Mississippi State's Greg Knox: Interim Head Coach Position 'Means a Lot to Me'
Mississippi State football head coach Zach Arnett was "relieved of his duties" on Monday morning after a rough start in his first season holding the position.
Analyst Greg Knox will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the 2023 season. He previously served as the Bulldogs' interim head coach during the 2017 TaxSlayer Bowl, where he led the team to a 31-27 win over Louisville, and also held that title at Florida in 2021.
This is Knox's third time holding the position and he explained during Wednesday's SEC coaches teleconference that he's looking forward to the opportunity once again.
“It means a lot to me, because I care about the players and through my life of coaching over 30-something years, it’s always been about the development of young men," Knox said. "This has been a great honor for me and I take it seriously.”
Knox revealed that his first message to the team was that he was going be the same person he's been all season.
"They've seen me around, they know who I am, how I operate, the energy I operate with and the standards that I hold," Knox said. "I'm going to be me, I'm not going to try to be anyone else, so they know what to expect daily when they come into the facility and they know what to expect when they go on the field."
Additionally, Knox informed the Bulldogs that the next couple of weeks will need to be a complete group effort.
"We're going to do this in a team fashion," Knox said. "We're going to make sure that everyone understands that this is all about the team, not me, not any coach, it's totally about the team."
As previously stated, Knox has held this position multiple times before. One way he plans on coaching the rest of the season is by utilizing what he's done in the past.
"I have notes from each time and so I go back and look at those notes and I try to refresh myself and make sure I'm doing exactly what I need to do in order to put these kids in a position for success," Knox said.
Knox's first test of the 2023 season comes against Southern Miss on Saturday.
