STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- It's no secret offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead remains a hot commodity on the coaching market. Sure enough, as the first wave of job openings start to fill, the Nittany Lions' coordinator is reportedly one of the names on Mississippi State's wish list.
USA Today's Dan Wolken reports that Moorhead is among the candidates the Bulldogs are interested in, while Sports Illustrated's Bruce Feldman reported Tuesday afternoon that Moorhead has emerged as a "strong candidate." Former Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen was introduced as Florida's new head coach on Monday.
Moorhead's head coaching aspirations are no secret and last offseason he reportedly interviewed with Purdue, but ultimately returned to Happy Valley to lead one of the most explosive offenses in the country for a second season.
All of Moorhead's coaching ties, however, are to the Northeast, which makes the Mississippi State rumors a little more interesting. Moorhead, a native of Western Pa. who then played his college ball at Fordham, hasn't held jobs outside of the Northeast region. He was a graduate assistant at Pitt, then coached at Akron, Georgetown and UConn before being named Fordham's head coach, where he led the Rams to a 38-13 record.
After Fordham, he joined James Franklin in State College and was an immediate upgrade as the Lions' offense improved their scoring average by 14.4 points during Moorhead's first season. The Lions are 21-5 with Moorhead on staff and have a Big Ten title, Rose Bowl berth and potentially a New Year's Six bowl bid to show for it.
"My professional success is not determined on becoming a head coach again," Moorhead said last year in the lead up to the Rose Bowl. "If it happens and it's the right situation, fantastic. If not, that's not going to lessen or diminish anything from my end."
Regional ties are important largely when it comes to recruiting. It's not the be-all end-all if a coach doesn't have experience in the region, but if that's the case then they must have staff members with heavy ties to the area and the school's recruiting footprint. It's what Penn State did when Franklin came in and added Terry Smith to bolster ties to Pittsburgh before Moorhead and fellow Western Pa. native Matt Limegrover came on board later.
While surely coaching rumors will run rampant in the next six weeks and that's always one of the main talking points during bowl season, rest assured Franklin keeps a running list of coaches he wants to work with. He's done that for as long as he's been a head coach, and he said he'll regularly go out to dinner with other coaches when he's at conventions, all the while preparing for the inevitable, which is that when a team has success -- which Penn State certainly has the past two seasons -- his coaches then are in high demand. Surely it's flattering and also maddening all at once, but that's the business.
Franklin has stressed since his arrival that he doesn't want to lose coaches to lateral moves and he's gone to bat for his assistants as they got contract extensions and financial stability during his tenure, but Franklin said, even as recently as this season on his radio show, that if one of his assistants or coordinators has a chance at a head coaching job, he will be their biggest supporter.
Penn State tight ends coach Ricky Rahne had high praise for Moorhead when Rahne met with the media this season.
"I think that Joe Moorhead is the best offensive coordinator in the country," Rahne said last month. "I would say that to anybody, and I’ve worked with some great men and I’ve played for some great men. I just think the world of Joe and what he brings to the table. The one thing that is underestimated with Joe is his ability to get the players to play hard for him and believe in him and believe in our system."
The Mississippi State gig likely won't be the only one Moorhead's name is linked to this offseason. UCF head coach Scott Frost is already among the coaches Nebraska is interested in with the Knights sitting at 11-0. Surely they won't be the last school to show interest in Frost. Had there been a head coaching vacancy in Pittsburgh this offseason, that's one gig that likely would've been linked to the list of Moorhead possibilities.
Whether or not this offseason is the time for Moorhead to test the head coaching waters again or not, surely Penn State has a plan in place if it is.