I continue to see some in here salivating (isn't that what Bulldogs do?) over the thought of Hudspeth being the MSU coach. I agree that he would be an upgrade over Moorhead. But that isn't saying much; John L. Smith would be better than Moorhead. My question is this: If Hudspeth would be such a great hire, why didn't another school hire him this year? There were three coaching vacancies in the SEC, and several other vacancies around the country. I never even saw his name mentioned in connection with any job vacancies this year. Arkansas hired someone that no one had ever heard of. I don't have any strong feelings about Hudspeth one way or another, but the fact that no one else has been interested in him does concern me.
Question for Hudspeth backers
- Thread starter CoolDawg
- Start date
I think a lot of the appeal for Hudspeth for his backers is that he’s a perceived “lifer” hire. He may flame out and then you reset in 3 years but the possible combination of success and security is alluring.
I’m not a Hudspeth truther but all I ask is please give me someone that runs some variation of the power spread.
I’m not a Hudspeth truther but all I ask is please give me someone that runs some variation of the power spread.
You think Carter would have bypassed Napier for Hudspeth had Kiffin not worked out? Not sure about that one, but I have no information so I could very easily be wrong.
Sounds like you just made your statement about Hudspeth being on the short list at OM without anything at all to back it up. I read the names of Mike Norvell, Lane Kiffin, Billy Napier, Willie Fritz, Bryan Harsin, Mike MacIntyre, Rich Rodriguez, and Mike Leach in connection with the OM job. Not once in any publication, did I read the name of Mark Hudspeth in connection with the job.
The name of Georgia's offensive line coach was certainly a name unknown to me. Hats off to you if you knew who he was before Arkansas hired him. I dare say that he was unknown to most people outside of die hard Georgia fans.
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The appeal of HUD for me is that he’s coached here twice under two different coaches and knows what it will take to be successful at MSU, he’s won everywhere he’s coached, he has a TON of contacts with HS coaches in LA, MS and AL (where we should pull 75% of our roster), is a disciplinarian and puts priority on the S&C program.
I actually wanted HUD before we hired Mullen and was pumped when Ninja interviewed him.
I actually wanted HUD before we hired Mullen and was pumped when Ninja interviewed him.
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There is no one that understands the dynamics of Miss St and the state of Mississippi like Hud. LSU gave Ed Orgeron a chance because of his passion for LSU and his state and he had NEVER been successful as a head coach. Almost every high school head coach in the state either coached for him, played for him, or played with him in college. If you look at his record, it’s pretty amazing. I can’t answer why another school didn’t hire him this year, but I can say that we should. If one week ago we could afford to give Moorhead another year, then we can damn sure afford to give Hud one.
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Everything has some risk vs reward and no candidate will be a sure thing.
So the potential of landing a really good coach that might not leave for a bigger program is pretty alluring. It's a best case scenario.
So I understand that being a big plus on his resume.......BUT it shouldn't be the reason you hire a mediocre coach.
Hud has some impressive accomplishments. But his last 3 years at ULL is concerning.
He's like most of the realistic candidates. Some good things. Some question marks. If nothing stands out about the other possible candidates, then it might be smart for his potential to be a possible lifer to put him at the top.
Are you trying to annoy this piss out of everyone with your juvenile question or are you just annoying in general?
Do a search. If you don't understand what Hudspeth brings at this point, then there's no helping you. It's already been explained previously, and to you specifically.
Because Hudspeth isn’t a sexy name, nor would he be the best fit at other schools. For example, Arkansas isn’t looking for someone with strong recruiting ties to MS, and OM wanted to interview him when they originally hired Freeze but the word is he wouldn’t agree to the non-compete terms regarding MSU and other SEC schools. His past ties to David Saunders also made him untouchable for OM’s job now when they hired Kiffen, given how they were intertwined in that scandal as well. He would be a good fit at MSU from a culture perspective, as he knows the area and the recruiting lay of the land as well as anyone possibly could. It’s widely reported that MSU is his dream job which means we’d be able to not have the annual “staying or going” handwringing that came every year with Mullen. That is the core of his appeal to MSU....if he is successful he would bring continuity as well. Big “if” though.
Maybe till he took the podium as our coach the first time. As easily as a large percentage of this fanbase is swayed, the first speech would have them all in.
I'm neutral-to-slightly-positive on Hud as our coach, but anyone considering this...
as the main reason for hiring him is clearly ignoring the lesson Scott Stricklin taught us.
as the main reason for hiring him is clearly ignoring the lesson Scott Stricklin taught us.
Because no satisfactory answer can be given to such a stupid question? Ignoring the fact that it limits your coaching search to coaches that we mostly can't get (or that we can get because they have been hired and turned out poorly), why did nobody hire Mullen before us? Why did nobody hire smart before Georgia? He was DC for possibly the greatest college coach of all time for 7 years. Talk about a huge red flag.
Hud has a long track record of winning as a head coach at every level except Power 5. He has a pretty significant blemish on his resume with the end of his tenure at ULL with the probation, but even with that going on, the program didn't implode. They still did better than their historical average but dropped to 5th in a 12 team conference for a few years, and won 4, 6, and 5 games in those last three regular seasons.
