STARKVILLE — Lee Davis is modest when she talks about her job.
Not many fans know Davis, who is Mississippi State’s coordinator of football recruiting. But she is an important member of the program and a key reason MSU has landed some of the top recruits in the state of Mississippi and the nation the past few seasons. Davis will be on the sidelines at 6:30 p.m. Saturday (SEC Network) when MSU (5-2, 1-2 Southeastern Conference) plays host to Kentucky (4-2, 2-2) at Davis Wade Stadium.
Last season, 247Sports rated MSU’s recruiting class No. 18 in the nation.
“It’s just being organized and it’s just a group effort from everyone,” Davis said. “When one kid’s here, everybody knows who they are, they can say their name, and they know their face.”
Davis is the first person recruits see when they step on campus. She spends the day with prospects and makes sure they see what MSU has to offer. A lot of that interaction usually comes on weekends when MSU plays SEC opponents, but the Bulldogs have had only one home conference game this season. MSU lost 21-19 to LSU in the second week of the season, but Davis was busy with recruits. She feels coordinators of football recruiting play an important role in assisting coaches convince recruits sign with a school.
“When kids get on campus, you want them to have the best experience they can because they’re going somewhere the next weekend,” Davis said. “What’s going to make this visit different from the next visit? I think that goes a long way because they might go somewhere the next week and be ignored and somebody might not know who they are.”
From an early age, Davis knew she wanted to be involved with football. Her father, Duane, made 12 playoff appearances in 19 years as football coach at Clarke County and Gulf Shores high schools.
After playing two seasons of volleyball at the University of Mobile, Davis transferred to Alabama, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in public relations and a master’s degree in sport management. She worked in the recruiting department for the Alabama football team during her time in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, which is where she had her first chance to see how teams recruited on the national level.
“They taught me how things are supposed to run and how an organization is supposed to run,” Davis said. “They taught me to work hard and what to expect on the job.”
A job came open at MSU in 2011 and the Alabama coaching staff encouraged her to apply for it. She was unsure, but she did it anyway.
Davis was one of 250 candidates to apply for the job, but she didn’t hear back for about a month. She sat down with MSU coach Dan Mullen for an interview on a Friday, and was hired the following Monday.
“You have to take things from there and kind of make them your own and I did,” Davis said. “I know what the coaches want, I know what coach Mullen expects, so it’s kind of an easier flow now.”
Davis, who is engaged to be married to former MSU basketball player and current East Mississippi Community College coach Billy Begley, has seen plenty of prospects sign with the Bulldogs in the last four recruiting classes. She also has seen several players she helped recruit not sign with the Bulldogs.
Davis said the hardest part of the job is seeing a player she recruited heavily sign with another school, but the most rewarding part is when someone signs with MSU.
“They are really great kids and you want to see them succeed,” Davis said. “What coach Mullen does developing players on and off the field, I think that’s so awesome. It’s awesome when kids come here because you know they’re going to be in a great program. He treats them like they’re his own kids.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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