STARKVILLE — Joe Moorhead knows something about walking into an empty cupboard of a football program. For that reason, he knows Mississippi State isn’t one.
He took over as the head coach at his alma mater, Fordham, in 2012 and told a team that just went 1-10 and told them the players in that room would win a Patriot League title. He remembers being met with funny looks and disbelief; all of that was gone by the time the Rams did it in 2014. He gave a similar message to the Penn State team he inherited before the 2016 season, just a matter of months before it become one of the nation’s most potent offenses.
Moorhead won’t have to do as much selling this time around.
“Sometimes you take a job over and it’s in a state of disrepair and sometimes you take a job over and it’s in pretty good shape,” Moorhead said. “This wasn’t a job where we had to take over, bulldoze the dang house, dig up the foundation, pour the foundation and put the walls back up. That’s not the case in this job. The foundation is down and the walls are up, we just have to make sure we add to it.”
Moorhead outlined his plan for the program and excited fans as he was officially introduced as MSU’s 33rd head football coach Thursday morning. In doing so, he delivered some creeds on what to expect of his Bulldogs.
“When you step on the field with the Mississippi State Bulldogs, you’re in for a 15-round fight,” Moorhead said. “We’re not trying to get a score on the card, we’re going for the dang knockout, and that’s what’s going to happen in this program.
“We are going to play every snap of every practice and every game harder than our opponent, and that’s non-negotiable.”
Moorhead also stressed the importance of recruiting, a belief backed up by his actions: he spent Wednesday night meeting with the staff about the recruiting plan for the immediate future while Moorhead goes about hiring a staff.
That importance seems to have paid off early as wide receiver Malik Heath reaffirmed his commitment with the Bulldogs despite receiving recent interest from Florida, now coached by former MSU coach Dan Mullen. Heath is a four-star receiver from Jackson (Callaway High School) that is rated as the No. 1 receiver in the state according to 247 Sports. He was joined minutes later by fellow wide receiver Stephen Guidry out of Hinds Community College, another four-star prospect.
In the meantime, Moorhead can turn his attention to hiring a staff. One of the biggest positions to fill is defensive coordinator after Todd Grantham’s decision to follow Mullen to Florida. Moorhead knows what he wants in a defensive coordinator and, as part of his pitch for the job to MSU Director of Athletics John Cohen, presented some names he will pursue.
“We’ve got a bunch of great names that are under consideration,” Moorhead said. “I look for guys that do things that make it difficult for me to game plan against. You can talk about three down, four down and different coverage schemes and things like that, but I want someone that’s going to be versatile, I want someone that’s going to be attacking and really be a mirror image of our offense.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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