No. 1: Charles Shira (1967-72)
Charles Shira tops our list as the worst coach in program history. That's because his 0.270 winning percentage is the worst of any coach to spend more than one season as the Bulldogs' head man. What's more, it's the worst of any coach since 1930.
Shira played tackle at Texas A&M for two years in the 1940s and then went on to finish his playing career at Army where he earned All-American honors. After not graduating from West Point, he would start his coaching career in 1951 as an assistant at Tennessee.
He would then have two stints as a Mississippi State assistant separated by a year as an assistant in the Canadian football league. Then, from 1957-66 he would serve as the defensive coordinator at Texas before landing as the head coach and athletic director at MSU in 1967.
It wasn't a pretty start for Shira. In his first three seasons, his teams would go a combined 4-24-2. That included a mark of 0-8-2 in 1968.
After going 3-7 the next year, 1970 saw a surprising 6-5 mark for Shira making some hopeful. However, in 1971, the Bulldogs would go 2-9, and in 1972, they would go just 4-7. In each of his final two seasons, Shira would lead his team to only one conference win.
After that, Shira resigned as head coach but stayed on as athletic director. Then, in 1975, under his administrative watch, the program was subject to numerous NCAA sanctions, another dark spot in Shira's MSU tenure.
Though there is a facility on campus named in his honor, the fact is that Shira did not do a good job as head coach. He struggled mightily to even get to four wins most years and he left the program in an awful place for his successor.
Going just 16-45-2 overall, he was a meager 5-32-2 against S.E.C. teams. Thus, he has the dubious distinction of sitting atop our list of the worst head coach hires in Mississippi State football history.