Cowbell Corner

Where Mike Leach's Former Mississippi State Staff Members are Now

Looking into where Mike Leach's former staff members have landed as the Zach Arnett era begins at Mississippi State.

Crissy Froyd

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Mississippi State football was shaken by the news of head coach Mike Leach's death in early December and has since moved forward into a new chapter with promoted defensive coordinator Zach Arnett as the team's head coach.

With the hiring of Arnett has come a number of changes -- changes that are particularly reflected in the staff turnover.

The team and several of Leach's former coaching staff have parted ways at this point with its members going in multiple directions, while others were retained and received promotions.

Here's a look at where many of them stand moving into 2023:

Steve Spurrier Jr. - Offensive Coordinator/QBs, Tulsa

Spurrier Jr. served as the Bulldogs' outside receivers coach in his team under Leach in Starkville, named the passing game coordinator ahead of the 2022 season. He became the new Tulsa offensive coordinator shortly after the New Year, moving forward under head coach Kevin Wilson in Oklahoma.

Spurrier previously spent time as a graduate assistant at Georgia (1994-1998), wide receivers coach at Oklahoma (1999-2001), wide receivers coach with the Washington Commanders (2002-2003), an offensive assistant at Arizona (2004), worked as a passing game coordinator, wide receivers coach and co-offensive coordinator at South Carolina (2009-2015), offensive assistant at Oklahoma (2016), quarterbacks coach at Western Kentucky (2017) and wide receivers coach at Washington State (2018-2019) before making his way to Starkville.

In his two seasons with the Cougars, his unit played a role into the team holding the nation's top passing attack and leading passer each year. In 2021, MSU wide receiver Makai Polk led the SEC with a single-season school record 105 receptions under Spurrier Jr., becoming just the fifth player in conference history with 100 catches in a season.

Drew Hollingshead - Offensive Coordinator, Western Kentucky

Formerly a quarterback at the University of Houston, Hollingshead served as an offensive assistant for Leach for six years before being promoted to the team's inside wide receivers coach for the 2022 season. 

Hollingshead has had involvement with a number of Air Raid quarterbacks like Luke Faulk (WSU), Gardner Minshew II (WSU), Anthony Gordon (WSU) and Will Rogers (MSU) -- all of which have received much recognition for their accomplishments as pure passers. 

Faulk, Minshew II, Gordon and Rogers all recorded 4,000-plus yard passing seasons while ranking top five nationally in passing yards per game. Minshew II led the nation in passing in 2018 (367.6 ypg) and Gordon did the same in 2019 (429.2 ypg).

Hollingshead now has a chance to extend his influence with a team that has had success with Air Raid offensive coordinators like Zach Kittley, who helped produce standout record-setting quarterback Bailey Zappe.

Matt Brock - Defensive Coordinator, Mississippi State

Brock was among those retained by the program as it prepares for the 2023 season, promoting him from linebackers coach to defensive coordinator, announced shortly after Arnett's tenure as head coach began. He served as the Bulldogs' defensive play-caller in the 19-10 ReliaQuest Bowl victory over Illinois, while Spurrier Jr. called offensive plays.

Brock played a role in the development of linebackers Jett Johnson and Nathaniel "Bookie" Watson,  who combined for 17 tackles and two sacks in the bowl game and became the only Power 5 teammates to finish 1-2 in their conference in tackles after tallying 114 and 113 tackles, respectively.

With Brock as a part of the Bulldogs' defensive coaching staff in 2022, the program was among the best in the SEC, ranking fifth in total defense (344.5), fifth in rushing defense (134.2) and second in turnovers gained (23).

Before arriving to Mississippi State in 2020, Brock served as the special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach at Washington State for two seasons.

He now enters his fourth season in Starkville.

Eric Mele - Special Teams Coordinator, Mississippi State

There have been some questions surrounding Mele's status with the team as moves continue to be made across the coaching staff, but there's reason fro optimism that he'll stay with the Bulldogs after he joined Arnett and others to host a couple of recruits earlier this week, according to a report from Robbie Faulk of 247Sports.

Mele spent nine seasons with Leach at Washington State (2012-2019), finishing off the last two years there as the Cougars' running backs coach. 

His group of 2019 WSU running backs included All-Pac-12 honorable mention Max Borghi, who ranked third in the conference in total yards from scrimmage with a total of 1,414 yards. His 16 touchdowns from scrimmage were also good for the second-most in the Pac-12, with his 86 receptions led the nation among running backs. That's something that's not surprising, given the amount of versatility the Air Raid offense demands of its rushers.

Mele was formally named MSU's running backs coach in February of 2020 at the beginning of the Leach era. Mele became the MSU special teams coordinator before the start of the 2022 season.

Brittany Thackery - Director of Player Engagement, USC

Thackery has been reunited with Dave Emerick at the University of Southern California, announcing she had accepted a position as the Trojans' new Director of Player Engagement last week.

She previously served as the Director of Player Personnel at Mississippi State, joining Leach in Starkville after she worked on his staff as the Cougars' Manager of Player Personnel and later Director of Player Personnel at WSU.

Thackery received high praise from Leach for her involvement in the recruiting effort for his teams, and she'll have a chance to continue that on the West Coast.

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Crissy Froyd
CRISSY FROYD

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