Mississippi State Adds Knowledgeable Young Star Power to Coaching Staff

Written by Ryan Wright

Twitter: @HogManInLA

The trouble for a college head coach with hiring a talented football coaching staff is chances are much of the staff will change from one year to the next with an opportunity for a dramatic change. Such has been the case for Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen who had to watch defensive coordinator Geoff Collins leave for the same position with the Florida Gators at the end of the 2014 season seeing a repeat with his replacement Manny Diaz who joined Mark Richt’s staff in Miami at the end of the 2015 season.

Mullen has continued to weather the depletion of his staff but has battled back to add young but talented star power to his 2016 staff. On Friday, Mississippi State announced Terrell Buckley hiring as safeties coach and recruiting coordinator taking over for Tony Hughes who left the program to become the head coach at Jackson State and announced the hiring of Peter Sirmon as the Bulldogs defensive coordinator filling in for Diaz.

Buckley (44) heading to Mississippi State is a homecoming of sorts for the Pascagoula, Mississippi, native. Buckley was an All-American cornerback for Florida State winning the Jim Thorpe Award (1991) before heading off to the NFL becoming a first round draft pick of the Green Bay Packers, fifth overall. Buckley had a 14-year NFL career playing for the Packers, Miami Dolphins, Denver Broncos, New England Patriots – winning a Super Bowl (2001-2002), Dolphins again, and ended his long career with the New York Giants (2005). By 2007, Buckley returned to the college ranks as an assistant with Florida State. In 2012, he got his first big coaching break hired to oversee cornerbacks at Akron. In 2014, Buckley was hired for the same position with Louisville.

Sirmon (38) was also a collegiate standout playing for the Oregon Ducks (1996-1999) before spending seven seasons with the Tennessee Titans. By 2008, Sirmon was named linebackers coach at Central Washington, spent one season as a graduate assistant at Oregon, and then got his first big coaching opportunity guiding the linebacker corps at Tennessee (2010-2011). By 2012, Sirmon had returned to the Pac-12 to coach linebackers at Washington and made the move with Steve Sarkisian from Seattle to Los Angeles becoming the linebackers coach, recruiting coordinator, and defensive coordinator.

Speculation for well over a week had Sirmon heading to Mississippi State without an official announcement.

Reports have Mississippi State also losing cornerbacks coach Deshea Townsend. If the reports hold true, Townsend left the Bulldogs to join the Tennessee Titans staff. Townsend has been with Mullen in Starkville over the last three seasons.

Photo credit: latimes.com; Peter Sirmon instructs during a USC practice.