The inaugural Maroon Madness is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 14, with events organized to take place in both downtown Starkville and on campus at Mississippi State.
The event, which was initiated by the simple request of an MSU basketball player, is slated to create one of the biggest sporting weekends on campus in 2011.
Dee Bost, a stand-out point guard on the MSU basketball team, sent a tweet on Sept. 19 telling his followers to convince MSU head basketball coach Rick Stansbury to have a “Midnight Madness.” Within a week of Bost’s tweet, the event was made official by MSU Athletic Director Scott Strickin.
The event, which is free to the public, is scheduled to begin Oct. 14 at 6 p.m., as Main Street in downtown Starkville will host Pumpkinpalooza, an annual pep rally for Mississippi State’s home football game against nationally-ranked South Carolina. There will be something for everyone who attends the event, according to Chad Thomas, the director of athletic marketing at MSU.
“Kids can get in the spirit of Halloween and dress up,” Thomas said. “We’re going to have Bully, the cheerleaders and the pom squad down there, and Scott Stricklin is going to speak at 6 o’clock.”
Following the pep rally, Maroon Madness will shift back to campus, where the State soccer team will also be hosting South Carolina. The match begins at 7 p.m.
Also at 7 p.m., Mississippi State volleyball will play host to the Kentucky Wildcats. The match will take place at Humphrey Coliseum, and gates for the event will open at 6 p.m. Seating will be on a first-come, first-serve basis.
In an attempt to increase attendance at the volleyball game, MSU will push to set a new SEC record for attendance at a volleyball game. The record, set by Florida during the 1994 season, currently stands at 8,163 people.
At the conclusion of the volleyball match, both the men’s and women’s basketball teams will take center court.
Major prizes, such as an iPad 2, courtside tickets to a non-conference basketball game and a semester of books valued at $500 will be available for students to win.
To be eligible for the prizes, students must register at either the soccer or volleyball games and be present for the drawings.
Speaking about the basketball team, Thomas said one of the main reasons Maroon Madness was created was to continue building excitement for the upcoming season.
“There’s a lot of hype going into the basketball season,” Thomas said. “It’s the 100th year of basketball, so we really want to do something to kick off the season in true-maroon fashion.”
New faces on the men’s basketball team, such as freshman forward Rodney Hood and junior transfer forward Arnett Moultrie, will be just a couple of the players featured over the course of the inagural event Student Association President Rhett Hobart said.
Although Maroon Madness will make its inaugural appearance in 2011, it could eventually become an annual event.
“I hope it becomes a new tradition,” Hobart said. “We realize that our student body and our fans really enjoy these types of events, and I think if people enjoy this year’s Maroon Madness, it’ll be something you’ll be able to enjoy in the future as well.”
Along with Maroon Madness, MSU recently announced that the student section at the Hump will be combined this season. Student sections had recently been divided, with students sitting behind each goal.  The change, Hobart said, is to enhance the toughness of the environment at MSU, as well as unite the student body when cheering on the Bulldogs.
“We want to ensure that we have the greatest home-court advantage possible,” Hobart said. “And by reuniting our student sections, we will be able to create a loud and intimidating atmosphere for our opponents.”
State’s highly-anticipated basketball season will begin Oct. 29 when the Bulldogs host Florida Tech in an exhibition game at Humphrey Coliseum.