After Joe Moorhead was fired by Mississippi State, it was presumed that he was going to be in high demand as an assistant somewhere. Less than a week layer, his name has surfaced in the discussion to be the offensive coordinator at one of the premier programs in college football.

According to a report from Football Scoop, Moorhead is a leading candidate for the offensive coordinator position at Oregon. Other leading candidates include Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch and Tulane offensive coordinator Will Hall.

The position was left vacated by Marcus Arroyo, who departed to be the head coach at UNLV following Oregon’s Rose Bowl victory.

Moorhead’s departure from Mississippi State was quite sudden. Late Thursday night, Pete Thamel of Yahoo! Sports reported that Mississippi State was exploring firiing the second-year head coach. Less than 12 hours later, that became reality.

Two days after the Egg Bowl win over Ole Miss, Moorhead’s second in the rivalry, coach, and administration met to evaluate this season and the two-year trends, and discuss adjustments to operations and staff. Mississippi State confirmed the Saturday morning of November 30 there would be a third-year together. By the next weekend, the Music City Bowl berth that the University had sought was secured.

However, events during bowl camp revived previous concerns for program management and general direction. Most notably so was a December 20 contact drills incident between quarterback Garrett Shrader and linebacker Willie Gay Jr. It carried over after practice into a full-blown scuffle in which Shrader suffered a swollen eye and later minor damage to the orbital bone was found.

Though no lasting damage was done the freshman quarterback, who had directed Egg Bowl victory with two rushing touchdowns, was out of the bowl game. No suspensions for the bowl were judged necessary though it would have been moot in Shrader’s case. Also in the bowl, it was revealed number-two running back Nick Gibson was under a one-quarter suspension for an unspecified campus offense.

Such incidents were magnified by a 38-28 loss to Louisville when after State took a 14-0 lead the Cardinals ran off 31 unanswered points. The loss left the Bulldogs 6-7, only the second losing record in the 2010s.

It is understood a bowl win would have reinforced the decision for the third year and presumably a better opportunity for Moorhead to show what his program and particularly his offense could achieve. Instead the loss only amplified administrative and public perception State football is trending the wrong direction. In fact, sources indicate the athletic department had resumed back-channeling inquiries to gauge potential coaches’ interest in this job before kickoff in Nashville.

Moorhead leaves with a two-year record of 14-12, 7-9 in SEC play. However, all eight wins in 2018 were vacated this past August as part of a negotiated settlement with the NCAA for ten Bulldog players’ involvement in academic misconduct. The football office was not found responsible for the players’ actions with a University tutor.