STARKVILLE — Joe Moorhead’s first Mississippi State coaching staff is complete — again.
Moorhead already had this staff filled once when he hired Scott Fountain as his special teams coordinator, but Fountain’s departure for the same position at Georgia left Moorhead searching once again. Moorhead filled the spot Thursday with the announcement of the hiring of former South Alabama head coach Joey Jones.
“We are fortunate to have someone of Joey’s caliber and experience join our Bulldog family,” Moorhead said. “Joey is a terrific man who has coached for nearly three decades in the region, including 10 seasons as a head coach. He is going to play a vital role in our recruiting efforts in addition to his duties as special teams coordinator.”
Jones is fresh off a seven-year tenure as the head coach of the Jaguars, where he was the program’s first coach and helped establish the program. South Alabama went from playing six games against junior college and Division III schools as an unclassified NCAA member to a member of the Sun Belt Conference and two bowl game appearances. Jones went 52-50 at South Alabama. The highlight was a victory against MSU in 2016.
MSU baseball team shuffles staff
The MSU baseball program has finished the reshuffling of its coaching staff in the wake of Andy Cannizaro’s resignation as head coach.
The promotion of Gary Henderson from assistant coach to interim head coach left a slot open that has been awarded to Mike Brown.
Brown, who was the team’s volunteer assistant and coordinator of camps, will serve as hitting coach with Jake Gautreau.
Brown played for MSU Director of Athletics John Cohen at Kentucky and coached for Henderson for two years in Lexington, Kentucky. Brown was involved with the hitters in his two-year stint as an assistant coach at New Mexico State, where he was before he took the volunteer assistant position with MSU.
Gautreau will transition from first base coach duties to the dugout while Brown will maintain his duty as third base coach.
To replace Brown, MSU promoted director of player development AJ Gaura. Gaura concluded his playing career with Austin Peay in 2015 and was the pitching coach for the Amsterdam Mohawks of the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League before he joined MSU.
Trevor Fitts’ title of director of baseball operations hasn’t changed.
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