That's a pretty competitive resume for the type of coaches we can get. Barring catching lightning in a bottle, we'll either hire a successful P5 coordinator, a G5 coach with a hot start but a very short resume, or a coach that has failed before. If Hud had made it back to G5 already and had some success, I think he would be a no brainer for us. As it is, he is a solid candidate for us. Not sure if he is who we should hire, but based on his resume and not having any insight into him otherwise, I would be pretty pleased if we hired him at this point. I would gladly take him now as opposed to waiting til NOvember to see if we can do better. I think it's very likely our coaching prospects in November won't look any better than they did this past November.
And until our hire was made, how many of these short lists did you read with Moorhead’s name on it? Or the shortlist with the fat guy Arkansas hired?
The point is that a lot of these reporters throw **** at the wall and hope something sticks. We have no idea if anyone reached out to Hud or not.
The point is that a lot of these reporters throw **** at the wall and hope something sticks. We have no idea if anyone reached out to Hud or not.
You don't have to agree with them, but if you don't consider IttaBena's and triton's explanations in this thread "satisfactory," then it seems you've made up your mind and therefore will not be satisfied by any explanation. They gave perfectly reasonable and logical answers to the question.
Let me see, he's served under two different head coaches at Mississippi State. He was Greg Byrne's runner up choice when the job was offered to Dan Mullen.
He's now won at three different schools in three neighboring states. In his first year at Austin Peay (2019), he went 11-4 and won the Ohio Valley Conference; a first for Austin Peay since 1977. They beat ranked teams back to back for the first time in school history. He has connections to Mississippi High School football coaches like no one we've had since Bob Tyler. He's from Louisville and Mississippi State is his dream job.
No, that wouldn't be a good fit at all just because no one else has pursued him.
Is he the only choice? No but he's likely the best choice because he's the best FIT for Mississippi State. See Ed Orgeron at LSU and tell me about his history and why its working for him there like no other place would?
I don’t see how Napier is some great hire but Hudspeth is a “lazy” hire. Hud has a much longer track record of success than Napier with many more stops. Napier to this point has had one good year. Overall I’m good with either one if that’s the direction we go, but acting like anyone who has previous ties to MSU or Starkville in general is some sort of good ole boy hire that should never be considered is just stupid.
Hudspeth: 15-22 his last 3 seasons at ULL. That's what would concern me. I'm glad he is doing well on the FCS level in his first year at Austin Peay.
Do you not understand that was under the cloud of probation? Do you also not understand that Napier is now winning with his players?
Sure the probation is also on his watch, but that's literally the only black mark, and he was not even included in that.
Were the rumors true that Hud and another assistant gave Moorhead an ultimatum last season to change the offense to suit Nick’s strengths?
More than anything, we need a guy who knows what Miss State football is, and can mange a program. We don’t need an offensive guru, we need a good HC who can surround himself with good assistants. Is that Hud?
More than anything, we need a guy who knows what Miss State football is, and can mange a program. We don’t need an offensive guru, we need a good HC who can surround himself with good assistants. Is that Hud?
Sure it is. And contrary to popular belief, Mullen was not an 'offensive guru', at least not in the sense of what we think of with Moorhead, Malzahn or Chip Kelly. He was a quarterback coach, who subscribed to a certain offense (that fit MSU). He had very good gameplans, but his playcalling was very average, and should have been delegated. So in that vein, Hud is essentially that same type of guy, but a better recruiter.
This is such an obvious solution to our problem, that I would expect Cohen to overthink it and never even consider doing it.
The rumor is that Hud formed the gameplan and called the Auburn game last season. Remember the one where we looked like a Mullen offense and ran absolutely roughshod all over a pretty good defense? With a type of scheming that Moorhead decided to go directly away from and never come back to? Ah, that night was great though.
Sounds familiar to when Croom and Woody schemed up Florida perfectly in 2004 and never did it again for 5 years.
He’s won consistently at DII, FCS, and FBS as a head coach. His last 3 years at ULL would be what a quality control specialist might call “assignable cause variation” due to the NCAA mess. The only blip in an otherwise stellar career. If there is anyone else on our radar that has won that consistently at each of the Top 3 levels of NCAA football, I’d love to know who they are.
Nobody that has 15 years of head coaching experience is going to have 15 great years on their resume. Just isn’t realistic. If we get a guy that has had some down years, I think its good that they are both in the pretty distant past and also a result of something likely out of that coach’s control. Both are the case here. I’m not saying Hud is the best we can do, but he damn sure isn’t the worst. Not even close.
Not the same. He has been a head coach for a long time. Mullen and Smart had never been head coaches. Now these reasons (excuses) are little more than attempts to rationalize his candidacy. Still no answer as to why no other P5 program has approached him...thanks anyway but no thanks. You have your opinion and I have mine..sounds like a fair trade off.
Of course its fake news, that was my point--just like the OP had fake news. In case nobody has noticed, ever since the UT debacle AD's are being very cautious with these moves, with very few leaks getting out about who their top choices etc are. Just because somebody didn't get a job doesn't mean they weren't in consideration, or even one of the top 2 or 3 candidates at places that just happened to get their first choice. And no, Hud is not my first choice, but I wouldn't throw myself off a building if we hire him.
Except Bobby Wallace was a proven failure over the extreme long haul at Temple. Hudspeth has no such history of falling flat on his face for nearly a decade. Success at North Alabama is literally the only thing they have in common.
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