‘I called them’: After Ole Miss women top Stanford, Coach Yo explains how she got Rebels job

An upset over top-seeded Stanford on Sunday night provided Ole Miss women’s basketball coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin – known to most as ‘Coach Yo’ – a platform for reflection.

And reflect she did, throughout a press conference lasting over 30 minutes. Among the highlights was a story about how she landed the job to be the Rebels’ head coach. Coming off a third-straight 20-win season at Jacksonville in 2018, she placed a call to the athletic department with a simple question: “What are you guys doing?”

“I’m hot,” she said. “And y’all can get me for cheap. And I’m recruiting my butt off with a $20,000 recruiting budget. Give me yours and watch what I do.”

`COACH YO: With Ole Miss women March Madness bound again, Coach Yo’s upbringing holds secret to success

STANFORD UPSET:Ole Miss women’s basketball upsets No. 1 Stanford, advances to March Madness Sweet 16

GONZAGA WIN: Ole Miss women’s basketball crushes Gonzaga, sets up March Madness clash with Stanford

Here’s what she did: After three years of building, she achieved back-to-back fourth-place finishes with a program that hadn’t had a winning season in the SEC for more than a decade. She went to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007, then went again the following season. And, Sunday, she upset a No. 1 seed in its home building on the heels of back-to-back Final Four runs and a national championship.

Her phone call was bold. Her performance has backed it up.

“I wasn’t Ole Miss’ first choice,” she told ESPN postgame. “But I was the right one. And I was naive enough to think that I could do it.”

The Rebels will take on the winner of Texas vs. Louisville in the Sweet 16.

David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: After Stanford upset, Coach Yo explains how she landed Ole Miss job