How Bob Shoop found success at Mississippi State and where it went wrong with UT Vols

Blake Toppmeyer | Knoxville

When Bob Shoop joined first-year coach Joe Moorhead’s staff at Mississippi State in December, Shoop wanted to help create a culture rather than fit into one.

That's different than how he remembers coming aboard Butch Jones’ staff at Tennessee in 2016.

“Compared to Tennessee, we all came in as a new staff here, so it’s an opportunity for us to create a culture,” Shoop said last week in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee.

“And I think one of the things, looking back, that I really tried to do at Tennessee, whether it was to my detriment or whatever, was to try to fit into that culture – and really, in some ways, never got a chance to be myself or who I was.”

Mississippi State defensive coordinator Bob Shoop on Bulldogs defense Mississippi State defensive coordinator Bob Shoop gives an update on the Bulldogs defense entering the Auburn game.

With Moorhead’s blessing, Shoop is operating MSU’s defense just the way he wants.

The results are striking.

The Bulldogs (4-2, 1-2 SEC) rank No. 1 in the nation in scoring defense, surrendering 12.7 points per game. Only one of their first six opponents has scored more than 13 points.

“The one thing I made sure I was going to do, after my experience at Tennessee,” Shoop said, “I was going to do it the way I wanted to do it, and I wasn’t going to compromise anything.”

A scheme similar to Vanderbilt, Penn State

Before Shoop's two seasons at Tennessee, he was James Franklin’s defensive coordinator for five seasons – first at Vanderbilt, then at Penn State. His defenses ranked in the top 30 in scoring defense in four of those five seasons.

Shoop's Mississippi State defense is schematically reminiscent of his Vanderbilt units, with a bit of Penn State sprinkled in.

“We’re very aggressive in our approach and mind-set, probably more so than we were at Tennessee,” Shoop said.

Shoop is MSU’s fifth defensive coordinator in as many seasons. He credits a mature, talented defensive group with helping make the transition as smooth as possible.

MSU is highlighted by defensive end Montez Sweat, who is tied for the SEC lead in sacks and, Shoop said, is "as good as anybody in college football at his position." Veteran safety Johnathan Abram and defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons are standouts, too.

Shoop's defense is different from that of previous MSU defensive coordinator Todd Grantham.

“They were pretty good on defense last year, so the players liked Coach Grantham’s defense, which is very similar to (Tennessee) Coach (Jeremy) Pruitt’s defense,” Shoop said, “which is similar to a lot of defenses in the league. It’s that Nick Saban family of defenses. And that’s not the defense that I have.”

That’s not to say Shoop hasn’t incorporated hints of Grantham.

The Bulldogs brought seven men on a blitz on the final defensive snap of a 23-9 win over Auburn two weeks ago. Quarterback Jarrett Stidham eluded pressure before hurriedly throwing a fourth-down incompletion.

Grantham, now Florida’s defensive coordinator, called the blitz against MSU the week before.

“I said, ‘Let’s put that in. It looks pretty good,’” Shoop said.

Where it went wrong at Tennessee

Shoop replaced John Jancek ahead of Jones’ fourth season at UT. The other defensive staffers that year were holdovers from Jones' initial season.

Shoop couldn’t duplicate his past success. Injuries to linebackers Jalen Reeves-Maybin and Darrin Kirkland Jr. and cornerback Cameron Sutton hampered what Shoop thought was a talented unit.

Still, Shoop remembers 2016 as a mostly successful season for Tennessee. The Vols went 9-4, with wins against Virginia Tech, Florida and Georgia.

But the regular season closed with a 45-34 loss to Vanderbilt. Commodores quarterback Kyle Shurmur threw for 416 yards.

“That’s the game that I think everybody looks back on with a pretty sour taste in their mouth,” Shoop said.

“That was really a discouraging moment," he added. "You ask about a low moment, that was probably it.”

The Vols responded by beating Nebraska 38-24 in the Music City Bowl.

"We beat the brakes off of them," Shoop said.

For many, though, the lasting memory of that season was Tennessee squandering a chance to win the SEC East and Jones declaring the Vols winners of "the championship of life."

Jones quickly landed on the hot seat in 2017, which spiraled into a controversy-filled season that included reports of player altercations in practice and Jones lecturing the media for what he deemed "fake news."

Butch Jones: There comes a time when enough is enough Butch Jones addresses the media on Sept. 25, 2017

Unlike the previous season, UT’s defense outperformed its offense, which struggled to replace quarterback Joshua Dobbs and was plagued by a woeful offensive line.

Shoop’s defense stood firm against South Carolina, but the Vols lost 15-9, sending their record to 3-3.

“Really, after that, I think things started to fall apart,” Shoop said. “Everybody kind of sensed that maybe Coach Jones was in trouble, and we’re not able to keep our eye on the ball and focus on what was necessary for that particular week.

“Everybody was like, ‘What’s the new drama that’s going to come up this week?’ I think momentum, at that time, was such a powerful thing for the team and for the kids. Obviously after that, it really kind of fell apart after that a little bit. Those last five or six weeks were probably the hardest weeks I’ve ever had professionally.”

Moorhead offers Shoop a lifeline

How does a coach get over a season like 2017?

“Get over it is not the right term,” Shoop said. “You just move on.”

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Moorhead offered a landing spot.

Shoop and Moorhead grew up a few miles apart in the Pittsburgh suburbs. Shoop is eight years Moorhead’s senior but the same age as Moorhead’s brother, Merv, whom Shoop knew from the basketball court.

Shoop tracked Joe Moorhead’s coaching career. When Franklin was in the market for an offensive coordinator at Penn State after the 2015 season, Shoop recommended Moorhead and reached out to him. Moorhead was Fordham's coach at the time.

Shoop said that perhaps Moorhead felt a sense of loyalty when he tapped Shoop to join his inaugural staff at MSU.

Moorhead sees it differently. He wanted a proven defensive coordinator and thinks Shoop fits the bill.

“If you look at all his stops along the college coaching journey,” Moorhead said, “he’s been very successful … I think his track record, outside of the time at Tennessee, had been one of pretty good defense.”

Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled the name of former Tennessee linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin.