Mississippi State

Mississippi State (then known as the Mississippi A&M Aggies) first fielded a football team in 1895. The team was coached by W. M. Matthews. During his one-season tenure, Matthews posted an overall record of zero wins and two losses (0–2). He is also credited with the selection of what became the official school colors, maroon and white, prior to the Aggies first game ever played at Union University.

Daniel S. Martin left rival Ole Miss and served as the Aggies' head football coach from 1903–1906. His final record in Starkville was 10–11–3. W. D. Chadwick led the Aggies from 1909–1913. His final record was 29–12–2. During his five-season tenure, Mississippi A&M appeared in and won its first bowl game, the 1911 Bacardi Bowl in Havana, Cuba. Fullback Dutch Reule was selected All-Southern. The 1911 team was also referred to as 'The Bull Dogs'. Earl C. Hayes replaced Chadwick and led Mississippi A&M to 15–8–2 record from 1914–1916. Hunter Kimball received the most votes of any All-Southern halfback in 1914. The Mississippi Legislature renamed Mississippi A&M as "Mississippi State College" in 1925 and the mascot was changed from Aggies to Maroons in 1932. Ralph Sasse enjoyed success as Mississippi State's head football coach. After leading Mississippi State to a 20–10–2 record in three years and an appearance in the 1937 Orange Bowl, a loss, Sasse stunned the students and players by resigning from his head coach's duties, following a doctor's orders after a sudden nervous breakdown. Allyn McKeen left Memphis to become head football coach at Mississippi State, where he compiled a 65–19–3 record in ten seasons. In 1940, he was named Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year after leading Mississippi State to its only undefeated season in school history and its second Orange Bowl appearance, a victory. The following year, 1941, his Maroons squad captured the first and only Southeastern Conference championship in program history. McKeen retired from coaching in 1948 after being fired by Athletic Director Dudy Noble because of a 4–4–1 season. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1991. Mississippi State did not field a football team in 1943. Arthur Morton left VMI to become MSU's head football coach after McKeen's retirement. Morton's Maroons posted struggling records of 0–8–1, 4–5 and 4–5 for a cumulative record of 8–18–1 before Morton's firing. Murray Warmath came to Mississippi State from his post as line coach at Army and posted records of 5–4 and 5–2–3 for a cumulative two-season record of 10–6–3. Having coached only two seasons in Starkville, Warmath resigned after the 1953 season to take the job of University of Minnesota head coach. Darrell Royal came to Mississippi State from the CFL's Edmonton Eskimos and put up back-to-back 6–4 records in his two seasons as the Maroons head football coach. Royal resigned after the 1955 season to accept the head football coach position at Washington.

Wade Walker was promoted from line coach to head coach following Royal's departure. Walker compiled a 22–32–2 record over his 6-season tenure. In 1958 the Legislature renamed the university as Mississippi State University. The Mississippi State Maroons posted a lackluster 2–7–1 record in 1959. The following year, Walker's Maroons improved to 5–5, but students, fans and alumni demanded his ouster. University president Dean W. Colvard relented and fired Walker as football coach, but kept him on as athletic director, a post he kept until 1966. Mississippi State changed its mascot from Maroons to Bulldogs in 1960. However, "Bulldogs" had been used unofficially since at least 1905, and the nickname had long been interchangeable with "Maroons." Paul Davis was promoted from assistant coach to head coach following Walker's firing. His teams went 20–38–2 overall and 9–22–2 in the Southeastern Conference in Davis' five seasons. The Bulldogs had a 7–2–2 record in 1963, earning its first postseason bowl game since 1939. The team finished the season with a 16–12 victory over North Carolina State in front of 8,309 fans at the 1963 Liberty Bowl played in a bitter cold Philadelphia. Mississippi State was able to convert two botched North Carolina State punts into touchdowns, and a 13–0 lead at the first quarter. United Press International named Davis the SEC Coach of the Year for the 1963 season. After a lackluster 2–8 record in 1966, MSU terminated Davis, as well as athletic director Wade Walker.

Charles Shira, who had been defensive coordinator for the University of Texas under former Bulldogs head coach Darrell Royal, was named to fill the head coaching position as well as the vacant post of athletic director. In his first season, his team won two games, followed by none the following year. Mississippi State improved to 3–7 in 1969. That year, Shira served as the coach for the Gray squad in the Blue-Gray Classic. Mississippi State posted a surprising six-win season in 1970, including a victory over rival No. 10 Ole Miss. For the accomplishment, the SEC named Shira its Coach of the Year. In 1969, Shira became the first MSU football coach to coach a black player, Frank Dowsing. In 1972, having compiled a record of 16–45–2, Shira resigned as head coach to focus on his duties as athletic director.

