The start of Independence Day weekend last Friday marked the official end of the 2015-16 athletic year for Mississippi State and the rest of the NCAA, bringing to close a year beginning with soccer and volleyball in August and finishing with baseball and track in June, a dozen other sports sandwiched between.
Each year is special in its own ways, to be sure, just as no season stands completely alone, always forming a chapter in the greater story of its program and sport. As far as Bulldog athletics go, however, 2015-16 easily stands one of the best in MSU history, and by one measurement, ranks top-to-bottom as the greatest in the modern era for those wearing the Maroon and White.