100 Day Bulldog Countdown: 73 Days - Remembering Bob Tyler
Jeff Lebby’s era of Mississippi State football has arrived.
The Bulldogs are on their third coach in as many years as Mike Leach’s tragic passing opened the door for defensive coordinator Zach Arnett’s debut as head coach last year. That experiment failed before the year even ended for State and now it’s Lebby’s turn to take the wheel.
While there is always a risk in hiring first time head coaches, Lebby brings to Starkville an exciting offensive scheme that has been productive everywhere he’s been. The coach has also brought with him some swagger that has the fanbase ready to see what’s next.
Over the course of the next 100 days, we will take a look at Lebby’s roster and even some fun historical rewinds that will bring back memories for Dawg fans of all ages.
Today, we remember a great Mississipian and former Bulldog head coach who took over at State in 1973.
100 Day Bulldog Countdown: 73 Days – Remembering former MSU coach Bob Tyler
A native of Water Valley, one would be hard-pressed to find a man with more pride in the state of Mississippi than coach Tyler. He loved a lot of the same, simple things in life that Mississipians take the most pride in like enjoying the outdoors and telling a story and he did both well.
But what Tyler had the most passion in was football. Tyler starred for the Water Valley football team until his father died his junior season and he dropped out of school. Upon returning, Tyler was ineligible for his senior season, but he would get his first taste of coaching as the staff allowed him to coach the Junior Varsity team.
He started his coaching career, officially, after getting his college degree at Ole Miss and then spending three years in the Army. He would coach high school football across the state for a decade with stops at his Alma Mater Water Valley, Oklolona, Senatobia and Corinth before he took over as head coach at Meridian in 1966. With the Wildcats, Tyler had two dominant seasons in which his 1966 and ’67 teams went 38-0-1 and won two Big Eight state titles against Biloxi and Provine respectively.
For the next four years, Tyler had a chance to learn under two of the greatest coaches in college football history as he coached wide receivers for Johnny Vaught at Ole Miss and Bear Bryant at Alabama. Those stints would earn him a position for Charlie Shira at MSU as his offensive coordinator and that was Tyler’s big break.
Following a six-year tenure by Shira that could be termed as quite unsuccessful, Tyler took over a job that hadn’t had much success for nearly 30 years. The Bulldogs had seemingly been cursed after the firing of Allyn McKeen in 1948 and had produced just seven winning seasons in 25 years before Tyler arrived but he would start to broker some change in Starkville.
After a 4-5 season in 1973, Tyler brought the team a 9-3 season and top 20 finish in 1974 with a win over Ole Miss for the first time since 1970 as the Bulldogs took three years of frustrations out on the Rebels with a 31-13 win. Coaching SEC Player of the Year and future coach Rockey Felker, Tyler delivered the program its first bowl game in 11 seasons when they knocked off North Carolina State in the Sun Bowl.
Tyler would lead State to three wins over the Rebels in a four-year run as well as two nine-win seasons. It was only the third time in State history that the Bulldogs had won nine or more games and Tyler had done it in his first four years on campus.
Unfortunately, the NCAA found the Bulldogs had committed NCAA violations and would force the Bulldogs to vacate all of their wins from 1975-77. Had the wins not been vacated, Tyler would have been one of State’s winningest coaches at the time at 39-25 and he did it while also being the school’s Athletic Director.
Tyler went on to coach at North Texas in 1981 followed by two seasons at Northwest Community College and a year at Oxford before stepping away from the game for several years. He came back in 2000 and coaches Millsaps for three seasons before retiring for good. Tyler would live a long and enjoyable life with his family in Mississippi. He would ultimately end his race on earth this April when he passed away at the age of 91.
While the memories of Tyler might get lost in his record after NCAA sanctions, his impact at MSU and beyond can’t be understated. All across the state, there are plenty of people that will be glad to share the impact that Tyler made on their lives. His legacy will continue to live on through the generations.