Bob Tyler was promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach of the Bulldogs football team after Shira's resignation. Tyler led Mississippi State to a 9–3 season and a victory in the 1974 Sun Bowl over North Carolina. During that season, his team beat perennial powerhouses, Georgia and LSU. The Bulldogs' record was 6–4–1 in 1975, and it was an impressive 9–2 in 1976, ending the season ranked No. 20 in the AP Poll. His team compiled a 5–6 record in 1977, and he went 6–5 in his final season with the Bulldogs. Mississippi State was placed on probation by the NCAA prior to the 1975 season due to alleged improper benefits to student athletes. The school sought and won court approval to play in an adverse legal opinion to the NCAA. Although the alleged infraction was trivial, the NCAA forced the school to forfeit most games it won in 1975, 1976, and 1977.

Emory Bellard, who had resigned as head coach of Texas A&M during the 1978 season after only six games, was hired to serve as head football coach at Mississippi State beginning with the next (1979) season. He was head coach from 1979 until 1985. He was considered to have had one of the most innovative offensive minds in football and is credited for inventing the wishbone formation. Bellard spent seven seasons as head coach at MSU. His best years as the Bulldogs head coach were in 1980 and 1981, when his team finished 9–3 and 8–4, respectively. Also, Bellard was the coach when Mississippi State defeated number 1, undefeated Alabama 6–3 in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1980. However, the Bulldogs significantly regressed after 1981. In the next five seasons, he only won a total of five games in SEC play. Before the 1985 season, Bellard boldly predicted that the Bulldogs would rebound and win their first SEC title since 1941. They not only failed to do so, but went winless in SEC play. Bellard was fired after the season. He would, however, return in 1988 to coach at the high school level in Texas.

Rockey Felker returned to his alma mater, which was coming off four consecutive losing seasons, from his post as wide receivers coach at Alabama. At 33, Felker was the youngest coach in the country and the first Mississippi State coach in 30 years to start his career as MSU head football coach with a winning record (6–5). However, the Bulldogs never recovered from four consecutive blowout losses at the end of the 1986 season, during which they scored a total of nine points, including a 24–3 loss to Ole Miss. Felker suffered through four losing seasons (4–7, 1–10, 5–6, 5–6) between 1987 and 1990, and only won a total of five games in SEC play. He was only 1–4 vs. Ole Miss. He resigned under pressure at the end of the 1990 season, but would be brought back by his successor, Jackie Sherrill, as running backs coach for two seasons and in a non-coaching position in the football program, where he serves to this day.

After three years away from the game, former Washington State, Pittsburgh and Texas A&M head coach Jackie Sherrill was hired as head football coach at Mississippi State in 1991. He took over a program that hadn't had a winning season since 1986 (and had won a total of 14 games in that stretch) and hadn't had a winning record in Southeastern Conference play since 1981. Sherrill began his Mississippi State career with an upset victory over a familiar foe from his A&M days, the Texas Longhorns (who were the defending Southwest Conference champions). In thirteen seasons in Starkville, Sherrill coached the Bulldogs to a record of 75–75–2. His 75 wins are the most in school history. He led the team to an SEC West title in 1998, and a berth in the Cotton Bowl Classic. A year later, he notched a 10–2 record and No. 12 final ranking. That No. 12 ranking was the highest final ranking achieved by any NCAA Division I-A school in Mississippi in over 30 years. Sherrill, along with Bill Snyder of Kansas State, were among the first to use the rich JUCO systems of their respective states to help their programs progress. Although Sherrill won only eight games in his last three seasons, he built Mississippi State into a consistent winner despite playing in the same division as powerhouses like Alabama, Auburn and LSU. He also finished with a winning record against in-state rival Ole Miss (7–6). Under Sherrill, the Bulldogs went to six bowl games; before his arrival they'd only been to seven bowls in 96 years of play. Sherrill also achieved notoriety by having his team observe the castration of a bull as a motivational technique prior to a game versus Texas. Unranked Mississippi State subsequently beat the No. 13 ranked Longhorns. Sherrill retired after the 2003 season, which was followed by the NCAA levying probation for four years on the program. Despite a prolonged 3-year investigation by the NCAA, Mississippi State was not found guilty of any major violations, and Sherrill was never personally found guilty of any NCAA rules violations at either Mississippi State or Texas A&M.

