STARKVILLE — The Mississippi State football team officially announced Tuesday that John Haneline will join the staff as a defensive quality control specialist.
A source also confirmed that former Callaway High School coach Patrick Austin and former Bulldog running back and Copiah-Lincoln Community College running backs coach Rod Gibson will join the staff in non-coaching roles.
The source said the titles for Austin and Gibson are yet to be determined, but reports by The Clarion-Ledger and Varsitypreps.com indicated they will be involved in recruiting. Austin’s twitter account @CoachPAustin read “Mississippi State Football Recruiting Specialist #HailState,” in the about me section.
Austin comes to MSU after leading the Callaway program the last two seasons. He is expected to take over Sleepy Robinson’s role, who left to take a job at Jackson State last month. He is the second high school coach added to MSU’s support staff in the last week. A source confirmed last Friday that Madison Central’s Brad Peterson will be the director of player personnel. An official announcement about Peterson is expected today.
Gibson played two seasons at MSU. He is most remembered for his 1-yard touchdown run with less than two minutes remaining in MSU’s 17-16 victory against LSU in 1999. Before coaching one season at Copiah-Lincoln C.C., he coached for 12 seasons at Mississippi Delta C.C.
Haneline served as a graduate assistant for MSU in 2014. When defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Geoff Collins left for a similar position at Florida before the bowl game that season, Haneline coached the linebackers during bowl preparation. The Akron, Ohio, native spent the 2015 season at the Colorado School of Mines, coaching linebackers and working with strength and conditioning.
MSU coach Dan Mullen has had to fill several positions on his coaching staff and on his support staff. He hired Peter Sirmon to be the new defensive coordinator and linebackers coach to replace Manny Diaz, Terrell Buckley to be the new cornerbacks coach and recruiting coordinator to replace Deshea Townsend, and Maurice Linguist as the new safeties coach to replace Tony Hughes, who was hired to become head coach at Jackson State.
n In other football news, the Southeastern Conference announced SEC Media Days will be July 11-14 at the Hyatt Regency in Hoover, Ala.
MSU will appear Tuesday, July 12, with Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas A&M. Ole Miss will appear Thursday, July 14, with LSU and South Carolina.
The first day of Monday, July 11, will feature Auburn, Florida, and Vanderbilt, along with commissioner Greg Sankey.
Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Missouri will appear Wednesday, July 13.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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