Bumphis back to keep wins coming for MSU

It took less than 24 hours for Zach Arnett to make the phone call to Chad Bumphis.

Arnett went from defensive coordinator to head coach of the

Bulldogs in just a matter of days after the tragic death of head coach Mike Leach. Almost immediately, Arnett had a plan in place to build a staff with strong ties to the state of Mississippi and, specifically, to MSU. Bumphis was one of his first calls.

The former Bulldog wide receiver had been making his way in the college football world as a successful wide receiver coach for Utah the last two seasons. In two years, Bumphis was on a Utes staff that went to back-to-back Rose Bowls and won the Pac 12 championship both years. When he got the call from Arnett, he was ready to come home.

“We had success on the field at Utah, but the biggest thing was he built this staff on Mississippi ties,” Bumphis said. “Being from here and having a relationship with a lot of high school coaches in the state, I think that was big with what he was trying to build a staff around.

“It's very important. The best teams that we've had here have been teams that have been dominated by guys from this state or the footprint. I'm super excited to get back out here again. There are a lot of relationships of people in this state that I haven't been able to talk to in a while. We just want to try to keep that talent at home in Maroon and White.”

Bumphis was just a piece of the puzzle for Arnett. Along with him on the staff, Arnett brought in former off-the-field staffer Brad Peterson to be the Associate AD for Football Administration, he retained longtime assistant Tony Hughes and made him the team's running backs coach, he hired former two-time Bulldog defensive line coach David Turner to once again coach that position, Mississippi native Will Friend was brought in as offensive line coach and former running backs coach under Dan Mullen Greg Knox was hired as a Senior Offensive Analyst.

Walking into the office and seeing so many familiar faces was great for Bumphis, but it was also a little strange knowing that this time he is a part of the staff and not the pupil.

“It's really weird, but it's good though,” Bumphis said. “The first day Turner was here, he walked into the locker room and was like, ‘hey, last time I was here, you were in the other locker room. Those are good guys that helped me a lot. Being able to learn from them is good for me.”

There are a few familiar faces in the receivers room this year as well, but for the most part this is a fresh start for Bumphis after coaching at Utah. With the Utes, Bumphis recruited incoming freshmen Justin Brown and Nakai Poole and there is familiarity there. He's inheriting 10 scholarship receivers from the Air Raid offense and five more are coming in from the signing class or the transfer portal.

One of the most important of the group is rising senior Tulu Griffin, who was an Allamerican this year as a kick returner. Bumphis played a huge part in making sure that Griffin stayed with the Bulldogs last month after entering the portal and now the focus is making sure the offense finds a way to let him do his thing.

“He's huge,” Bumphis said of Griffin. “He's one of those guys that you talk about identifying the guys you can put the ball in their hands and he's one of the guys that come to mind. As an offensive staff, we've talked about finding more ways to get him the ball whether it's with a fly sweep, wildcat, choice route or a ball down field. He's going to touch the ball more and I'm excited to coach him.”

While Griffin was the first real “win” for Bumphis in recruiting as he made sure he stayed on the team, the inaugural first commitment was Eastern Washington transfer Freddie Roberson. Bumphis was also recruiting him when he was at Utah and the coach's move to MSU helped escalate that process.

The transfer portal wide out is expected to come in and play a big role for the Bulldogs on offense after the team lost Rara Thomas. Bumphis expects him to get the job done.

“I think he's a bigger guy who has some slot-like twitch,” Bumphis said of Roberson. “I think he can do some really good things with the ball in his hands and obviously give us some depth outside, then you look at him playing at Eastern Washington and his best games were against Power 5 teams like Oregon and Florida. You turn the film on and he looks like he belongs. I think he's a guy who is going to come in and give us some immediate help on the outside.”

As for the offense that this group will be performing in, that excites Bumphis as well. There was a previous relationship with Bumphis and the Bulldogs' offensive coordinator Kevin Barbay when Barbay was the offensive coordinator at Central Michigan and Bumphis was expected to take the wide receivers job there three years ago, but Bumphis got called to Utah instead.

Now the two are teaming up for real and Bumphis likes the possibilities of this unit.

“I love it,” Bumphis said. “The constant message he said to me is that we had to find guys to score at any given time we get the ball in their hands. As a receiver, that's what you want to hear. He likes to push the ball down the field which I love. He moves guys around, but he is very adamant about getting the guys the ball in space and making us look like smart coaches.”

It's always been tough to do, but it's even more difficult these days to try and get a smile off of Bumphis' face. From Tupelo High School to setting records at MSU and now coaching at his alma mater, this has all been a dream for the Mississippi native.

There's a long way to go to coaching the first game, but Bumphis is just grateful. He's living out his dream right now and he's ready to help bring the wins along with it.

“It's what I wanted and what I started coaching for,” Bumphis said. “To finally be back here feels good and I'm excited to get going.'