Sylvester Croom, a longtime assistant in the NFL and a former player for Bear Bryant at Alabama, was hired to replace Jackie Sherrill. Croom's hiring was significant, because he is not only the first African American head coach in Mississippi State football history, but also in the history of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). As of May 2024, Croom is one of only five black head coaches (excluding interims) in the history of the SEC. When Croom was hired at Mississippi State, he inherited a program that was riddled with NCAA sanctions and had not won consistently since the 1990s. Croom led the Bulldogs to a 3–8 (2–6 SEC) record in 2004. State began the season with a victory over Tulane, then lost five straight, to No. 18 Auburn, Maine, No. 13 LSU, Vanderbilt and UAB. The next week, State upset No. 20 Florida in what turned out to be the game that got Florida head coach Ron Zook fired. The next game saw State beat Kentucky. State then lost their final three games of the season to Alabama, Arkansas and Ole Miss. In 2005, State again finished 3–8. After defeating Murray State in the season opener, State lost to Auburn then beat Tulane in Shreveport, Louisiana. State then lost seven consecutive games, starting with No. 7 Georgia, then No. 4 LSU, No. 13 Florida, Houston, Kentucky, No. 4 Alabama and Arkansas. State defeated Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl to finish the season.

Mississippi State struggled to a 3–9 record in 2006. State lost its first three games of the season to South Carolina, No. 4 Auburn, Tulane, State beat UAB to get its first win of the year in the fourth game. Losses to No 9 LSU and No. 4 West Virginia followed, then State defeated Jacksonville State to snap the two-game skid. State then lost to Georgia and Kentucky. MSST then upset Alabama in Alabama before losing to No. 5 Arkansas and Ole Miss. During the 2007 season, during which his team won eight games, including the Liberty Bowl, Croom garnered Coach of the Year awards from three organizations. On December 4, 2007, Croom was named coach of the year by the American Football Coaches Association for region two. The AFCA has five regional coaches of the year and announces a national coach of the year each January. That same year, on December 5, Croom was named SEC Coach of the Year twice, once as voted by the other SEC coaches and once as voted by The Associated Press. It was the first time a Mississippi State coach received the AP honor since Charley Shira in 1970 and the first time a Mississippi State coach received the coaches award since Wade Walker in 1957. After a 4–8 record in 2008, a season marred by lackluster offensive performances culminating with a 45–0 blowout loss to rival No. 25 Ole Miss, Croom was pressured by school officials to resign as head coach of the Bulldogs.

On December 10, 2008, Florida offensive coordinator Dan Mullen was hired as Mississippi State's head coach. Despite having no prior head coaching experience, Mullen arrived in Starkville with an explosive offensive track record and a reputation as a "quarterback whisperer", having tutored Alex Smith, Chris Leak and Tim Tebow during his career as an assistant coach. Serving under head coach Urban Meyer, Mullen oversaw a spread offense at Florida that was one of the most explosive in the country, helped the Gators capture the 2006 and 2008 national championships and sent many players into the National Football League. When he was hired by Mississippi State, Mullen signed a four-year contract worth $1.2 million annually excluding incentives. As soon as he arrived, Dan Mullen overhauled Sylvester Croom's more run-heavy, ball control offense in favor of the spread offensive attack that worked so well at Florida.

In Mullen's first season, the Bulldogs finished 5–7, ending upbeat with a 41–27 victory over No. 20 Ole Miss in the Egg Bowl. In 2010, they started 1–2, and then they had a 6-game winning streak to make their record 7–2 before losing to Alabama and Arkansas, but defeated Ole Miss. The team participated in a bowl game for the first time since 2007, soundly defeating Michigan in the Gator Bowl 52–14. In 2011, the Bulldogs entered the season ranked No. 19 in the country, and they started 1–0, before losing to the defending national champion Auburn 41–34. Mississippi State entered the Ole Miss game in Starkville needing a win to qualify for a bowl bid for a second straight season. The Bulldogs won 31–3, earning Mullen the distinction as the first coach to beat Ole Miss in his first three tries since Allyn McKeen in 1941. The Bulldogs capped off the season with a Music City Bowl win over Wake Forest in Nashville, Tennessee. In 2012, Mississippi State defeated Tennessee 41–31 in their sixth game of the season to become bowl eligible. After a 7–0 start the team won only one of its remaining five games to finish 8–5, including a 41–24 loss at Ole Miss and a 34–20 loss to the No. 21 Northwestern in the Gator Bowl. This was the first time Mississippi State appeared in a bowl three straight years since 2000. In 2013, MSST under Mullen became bowl eligible for the fourth consecutive year following a 17–10 overtime win over Ole Miss. MSST defeated Rice in the Liberty Bowl December 31, 2013, in Memphis, Tennessee, by a score of 44–7. It was MSST's third bowl win in the last four years.

