The worst Mississippi State football head coach hires of all-time

No. 2: Rockey Felker (1986-1990)

Sometimes it is hard to admit that one of your native sons just couldn't get the job done for his alma mater. Such is the case with long-time Mississippi State Bulldog Rocky Felker.

One of the best QBs in program history, he led the MSU offense from 1972-74. In fact, as a senior, he quarterbacked his team to a Sun Bowl win over North Carolina to cap an impressive 9-3 season.

However, as head coach from 1986-90, he was far less successful. In a move that was ahead of its time for that era, Felker was appointed head coach at the ripe old age of just 33 making him the youngest head coach in the country at the time.

Unfortunately, his youth didn't serve him well. In 1986, he started off with a bang going 6-1 out of the gates. However, his team would run into some of the S.E.C.'s best programs down the stretch and finish the year just 6-5.

It seemed to go from bad to worse for Felker after that four-game losing streak. His teams would manage to go just 4-6, 1-10, 5-6, and 5-6 after that. What's more, in those four seasons, he managed to secure only five total conference wins.

Felker was fired after the 1990 season and he would go on to be an offensive coordinator at Tulsa and Arkansas before returning to Mississippi State to serve multiple roles from 2002-2017 before retiring.

There is no question that the reverence and love that a generation of Bulldog fans have for Felker given what he accomplished on the field. However, he was ill-prepared to lead a team in the rugged S.E.C. as a 33-year-old head coach with no previous experience running a program.

Of the coaches in program history who have spent at least five years on the job, he has the third-worst winning percentage at just 0.382. That's why he checks in at No. 2 on the list of the worst head coach hires in MSU history.