Mississippi State football was forced to make a late change to its 2026 coaching staff when WR coach Bush Hamdan left the program last month to become the QB coach for the Miami Dolphins. To replace Hamdan, HC Jeff Lebby is bringing in a coach he's quite familiar with who has loads of experience with the Bulldogs' scheme.
Mississippi State has hired Philip Montgomery as WR coach. Montgomery, who worked alongside Lebby at Baylor, was the HC at Tulsa from 2015-2022 and was most recently the OC and interim HC at Virginia Tech last season.
Welcome to Starkville, Coach Montgomery!
— Mississippi State Football (@HailStateFB) March 4, 2026
A former Broyles Award Finalist with more than 30 years of experience, @CoachPMonty will lead the wide receiver room
Throughout his career, Montgomery has built some of the nation’s most explosive offenses and developed elite playmakers pic.twitter.com/r6EuQKjSgu
Montgomery is one of the "OGs" of the "Briles Offense"/"Veer and Shoot" tree Mississippi State is now a part of under Jeff Lebby. He worked under the offense's inventor, Art Briles, at Stephenville High School (TX) in the late-90s. He would join Briles in the collegiate ranks at Houston in 2003 to coach QBs and RBs. He'd follow Briles to Baylor as OC in 2008, calling the record-setting offenses led by QBs Robert Griffin III, Nick Florence, and Bryce Petty. The Bears averaged better than 570 YPG and 44 PPG each year from 2011-2014.
In 2015, Montgomery was hired as the HC of Tulsa. He led the Golden Hurricane to a bowl game in his first season and then a 10-win campaign in 2016. His 2020 squad played for the AAC championship. In eight seasons at Tulsa, his program won 43 games and made four bowl appearances. He was fired following the 2022 season and spent 2023 as Hugh Freeze's OC at Auburn. He was the co-OC for the UFL's Birmingham Stallions in 2024, and last season, he returned to CFB as OC at Virginia Tech. When then-Hokie HC Brent Pry was fired three games into the season, Montgomery was named interim HC.
Philip Montgomery a valuable addition to Jeff Lebby's Mississippi State staff
Bringing in Philip Montgomery could prove to be a fantastic move for Jeff Lebby. Lebby wanted to hire a WR coach that could best nail down the finer coaching points and details for the position in this offense, and while Montgomery hasn't previously coached wideouts, he obviously knows those details having been an OC and HC running this offense. He should be able to help maximize the WR talent on the roster.
Montgomery's OC and HC experience are both incredibly valuable. Though Lebby isn't giving up play-calling, Montgomery will be able to play a major role in game-planning and likely take on a greater responsibility than most position coaches. He can also aid a younger HC in Lebby with game-management, something that was lacking at times last season. This is a strong hire for Mississippi State.