Mississippi State football coaching search: 7 names to consider replacing Joe Moorhead

STARKVILLE – Joe Moorhead didn't work out at Mississippi State.

Moorhead was fired by MSU's administration Friday morning when it became clear, according to university president Mark Keenum and athletic director John Cohen, that Mississippi State needed a change of leadership at the top of the football program.

Now the search is on for someone who can do what Moorhead couldn't.

"We look forward to finding an outstanding leader both on and off the field who connects with our Bulldog student-athletes, coaches and fans to the fullest," Cohen said.

Who will that be? Here are some names to consider as MSU conducts its search. First, it's worth noting that Cohen has warned fans that he is going to hold his cards close to his vest throughout the search

"We're not going to comment on any of our candidates," Cohen said.

Louisiana Tech coach Skip Holtz

Skip Holtz, 55, is the son of college football coaching legend Lou Holtz. He's been at Louisiana Tech since 2013 and has been in the college coaching ranks since his days as a graduate assistant at Florida State in 1987-88.

This season, Holtz notched the program's first 10-win season since 1984. Holtz has reached eight wins in five of his seven seasons in Ruston. He's had a winning record in all but one, which was the very first.

Perhaps Holtz's most impressive feat while at Louisiana Tech is that he has never lost a bowl game. He ran his record to a perfect 6-0 by beating Miami in last week's Independence Bowl.

Holtz has ties to the SEC as South Carolina's associate head coach and offensive coordinator from 1999-2004. Holt has a career record of 144-107 with his other head coaching stops being UConn (34-23 record), East Carolina (38-27 record) and South Florida (16-21 record).

Florida defensive coordinator Todd Grantham

Here's the first name on the list that would be a homecoming of sorts.

Grantham was Mississippi State's defensive coordinator in 2017, a year in which the Bulldogs had the No. 10 total defense in the country. Grantham left for Florida with head coach Dan Mullen, who coached the Bulldogs for eight seasons.

Grantham is in charge of a Gators defense that ranked No. 9 nationally this season. Before arriving at Mississippi State, Grantham was an associate head coach at Georgia (2010-13) and Louisville (2014-16).

Grantham, 53, is one of the more experienced options for Mississippi State. He started coaching college football in 1990 at his alma mater, Virginia Tech. After eight years there, he went to Michigan State for a year before leaving for the NFL. Grantham coached for the Indianapolis Colts, Houston Texans, Cleveland Browns and Dallas Cowboys.

The biggest upside in hiring Grantham is getting back to the disciplined style of play Keenum and Cohen are longing for.

Austin Peay head coach Mark Hudspeth

Here's another homecoming.

Hudspeth was the wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator at Mississippi State from 2009-10. He returned for one season as the tight ends coach in 2018 before leaving to take the head coaching job at Austin Peay.

The sample size is small for Hudspeth at Austin Peay, but the results were nice. He went 11-4 there this past season. Hudspeth also went 9-4 each season from 2011-14 at Louisiana Lafayette before many of those wins were vacated for an NCAA violation involving a former assistant.

Hudspeth went 66-21 at North Alabama before arriving at Mississippi State the first time. Though he doesn't have head coaching experience at the SEC level, he has been the man in charge for 15 seasons in college football.

Hudspeth, who grew up in Louisville, Mississippi, played his college ball at Delta State.

SEC Network analyst Gene Chizik

Is it time for Gene Chizik to get back in the game?

Chizik hasn't coached since resigning as North Carolina's defensive coordinator in February of 2017. He was there for two years after a brief stint as an SEC Network studio analyst. He went back to SEC Network after leaving UNC.

Chizik's only head coaching experience came at Iowa State (2007-08) and Auburn (2009-12). He won the national championship at the latter stop with quarterback Cam Newton leading the way. Chizik was also part of Texas' 2005 national title team as the co-defensive coordinator.

The biggest thing for Chizik, who is 38-38 in his career, is if he wants to coach again. He resigned from his post at UNC and said he wanted to be closer to his family in Auburn, Alabama. Starkville isn't too far from there, but does he want to go through the grind of coaching again?

UAB head coach Bill Clark

Is it time for Bill Clark to make a big jump?

Clark has coached at UAB for four seasons now. He has a record of 34-19 and plenty of accolades. Clark was the Conference USA Coach of the Year in 2017 and has led the Blazers to two-straight division titles.

The downside with Clark is he has never coached at a Power 5 school in any capacity. Is success at UAB, an assistant role at South Alabama, and one 11-4 season at Jacksonville State in 2013 enough to bring on Clark in a spot in which Mississippi State is demanding immediate results?

Mississippi State took a chance by hiring Moorhead, whose only head-coaching experience was at the FCS level. Clark has been the main man at levels higher than that, but he does not know what it's like being in a locker room with SEC athletes. That could play a roll in whether or not he's seriously looked at by State.

Louisiana head coach Billy Napier

There were rumors that Napier could have landed the Mississippi State job back in November if Moorhead was fired after a potential Egg Bowl loss. The Bulldogs won, and Moorhead got through December as a result.

Now that the job is officially up for grabs, Napier makes sense again – even though Stadium's Brett McMurphy reported Friday evening that Napier has decided to decline the opportunity to join MSU. Sports Illustrated's Ross Dellenger doubled down on the report.

Napier still has a bowl game to coach Monday night, too. It's impossible to know if his interest level would change after the bowl.

Napier also just agreed to terms on a two-year contract extension that would keep him at Louisiana through the 2025 season.

Napier is 17-10 in his two seasons in Lafayette. He's in charge of the nation's sixth-best rushing offense this season at 265.3 yards per game.

The Ragin' Cajuns have the eighth-best total offense in the country this year at 501.3 yards per game. Napier has led Louisiana to two-straight Sun Belt Championship Games, but the Ragin' Cajuns lost both times.

Napier, a Georgia native and graduate of Furman University, has worked extensively with two of the top coaches in college football. He was an offensive assistant under Dabo Swinney at Clemson from 2006-10 and the wide receivers coach under Nick Saban at Alabama from 2013-16. He was also an offensive assistant at Alabama in 2011.

'A hard edge': Why Mississippi State fired head coach Joe Moorhead

LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda

Dave Aranda has never been a head coach, but he wants to be one some day.

"The interest of being a head coach, I think, has always been there," he told The Advocate last month.

Aranda has been at LSU since 2016. He was a Broyles Award finalist in his first season in Baton Rouge. He was a Broyles Award finalist in his last season as Wisconsin's defensive coordinator in 2015.

Aranda, 43, has two decades of college coaching experience but has never been a head coach. While it's not likely for his first head coaching position to come at Mississippi State, it isn't totally out of the realm of possibilities.

'No Way': Mississippi State players react to firing of head coach Joe Moorhead

'See y'all later': Joe Moorhead pens goodbye letter to Mississippi State

Other options to keep an eye on

Army head coach Jeff Monken

Tulane head coach Willie Fritz

Washington State head coach Mike Leach

New England Patriots special teams coordinator Joe Judge

Arkansas State head coach Blake Anderson

Contact Tyler Horka at thorka@gannett.com. Follow @tbhorka on Twitter. To read more of Tyler's work, subscribe to the Clarion Ledger today!