Mississippi State football coaching search: Did GJ Kinne forget he has a team to coach?

It’s not clear if GJ Kinne was mentally checked out of Texas State’s game against Arkansas State, but Mississippi State football fans won’t be thrilled with him.

Was GJ Kinne checked out of Texas State’s game today? Has he been paying attention to headlines linking him to Mississippi State football’s job opening? Were the Bobcats distracted by coaching search rumors?

Mississippi State football fans are familiar with this sort of phenomenon, but it’s not a good look for Kinne.

Butch Jones and my beloved Arkansas State Red Wolves (shoutout to my second alma mater) are giving the Texas State Bobcats a rather unpleasant time in their trip to Jonesboro.

And while GJ Kinne would be a great candidate for the Mississippi State football opening, giving up well over 70 points to A-State is not going to do you much favors as your name gets attached to SEC coaching gigs.

Look, I’d probably still hire him because I don’t think you can examine a coach’s resume off of just one game, but this is bound to be causing a headache for Zac Selmon and it’s totally unnecessary.

Mississippi State football: Did GJ Kinne forget that he’s still the head coach of Texas State?

And I think this is honestly a nuanced sort of thing and it’s important to pay attention to full context here. But essentially, I suspect one reason Texas State is having such an issue in this game has to do with why they’ve had such great success at various other points during this season.

Their reliance on the transfer portal was something that injected life right away to a horrendously bad Bobcats team. But, as you can see with the Colorado Buffaloes, you still need to build depth and completely round out a roster to have long term, sustainable success (even within a season).

Kinne hasn’t been at Texas State long enough to really make that happen.

Meanwhile, Butch Jones has been building arguably the most talented roster in the Sun Belt over three years. And while it wasn’t always cozy and comfortable as the Red Wolves struggled, he was able to assemble a team that has a ton of potential.

And when he found a young, talented quarterback in Jaylen Raynor who can thrive in Jones’ offense, then he found a path to winning big games.

But that still doesn’t excuse what’s happening.

If Kinne wants serious consideration for SEC head coaching jobs, he has to win games. Regardless of if there’s not much depth of talent on your roster.

Losses like this to teams like Arkansas State won’t make many SEC teams really want you.

And again, I’d probably still hire him, but losing like that isn’t going to make many Mississippi State football fans (especially old school Mississippi State football fans) all that excited about a possible hire.

I have no clue if Kinne just forgot he had a game today, if Texas State has been hearing coaching search rumors, or if Kinne has mentally checked out as he looks at better jobs (MSU fans are certainly familiar with that phenomenon), but this loss is brutal and will almost certainly hurt his chances at better gigs in this coaching cycle.