When first-year Mississippi State football coach Zach Arnett leads the Bulldogs on to the field for the 2023 season, beginning with Sept. 2’s season opener against Southeastern Louisiana at Davis Wade Stadium, he will try to do something not many Bulldog coaches of the past could do: find immediate success.
Since MSU became a founding member of the Southeastern Conference in 1933, the university has employed 20 head football coaches. Only six of those coaches have finished their first season with a winning record.
In the past three decades alone, MSU has made five head coaching changes prior to naming Arnett its latest commander in December, following the death of Mike Leach. Of those coaches, Jackie Sherill, Sylvester Croom, Dan Mullen, Joe Moorhead and Leach, only two – Sherill and Moorhead – have had a winning season in year No. 1.
Arnett already took the first step to a strong start, leading MSU to a ReliaQuest Bowl win over Illinois to end the 2022 season. However, he spent the other 12 games of the year as the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator.
Now, he will have to show what he can do as a first-time head coach for an entire campaign. If Arnett is able to win immediately, it will partly be because he inherited an experienced roster that returned its starting quarterback in Will Rogers, running back in Jo’quavious Marks, four starting offensive linemen and the top-two Southeastern Conference tacklers from 2022 in linebackers Nathaniel Watson and Jett Johnson.
Here is how recent MSU head coaches have fared in year No. 1 in Starkville
Mike Leach (2020-22)
First game: at LSU (44-34, Mississippi State)
Leach put the rest of the SEC on notice in his first game at the helm of the Bulldogs in 2020, as MSU tallied 632 total yards against the defending national champions, only nine of which came on the ground.
The rest of Leach’s first season in Starkville, however, was one to forget. The Bulldogs finished the regular season, which was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 3-7, but did end the year with a 28-26 victory over No. 24 Tulsa in the Armed Forces Bowl.
Leach finished his MSU coaching career with a 19-17 record.
Joe Moorhead (2018-19)
First game: vs Stephen F. Austin (63-6, Mississippi State)
Moorhead’s first season was an outlier among recent head coaching hires at MSU. The Bulldogs finished 2018 with an 8-4 record, winning their first three games and reaching as high as No. 14 in the AP Poll.
The Bulldogs then won four of their last five games of the regular season, before falling to Iowa in the Outback Bowl.
Moorhead was fired following the 2019 season and finished his MSU coaching career with a 14-12 record.
Moorhead’s eight wins in year No. 1 was the most for a first-year MSU head coach since Allyn McKeen (8-2) in 1939.
Dan Mullen (2009-17)
First game: vs. Jacksonville State (45-7, Mississippi State)
Mullen’s first year in Starkville was the least successful of his nine seasons. The Bulldogs won just five games in 2009, their eighth losing season in nine years.
Mullen, however, went on to lead the Bulldogs to a bowl game in each of the next eight seasons, finishing his MSU coaching career with a 69-46 record before leap-frogging over to Florida following the 2017 season.
Sylvester Croom (2004-08)
First game: vs. Tulane (28-7, Mississippi State)
Croom’s first year, a 3-8 campaign in 2004, was indicative of his five-year tenure in Starkville. Croom won just 21 games over five years, losing 38 games, and took the Bulldogs to just one bowl game in 2007 (Liberty Bowl).
Jackie Sherrill (1991-03)
First game: vs Cal State Fullerton (45-7, Mississippi State)
Sherrill immediately found success to begin his tenure at MSU, starting with back-to-back 7-5 seasons in 1991 and 1992.
The Bulldogs won their first three games of the 1991 season, reached as high as No. 21 in the AP poll, and won three of their final four games of the season to reach bowl eligibility, before losing to Air Force in the Liberty Bowl.
Sherrill was one of the most successful coaches in MSU history, finishing with a 75-75-2 record over his tenure.
Justin Frommer is the Mississippi State sports reporter for The Dispatch.
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