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After two seasons, the Mississippi State Bulldogs have decided to move on from head coach Joe Moorhead, according to Brett McMurphy of Stadium.
The school has yet to confirm the report, but there had been rumors swirling about Moorhead’s future starting on Thursday night when Yahoo’s Pete Thamel tweeted that the school was looking into a possible change following the rough ending to the season.
Sources: Mississippi State is exploring firing coach Joe Moorhead. No formal decision has been made. School officials have been discussing Moorhead's future since a spate of off-field issues, including the fight that led to QB Garrett Schraeder missing the Music City Bowl.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 3, 2020
In addition to the fight that caused Schraeder to miss the Music City Bowl, the back half of Mississippi State’s season was troublesome on the field, as well. The Bulldogs started the year 3-1, then fell off and had to win their final two games just to get to the bowl eligibility threshold.
The Music City Bowl was a bit of a microcosm of Mississippi State’s season, as they stormed out to a 14-0 lead in the first half before falling apart and taking a 38-28 loss to Louisville.
In the end, Moorhead seemingly just wasn’t the right fit for the job. While the coaching carousel had come to a bit of a halt as this point, an unexpectedly available SEC job is just what could be needed to get it rolling again.
[UPDATE: Mississippi State released a statement late Friday morning. That can be found HERE.]