our kids all the time about making time after a game, doing what we do when the game’s over, going out to the stands and taking pictures, signing autographs,” Schaefer told On SI last week. “It may be the same person each game in every game, same autograph, same picture, but you just never know what that impact is going to be on that young person.

“And in life, young people are our leaders of tomorrow, and for us, the opportunity that God gives us, putting us in this position that we’re in here at the University of Texas, my players as student-athletes, and my staff as coaches, I believe that we need to do our part in trying to make a positive impact on young people.”

Texas and Mississippi State (19-9) tip off at 7:30 p.m. ET Thursday in Starkville.

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