Mississippi State Football: 3 trending candidates to replace Joe Moorhead

There are reports of three candidates emerging for the Mississippi State football head coaching job. Here are the candidates.

According to ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg, three names have surfaced as candidates to be the next coach of the Mississippi State Bulldogs football program. Todd Grantham was the first name to surface as leading candidate after Louisiana head coach Billy Napier turned down an opportunity to interview.

This, of course, comes on the heels of the sudden firing of former head coach Joe Moorhead. Although the firing seemed abrupt, the Mississippi State administration needed a contingency plan since there was no scandal surrounding neither Moorhead nor the football program.

As of the writing of this article, the three names who have surfaced to be the next coach in Starkville are Mike Leach, Todd Grantham and Steve Sarkisian.

All three coaches have coached in the SEC. Sarkisian and Leach have had success as head coaches while Sarkisian and Grantham bring NFL experience to the table. A place like Mississippi State is all about fit. Both the university and the city are small. Mississippi State is the second smallest school in the SEC and Starkville has a population under 30,000 people. Simply put, it’s a small school in a small town.

There’s no better fit in the history of Mississippi State football than the legendary Jackie Sherrill. Coach Sherrill immersed himself in the culture of Starkville and endeared himself to the people.

The question is which of these coaches is the best fit for the culture of both Starkville and Mississippi State?