Mississippi State finalizing deal with Philip Montgomery as new wide receivers coach
Mississippi State is finalizing a deal with Philip Montgomery as the team’s new wide receivers coach, per On3’s Pete Nakos. He previously worked with head coach Jeff Lebby at Baylor.
Last season, Montgomery spent the year as Virginia Tech’s offensive coordinator and eventually the interim head coach after Brent Pry was fired. Montgomery began his coaching career in 1994 at Tarleton State and worked across the state of Texas in high school football.
Montgomery returned to college football in 2003 as Houston’s QB and RBs coach for four seasons. He was then promoted to co-offensive coordinator in 2007.
Then, he went to Baylor in 2008 in the same role and spent time with the Bears until after the 2014 season. Montgomery was hired by Tulsa as the team’s head coach in 2015.
In eight seasons, Montgomery went 43-53, leading the team to four bowl games. The Golden Hurricane won 10 games in 2016. In 2020, Montgomery led Tulsa to the American Athletic Conference title game in the shortened COVID season. However, after a 5-7 record in 2022, he was fired.
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Montgomery landed at Auburn as the team’s offensive coordinator in 2023 under Hugh Freeze, but was fired after one season. Then, he coached the Birmingham Stallions of the UFL in 2024 as the team’s co-offensive coordinator before Virginia Tech last season.
Mississippi State was in a staff transition as Lebby made some changes after the 2025 season. Lebby fired defensive coordinator Coleman Hutzler and replaced him with former DC and head coach Zach Arnett. Wide receivers coach Chad Bumphis, eventually replaced by Montgomery this week, was let go and more pieces were added.
Arnett was the big addition to the team with Lebby finalizing that deal on Sunday. Arnett was a shocking pickup for the Bulldogs after the University fired him following the 2023 season. That was his one season as a head coach for the Bulldogs as State went 5-7 after the death of coach Mike Leach and Arnett was promoted to head coach.