Mississippi State football coaching search hot board: GJ Kinne

As Zac Selmon looks to build the future of Mississippi State football, he should look towards San Marcos and Texas State and consider GJ Kinne.

The Mississippi State Bulldogs moved on from Zach Arnett recently. It wasn’t even a full season, but the Mississippi State football program needed to make a move to ensure that the Bulldogs could win in the future. And as MSU looks for a new head coach to lead the program, one candidate who deserves plenty of consideration is GJ Kinne.

You may have seen some tweets here and there pertaining to Kinne as the possible head coach of the Mississippi State football team. Maybe you’ve already read about him here at Maroon and White Nation. You’ve likely heard his name mentioned on the radio a time or two.

But if you don’t know who Kinne is, then it’s time you became familiar with him.

Kinne would not be a conventional hire (though conventional results for Mississippi State football are rarely good), but he’s an intriguing coach. He runs an offense that is similar to what Jeff Lebby operates at Oklahoma, though his scheme and the play calling associated with it are arguably better than that of Art Briles’ son-in-law.

So if that’s the sort of offense you want, you can get a better version of it without the baggage. On top of that, Kinne is already a head coach who is demonstrating his ability to win in a hurry.

In his first season as the head coach at Texas State and his second season as a head coach overall (he’s got the same amount of head coaching experience as Rhett Lashlee), Kinne has taken the Bobcats (a perrenial loser) and trotted them out to six wins already.

That’s not easily done in San Marcos. It took Jake Spavital more than 20 games to get six victories. It took Everett Withers over 30 games to get six victories. Kinne got his sixth win in just nine games. His understanding of how to utilize the transfer portal and the connections he has with Texas high schools helped the Bobcats land plenty of talent to very quickly get to winning this season.

And that includes an impressive 42-31 opening win over Big 12’s Baylor.

It’s worth noting that Kinne represents exactly what many Mississippi State fans claim they want: an offensive innovator and someone who can dominate on the recruiting trail. Yes, he’s a Texan and he’s young, but he’s shown he can bring a spark to a program in need and can provide excitement on offense that could elevate a program.

For Mississippi State to have a young, talented Air Raid quarterback who can scoot around a bit in Chris Parson, pairing him up to an offensive innovator whose veer-and-shoot schemes can take advantage of Parson’s strengths would be a brilliant move.

Mississippi State football: Is GJ Kinne the offensive innovator the MSU Bulldogs need?

And by the way, his offense is able to air it out effectively and he’s got a 1,000+ yard rusher. He can get the ball downfield either through the air or by running the heck out of the ball. That should appeal to any and all Mississippi State football fans.

The 34-year-old Kinne represents the kind of unconventional hire Mississippi State may need to make to shake up the program and to find success once again.

He understands the way the game is played right now, has recruiting ties to Texas, and can score points in a hurry.

While he’s not yet a household name for many casual college football fans (those of us here at Maroon and White Nation are trying, folks), GJ Kinne is a brilliant and talented head coach who has already shown he can do impressive things in a hurry. Kinne’s results at Texas State demonstrate that he deserves strong consideration for the Mississippi State job.

And sure, Kinne is an outside-the-box sort of hire, but that’s a good thing and makes him a better candidate. As the Bulldogs try to build a winning program, going in a new, bold direction is something worth exploring.

Yes, there are risks, but there are great potential rewards with bringing Kinne’s ingenuity and winning ability to Starkville. He’s a coach worth honest consideration as a candidate for this job.