It’s tough to win with a first-year head coach pretty much anywhere in college football. Heck, even the legendary Nick Saban went just 7-6 in his first year at Alabama in 2007, a season that included an infamous loss to Louisiana-Monroe, before enjoying an undefeated regular season the following year.
Mississippi State has historically been no different, although there have been a few exceptions in recent years. As the Bulldogs prepare for Jeff Lebby’s first season as head coach this fall, The Dispatch is looking back at previous head coaches’ debut campaigns, dating back to Jackie Sherrill in 1991.
Jackie Sherrill (1991)
MSU had not played in a bowl game in nearly a decade when the Bulldogs hired Sherrill, who had been very successful at Pittsburgh and Texas A&M. Coming off a 5-6 season in 1990, Sherrill and MSU finished 7-5, picking up an early marquee win against No. 13 Texas. The Bulldogs did have a bad loss to Memphis, but their other regular-season defeats came against No. 6 Tennessee, No. 14 Florida and No. 7 Alabama, all on the road.
After a road win over LSU, MSU defeated Ole Miss 24-9 in the Egg Bowl at home, snapping a three-game losing streak to the Rebels in the first on-campus Egg Bowl since 1972. The Bulldogs then fell to Air Force in the Liberty Bowl.
MSU rushed for 258.9 yards per game in 1991, overcoming an up-and-down season from quarterback Sleepy Robinson. The Bulldogs’ had a knack for taking the ball away on defense, with Tony Harris and Kelvin Knight each intercepting four passes.
Sherrill spent 13 years in Starkville, leading MSU to six bowl games and the 1998 SEC West title, when the Bulldogs became the only school from Mississippi to play in the conference championship game.
Sylvester Croom (2004)
Croom made history as the first Black head football coach not just at MSU but in the entire SEC. The Bulldogs had been a combined 8-27 in Sherrill’s last three years, and did not improve much in 2004, finishing 3-8 including a loss to Maine. Croom’s team did upset No. 20 Florida on Oct. 23 for his first SEC win, then defeated Kentucky the following week.
The Bulldogs struggled offensively, scoring 14 points or fewer in seven of their 11 games. Quarterback Omarr Conner threw more interceptions than touchdown passes, though running back Jerious Norwood was a bright spot with 1,050 rushing yards.
MSU finished with four or fewer wins in four of Croom’s five seasons with the Bulldogs, but did go 8-5 in 2007 with wins over ranked Kentucky and Alabama teams. Croom was named SEC Coach of the Year that fall before being asked to resign a year later.
Dan Mullen (2009)
Mullen had never been a head coach but was coming off an excellent stint at Florida’s offensive coordinator, helping Tim Tebow win a Heisman Trophy and two national championships. In his first year in Starkville, the Bulldogs finished 5-7 but showed flashes of potential, nearly upsetting No. 7 LSU and finishing the year with a 41-27 Egg Bowl win over Ole Miss.
MSU did all that despite getting four touchdown passes and 14 interceptions from quarterback Tyson Lee. The centerpiece of the offense was running back Anthony Dixon, who rushed for 1,391 yards and 12 touchdowns, while the defense boasted future NFL stars K.J. Wright, Fletcher Cox and Pernell McPhee.
2009 would be Mullen’s only season without a bowl appearance at MSU. He finished 69-46 over nine years with the Bulldogs, with a 5-2 mark in bowl games, highlighted by a 10-win season and flirtation with the College Football Playoff in 2014. After the 2017 season, he left to become the head coach at Florida.
Joe Moorhead (2018)
Moorhead arrived after two years as Penn State’s offensive coordinator, but it was the defense that carried MSU during his first season in Starkville. The Bulldogs finished 8-5 on the strength of a defense that allowed the fewest points per game (12) and third-fewest yards per game (268.4) in all of college football. MSU took down a top-10 Auburn team and a top-20 Texas A&M team, and routed Arkansas and Ole Miss to end the regular season by a combined 87-9.
That defense had future NFL talent all over the place, with Jeffery Simmons and Montez Sweat up front, Willie Gay at linebacker and Jonathan Abram and Cameron Dantzler in the back end. Quarterback Nick Fitzgerald threw for 16 touchdowns and rushed for 13 more.
Moorhead would last just one more year with the Bulldogs, as he was fired following a 6-7 season in 2019 that included a good deal of locker room turmoil. He is now 4-20 through two seasons as the head coach at Akron.
Mike Leach (2020)
MSU lured Leach away from Washington State after firing Moorhead, and the offensive innovator began his Bulldogs career with a bang, upsetting defending national champion LSU on the road to start a conference-only 2020 season. Things were mostly downhill from there — after scoring 44 points against the Tigers, MSU scored a combined 30 in its next four games, all losses.
The Bulldogs did close the season on a high note, beating Missouri 51-32 and then winning a bowl game against Tulsa despite a 3-7 regular-season record. K.J. Costello opened the year as the starting quarterback before giving way to freshman Will Rogers, who threw for nearly 2,000 yards in just nine games.
Leach led MSU to seven wins the following year and eight the year after that before his sudden death in December 2022 from complications due to a heart condition.
Zach Arnett (2023)
Three days after Leach’s death, MSU named defensive coordinator Arnett the full-time head coach, and he led the Bulldogs to a win over Illinois in the ReliaQuest Bowl. He did not make it through his first full season, however, with injuries and inconsistency on both sides of the ball helping to do him in. A 51-10 loss at Texas A&M dropped MSU to 4-6 and 1-6 in SEC play, and Arnett was fired two days later.
The offense averaged under 14 points per game in conference play before Arnett’s firing, and the defense allowed nearly 40 per game during a three-game losing streak to open SEC play against LSU, South Carolina and Alabama. It all added up to the first holiday season without a bowl trip since Mullen’s first year in 2009.
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 28 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
