3 coaches Mississippi State football should steer clear of

Kendal Briles

Without even touching on all of the off the field stuff, you could make the argument that Briles may not be ready to be a head coach and he’s probably not a great fit for where Mississippi State is right now.

He’s never been a head coach and there’s no good reason to go after unproven quantities at this moment in time when plenty of good, proven coaches are actually available. But let’s start diving into another reason why MSU shouldn’t pursue him: he simply may be overrated as an offensive coordinator.

While his last name reminds people of Art Briles’ time at Baylor (and everything that comes with that), it should be noted that Kendal Briles isn’t generally looked at as the best operator of the veer-and-shoot offense that was developed in Waco.

Yes, he still scores points. Yes, his offense can be a fun to watch, but when it’s all said and done, there are plenty of bright football minds around who have proven to be better innovators and play callers in this scheme. Heck, he’s not any better than his brother-in-law, who could conceivably be fired from his job this year.

Coaches to consider instead

If a veer-and-shoot guy is who you want, here are some alternatives to take a look at instead:

• GJ Kinne
• Alex Golesh
• Sean Lewis

Kinne is really, really good, folks. Just phenomenal. His offense is incredible and he’s very quickly put Texas State in a position to succeed and nobody wins in San Marcos, folks. It doesn’t happen since they moved to FBS, but Kinne is doing it.

The other two options aren’t as proven, but they do bring that same sort of offense and have varying degrees of experience. Golesh is working on rebuilding a mess of a USF team and Lewis hasn’t been a head coach outside of the Midwest, but he won where it’s impossible to win.

And if you want someone who can design an offense in the same sort of way but quite possibly do it better than Briles does? Well, you’ve got options.