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Mississippi State football: Everything you need to know about Jon Cooper

By Ethan Lee

STILLWATER, OK - NOVEMBER 25: Center Jon Cooper #50 of the Oklahoma Sooners snaps the ball against the Oklahoma State Cowboys as Brandon Walker #73 blocks on November 25, 2006 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Oklahoma won 27-21. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
STILLWATER, OK - NOVEMBER 25: Center Jon Cooper #50 of the Oklahoma Sooners snaps the ball against the Oklahoma State Cowboys as Brandon Walker #73 blocks on November 25, 2006 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Oklahoma won 27-21. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images) /
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As Mississippi State football’s Jeff Lebby continues to build his coaching staff in Starkville, it looks like he’s about to make a huge addition with Jon Cooper.

New Mississippi State football head coach Jeff Lebby is working to add to his coaching staff in Starkville and right now, there are several names that are being floated around as possibilities. One name that is being brought up is absolutely fascinating.

According to Pete Thamel, it sounds like Jon Cooper is “expected” to be on his way to join Lebby’s staff in Starkville.

If you aren’t familiar with Cooper, that’s fine, but go ahead and start learning about him because there’s a very good chance hiring him could result in the Bulldogs adding a huge asset for Lebby’s offense.

Mississippi State football: Bulldogs reportedly expected to make fascinating hire in snagging Jon Cooper from North Texas Mean Green

Again, if you don’t know Cooper, that’s not a bad thing.

So, for the folks unfamiliar with UNT’s offensive line coach, let’s go over his credentials. Starting with where he played college football. Given the nature of many other hires that are being made in the MSU athletics department, if you guessed that Cooper is connected to Oklahoma, you’d be right. He was a key starter on their offensive line for several years and he graduated from OU in 2009.

He spent some time playing in the NFL before returning to coaching and got his coaching start at his alma mater as a grad assistant in 2013. In 2015, Cooper made his way to Utah State and then later coached at Missouri in 2016 and 2017.

In 2018, Cooper connected with Lebby as members of the UCF Knights coaching staff. They spent two seasons together in Orlando before Cooper made his way to coach with Kendal Briles at Arkansas in 2020. In 2021, Cooper left the veer-and-shoot brothers-in-law to go coach at Western Carolina, but he bumped into Lebby again in 2022 when he made his way to Oklahoma.

And while the Mean Green offense isn’t exactly what Lebby runs, its operated by Eric Morris, who is one of the most innovative minds in college football right now.

So, if you want this offense to run well, Cooper is the sort of coach you want on this sideline. I’m not guaranteeing that Cooper and Lebby and company will have everything running perfectly well in year one

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