Joe Moorhead came to Starkville promising championships, Heismans, and a new standard. After an 8-5 season, unfortunately it looks like the newest head coach of the Mississippi State football team still has a lot to learn about the SEC.
It’s a dangerous thing to over-promise and then underachieve. This is especially true for college football coaches in this day and age. Expectations from fans are higher than ever and coaches are being fired from G5 teams after just two seasons. Unfortunately, it looks like Joe Moorhead, the newest head coach of the Mississippi State football team, may have done just that.
Shortly after Moorhead was hired by Mississippi State, he arrived in Starkville. He met with the Bulldogs’ players and started discussing championship ring sizes along talking about helping Nick Fitzgerald become Mississippi State’s first Heisman trophy winner.
Essentially, Moorhead explicitly told fans and alumni to expect championships. There were not any ifs, ands, or buts about it. Moorhead came to Starkville to win at a higher level than had ever been accomplished here before, but that wasn’t reflected during the 2018 season.
The Bulldogs entered into 2018 with one of the most experienced rosters in the SEC and, well, all of this:
Mississippi State had legitimately one of the three or four best defenses in the country, a veteran o-line with multiple draft picks, a fifth-year senior QB, and finished 8-5.
— Matt Hinton (@MattRHinton) January 1, 2019
We should get one thing cleared up though: Mississippi State should not fire its head coach after this season. Despite what some on twitter seem to believe, this would not benefit the Bulldogs in the long run.
If the Bulldogs fire their coach after just one season, what sort of message does that send to any prospective hires? How would firing Moorhead realistically help MSU find a better coach? It takes time to build a team in Starkville and even Dan Mullen had a difficult time doing just that.
Regardless, who would MSU be able to go out and hire right away that would be a notable upgrade over this coaching staff?
Yes, the Bulldogs took something of a step back this season. Even still, Joe Moorhead should be given an opportunity to grow. He should be given time to get his players in Starkville and have his system set. It’s unfortunate that he made the Mississippi State football program something of a long-term project after the roster was configured so that MSU would be set to succeed for a while.
Even though MSU underachieved this season, it’s not like the world is ending or that the Bulldogs are going to fall off the face of the earth. There’s a very real chance that Mississippi State will return to winning nine games a year once Moorhead gets the right roster assembled to run his offense.
All of that said, it’s frustrating that the season ended this way. The Bulldogs underachieved spectacularly and Moorhead should accept the responsibility for those shortcomings. He should also be given time to make things right.