2014 turned out to be the most historic season for the team. Led by quarterback Dak Prescott, the Bulldogs reached a No. 1 national ranking for the first time ever, doing so in both the Amway Coaches Poll and the AP Poll, after beating 3 consecutive top-10 teams (No. 8 LSU Tigers, No. 6 Texas A&M Aggies, and No. 2 Auburn Tigers). As a result, the Bulldogs became the fastest team in AP Poll's history to reach the No. 1 ranking, from being unranked, in only 5 weeks. They also became the first team to be ranked No. 1 in the new FBS Playoff Football Poll and held the top ranking for the first three weeks of the poll before losing to Alabama. However, at the end of the season, only one of the three teams remained ranked. Auburn finished 8–5 (4–4 SEC) and ranked No. 22, and lost to Wisconsin in the Outback Bowl, Texas A&M finished 7–5 (3–5 SEC) and beat West Virginia in the Liberty Bowl, and LSU, finished 8–4 (4–4 SEC) and lost to Notre Dame in the Music City Bowl. The Bulldogs couldn't sustain that momentum, and lost two of their last three regular season games, first to No. 5 Alabama 25–20 and then two weeks later to No. 18 Ole Miss 31–17. That loss knocked the Bulldogs out of playoff contention, leaving them 10–2 and ranked No. 7 by the College Football Playoff Committee in their final rankings. As a result, they were awarded a trip to the Orange Bowl against No. 10 Georgia Tech on December 31, 2014. Thanks to the Bulldogs’ inability to stop Georgia Tech's heavy use of the triple option, State lost that contest 49–34. Mississippi State finished the season 10–3 and were ranked No. 11 in the final AP Poll. In 2015, the Bulldogs went 4–4 in the SEC and finished the regular season with an 8–4 record and went on to play in the 2015 Belk Bowl against the NC State Wolfpack, winning 51–28. Dak Prescott was named the game MVP after throwing 4 touchdowns.

2016 saw the Bulldogs stumble to a 5–7 regular season record. The season included 3 losses on the final play of games against South Alabama, BYU, and Kentucky. The Bulldogs were able to finish the season on a high note defeating in-state rival Ole Miss 55–20 in the 2016 Egg Bowl. Due to a shortage of 6-win teams and MSU's Academic Progress Rate, they made their seventh consecutive bowl appearance in the St. Petersburg Bowl against Miami (OH) on December 26. The Bulldogs won the game thanks to a blocked extra point and a blocked field goal, edging Miami (Ohio) 17–16. On February 27, 2017, Mississippi State athletic director John Cohen announced a four-year contract extension for Coach Mullen through February 2021. On November 26, 2017, after an 8–4 regular season, Dan Mullen left Mississippi State University to become the head coach at the University of Florida. Ironically, the athletics director who hired him at Florida was Scott Stricklin who had previously worked with Mullen as the athletics director at Mississippi State from 2010 to 2016.

After Dan Mullen’s departure, Mississippi State hired Penn State offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead as the program's 33rd head coach. Despite no prior ties to the southern United States, Moorhead arrived in Starkville with a reputation as an outstanding offensive mind who believed in the spread offense, turning around a struggling FCS program in Fordham as the head coach before moving to Penn State as offensive coordinator where his potent offenses set school records. The Mississippi State University administration signed Moorhead to a four-year contract worth a total of $11 million over the course of the deal.

Moorhead led the Bulldogs to an 8–4 record in 2018, tied for the most wins for a first-year coach in school history. However, his second season got off to a rough start when it emerged that 10 players allowed a tutor to take tests and complete coursework for them. The players were all suspended for eight games, severely limiting the Bulldogs' depth. Fans were also angered by a pedestrian offense and upsets by Kansas State and Tennessee. There was also concern that he didn't really fit in with Mississippi State's culture, even though he'd taken the podium ringing a cowbell when he was formally introduced as head coach.

