STARKVILLE — Joe Moorhead was still a young coach breaking into the FBS level for the first time in 2004, less than a decade removed from his playing career, at Akron as the wide receivers coach. His climb there was quick: he was elevated to assistant head coach and passing game coordinator for the 2005 season before three years as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
That was also the closest Moorhead has ever come to coaching in the Southeast. Now he lives here, coaches here and will likely be expected to recruit almost exclusively from here.
Moorhead spent Wednesday flying to Starkville and meeting with staff to install his recruiting plan; after Thursday morning’s introductory press conference, he will go about implementing it. The future of his program may ride on it.
“I think it’s important for any new hire at any university, if they could, I would try to reach out your favorite or your best high schools coaches because they’re going to know where to go and get kids,” Starkville High School coach Chris Jones said, who also coached at Kemper County.
As former Columbus coach Randal Montgomery told The Dispatch, “I think he’s got a tall task in front of him. His resume speaks for itself in terms of what he’s done offensively.”
Jones agrees: he thinks when Mississippi’s offensive elite see his Penn State offenses, his program will sell itself.
“My question is staff: who is he going to bring in to help?” Jones said.
If Moorhead so chooses, he has in-state connections to choose from on the pieces of the staff currently left behind by Mullen. The interim coach in his place for the bowl game, running backs coach and special teams coordinator Greg Knox, has worked in Mississippi for 15 years, four of those years coming at Ole Miss before his current tenure with MSU. He also spent 10 years elsewhere in the Southeastern Conference West with Auburn.
MSU’s tight end coach D.J. Looney, who has been on the road recruiting this week, played for MSU and started his career there as a graduate assistant before returning for this season. Quarterbacks coach Brett Elliott is in his second stint with MSU after three years in off-field roles to start his career.
While Moorhead has options there, Moorhead knew before he flew to Starkville he would have to find a new offensive line coach and wide receivers coach, as Mullen took John Hevesy and Billy Gonzales with him to Gainesville. The Dispatch learned through sources Wednesday afternoon, just an hour before the Moorhead family landed in Starkville, that defensive coordinator Todd Grantham would also follow Mullen to Florida after just one year in Starkville.
Those local ties have proven to be important in the Mullen era, which could be argued as the most successful in school history. The 2017 8-4 regular season happened with a roster of 48.18 percent Mississippi players, a percentage that goes up to 62.7 percent when including players from neighboring Alabama.
Assistant coach hires can help him, but Montgomery believes Moorhead will need to make the connections himself to ensure long-term success.
“It has to be a combination of both: of course have to surround yourself with good coaches first and foremost, it may help him to get some coaches that have some knowledge of the state,” Montgomery said.
In that sense, Moorhead is lucky: Montgomery doesn’t expect Mississippi’s coaches to hold his Northern background against him.
“I think it will come down to how he goes in and presents himself to the high school coaches,” Montgomery said.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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