MSU News & Notes | Football Coaching Staff Changes

Here are some things going on around MSU athletics:

Men’s basketball: 

The Bulldogs pulled off a buzzer-beater to beat Vanderbilt on Tuesday night. Despite trailing throughout the game including as much as 17 points in the second half, Quinndary Weatherspoon was able to sink a three-pointer from the corner as time expired. He had 24 points on the night. Here’s the game-winner:

This makes MSU 4-9 in SEC play. Up next is a road game at Alabama who beat the Dawgs in overtime just two weeks ago.

Women’s basketball:

The Lady Bulldogs’ four game winning streak ended last week when they lost at #12 Texas A&M. Up next is #16 Kentucky at home, tip at 6:00 Thursday night. State is currently ranked #13 with an RPI of 25 so they really need to beat the Wildcats to help secure a hosting spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Baseball:

The Diamond Dawgs are back in action this week, first game is against Florida Atlantic Friday at 4:30. John Cohen announced some of the pitching rotation yesterday:

And be sure to catch the many preview articles Justin has done over the last few weeks.

Softball:

Good opening to the new softball/tennis complex as the Bulldogs are 5-0 beating four different teams last weekend. They’ll be in Mobile this weekend for the Mardi Gras Invitational; playing four different teams in four games – all with names that start with ‘S’.

Football:

Last but not least, Dan Mullen has filled out his 2016 staff. Here is a complete list of all the changes that were made:

• Peter Sirmon, defensive coordinator
• Terrell Buckley, cornerbacks coach and recruiting coordinator
• Maurice Linguist, safeties coach
• Nick Savage, strength and conditioning
• John Haneline, defensive quality control coach
• Rob Gibson, recruiting position
• Brad Peterson, director of player personnel
• Patrick Austin, recruiting specialist

Rob Gibson comes from Co-Lin, Brad Peterson comes from Madison Central High School and Patrick Austin from Calloway High School. Peterson takes Rockey Felker’s former roll (Felker re-assigned within the department) and Austin takes Sleepy Robinson’s former roll. Gibson is taking some type of roll related to recruiting.

All of these hires, with the obvious exception of S&C and quality control, have been made with recruiting in mind. Two successful high school coaches and a juco coach come in for off-the-field positions. Then Linguist, Buckley and Sirmon all have a recruiting pedigree. State fans clamoring for better recruiting prowess from Mullen have to be happy that he has at least addressed those concerns with these hires and hopefully things will improve going forward.