According to ESPN, Mississippi State officials intended to fire Moorhead if he didn't defeat Ole Miss in the 2019 Egg Bowl. However, the Bulldogs won that game 21–20 to become bowl-eligible, making Moorhead only the third Bulldog coach to win his first two Egg Bowls. At an emotional press conference the following day, Moorhead tried to knock down the rumors about his job security, saying, "This is my school, this is my team, this is my program," and that anyone who thought otherwise could "pound sand and kick rocks." He added, "You'll have to drag my Yankee ass out of here." However, on January 3, 2020, Moorhead was fired after finishing 6–7 following a 38–28 loss to Louisville in the Music City Bowl. Besides the Bulldogs' lackluster performance in that game, athletic director John Cohen and other school officials were angered when they learned quarterback Garrett Shrader had suffered an eye injury during a fight in practice, an incident that appeared to show a lack of discipline within the program under Moorhead's watch. Shrader had missed the game with what Moorhead initially described as an "upper body injury." On January 3, 2020, after failing to energize the offense, and several off field issues, Mississippi State announced Moorhead's firing.

On January 9, 2020, Mississippi State athletic director John Cohen announced the hiring of then-Washington State and former Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach to the vacant head coaching position. Leach arrived with a reputation as a great offensive mind and installed a pass-heavy, up-tempo offensive attack known as the air raid that he has utilized throughout his coaching career. During Leach's introductory press conference, John Cohen also stated that one of the other reasons for Leach's hiring was his record and reputation as a disciplinarian, something that appeared to be missing in the Mississippi State football program under Joe Moorhead. Mike Leach also had prior coaching experience in the Southeastern Conference, serving as offensive coordinator at Kentucky under Hal Mumme for two seasons in 1997 and 1998. Leach signed a four-year contract with Mississippi State worth $20 million excluding incentives.

The 2020 season started with a 44–34 upset victory over no. 6 LSU, who had won the CFP National Championship the previous season. However, Leach's Bulldogs struggled the rest of the season, winning only two more games, 24–17 over Vanderbilt and 51–32 over Missouri, finishing the regular season at 3–7. Despite the losing record, the Bulldogs were invited to the Armed Forces Bowl, as the NCAA waived bowl eligibility requirements due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mississippi State faced off against no. 24 Tulsa, defeating the Golden Hurricane 28–26 to finish with an overall record of 4–7. Leach led the Bulldogs to a 7–5 record in the 2021 regular season. The season was highlighted with ranked victories over Texas A&M, Kentucky, and Auburn. They qualified for the Liberty Bowl, where they lost 34–7 to Texas Tech. On June 30, 2022, Mississippi State and Mike Leach agreed to terms on a contract extension that would keep the coach in Starkville through the completion of the 2025 season and raise his annual pay to $5.5 million.

Continuing the program's upward trajectory, Leach led the Bulldogs to a 8–4 record in the 2022 regular season. Notably, the Bulldogs recorded victories over ranked opponents Texas A&M and Ole Miss. However, Leach died in a Jackson, Mississippi hospital on December 12, 2022 after a suffering a heart attack at home. Defensive coordinator Zach Arnett led the team in its bowl game, a 19–10 victory over Illinois in the ReliaQuest Bowl. Leach's passing resulted in an outpouring of grief, sympathy and sadness from across the country.

On December 15, 2022, Zach Arnett was named the 35th head coach of the Bulldogs. Prior to Mike Leach's death, Arnett had been appointed interim head coach after Leach had been hospitalized. Arnett was fired on November 13, 2023, after beginning the season with a 4–6 record. Along with the losing record, athletics director Zac Selmon was concerned about Arnett's complete overhaul of Leach's air raid offense in favor of a more balanced, traditional offensive attack, coordinated by Kevin Barbay. The offensive statistics in Arnett's lone season as head coach greatly fell from the team's 2022 offensive production under Leach, who was steadily making strides with the team's offense with the SEC's all-time leader in completions Will Rogers at quarterback. For Arnett's buyout, Mississippi State had to pay the fired coach $4.5 million.

On November 26, 2023, Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby was named Mississippi State's 36th head coach. Mississippi State is Lebby's first head coaching position after several years as an assistant coach. Lebby signed a four-year contract worth $4.51 million annually. Lebby also had prior ties to the state of Mississippi and the Southeastern Conference from his time as offensive coordinator at Ole Miss under Lane Kiffin from 2020 to 2021.