Head coach Jeff Lebby begins process of filling out first staff
Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby has started the process of filling out his first Bulldogs’ staff and his first moves include familiar faces to Bulldog fans.
On Monday evening, Mississippi State’s Chad Bumphis announced he was remaining in Starkville to continue his role as the receivers coach. Then on Tuesday, sources confirmed to Maroon and White Daily that defensive line coach David Turner will also be retained on Lebby’s staff.
Bumphis was Mississippi State’s leading receiver three of his four seasons from 2009-12 and holds the school record for receiving touchdowns (24), ranks second in career receiving yards (2,270) and second in receptions (159). Bumphis was named to the Freshman All-Southeastern Conference team by the league’s coaches in 2009 and was a second-team All-SEC receiver by the AP as a senior in 2012.
Before returning to his alma mater for the 2023 season, Bumphis also coached receivers at Utah for two seasons and helped lead the Utes’ program to a pair of New Year’s Six bowl games.
Turner returns for his fourth stint as a coach after leading the defensive line units from 2007-09 and again from 2013-15 along with this past season. Turner also recently spent the 2022 season at Georgia Tech as Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Run Game Coordinator. His impressive resume also includes other Power 5 coaching stops at Florida (2019-21), Texas A&M (2016-17), Kentucky (2010-12), Alabama (2006), Vanderbilt (2002-05), Minnesota (2001), Virginia (1997-2000), NC State (1995-96) and his first stint Kentucky (1993-94).
Turner has coached numerous NFL standouts during his various coaching stops, particularly in previous seasons at Mississippi State. He has coached 15 NFL Draft picks in addition to several other NFL standouts during his 37-year collegiate coaching career. He mentored Bulldog standouts Chris Jones, Fletcher Cox, Preston Smith, Pernell McPhee, Josh Boyd, Kyle Love, Gerri Green, among others during his time in Starkville. He also was responsible for signing five-star defensive tackle and future NFL first-round draft pick Jeffery Simmons. While serving as Texas A&M’s defensive run game coordinator at Texas A&M (2016-17), he coached eventual No. 1 overall NFL draft pick Myles Garrett.
During Lebby’s first press conference as State’s head coach, he mentioned that he expects to have a few hires announced by the end of the week. The process of interviewing possible new coaches and coaches currently on the staff will continue the rest of the week.
