MSU's Cohen lands Moorhead quickly

Mississippi State was without a head football coach for less than 72 hours.

MSU officially announced on Wednesday morning that Penn State offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead is the 33rd head coach in Mississippi State history. The Starkville Daily News first learned of Moorhead's hire Tuesday night.

After former MSU head coach Dan Mullen left the Bulldogs to become the head coach at Florida on Sunday, sources told the SDN that Mississippi State Director of Athletics John Cohen was prepared and likely to move quickly though a coaching search. Wednesday morning's announcement proved that to be the case as Cohen announced he had found his guy.

“During our search, it became unequivocally clear who our next football coach was and that man was Joe Moorhead,” Cohen said in a school release. “Joe is a winner, a man of integrity with a blue-collar work ethic and an ability to motivate others that our student-athletes will gravitate to. His innovative offensive philosophy is a perfect fit for our program and will keep us on a path to competing for championships. I was also impressed with his detailed defensive plan. He will demand excellence on and off the field and maximize the resources we have to continue to be successful in the SEC. We are proud to welcome Joe, his wife Jennifer, his daughter Kyra and sons Mason and Donovan to the Bulldog family.”

Moorhead is best known as an offensive guru who orchestrated one of the nation's top offenses at Penn State the last two seasons.

In 2016, Moorhead was tabbed the National Offensive Coordinator of the Year by 247Sports after setting Penn State records for total offense with 6,056 yards and passing

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