100 Day Bulldog Countdown: 33 Days – Here Comes the Kang     

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 look back 33 years to the start of an era that would change State football history.

100 Day Bulldog Countdown: 33 Days – Here Comes the Kang     

When the decade of the 1990’s hit, MSU had one of the most frustrated fanbases in college football. It happened long before the 90s came around, but MSU fans had suffered for decades as a losing program.

From the time of its only Southeastern Conference title in 1941 and the firing of head coach Allyn McKeen in ’48, MSU had produced 12 winning seasons in 43 years under nine different coaches and had been to four bowl games.

In the nine years prior to 1991, MSU had just one winning season under Emory Bellard and Rockey Felker. Director of Athletic Larry Templeton needed something to revive the fanbase and to once and for all end the losing culture that MSU had built for nearly half of a century.

There wasn’t much to lose for Templeton or his pending hire that was on the way. Jackie Sherrill had resigned after seven years at Texas A&M following NCAA probation on his program in 1988 and his 7-5 record after three-straight Cotton Bowls didn’t help matters.

Sherrill was a known commodity in college football. He went 50-9 at Pittsburgh from 1979-81 and coached legendary quarterback Dan Marino along the way. At A&M, he took a five-win team in 1982 and turned the Aggies into three-time Southwest Conference champions with two 10-win seasons. Sherrill was used to bringing teams out of the wilderness and he was going to do the same in Starkville.

1991 was the year of rejuvenation for the Bulldogs. Sherrill came in rejuvenated himself after two years sitting at home.

The Bulldogs blew the doors off of Cal State Fullerton in week one, but they were going to be tested in a major way with No. 13 Texas in week two. Sherrill had plenty of experience dealing with the Longhorns. Where he came from a couple of years prior, beating that team meant more to people than anyone else on the schedule.

That mindset seemed to carry over to Starkville as Sherrill was ready to bury the ‘Horns again. Or, in this particular case, castrate them. The literal term wasn’t put into effect until the 1992 season during game week in the rematch against Texas, but the Bulldogs were obliged to take care of business in ’91, too.

It was a marquee game that the Bulldog fans weren’t used to having, or at least feeling optimistic about going in. State’s defense held its own against the Southwest Conference powerhouse and won a 13-6 ball game to open the season 2-0 and jump into the top 25. The Bulldogs finished the year with wins over Kentucky, Auburn, LSU and Ole Miss as they went 7-5 and 4-3 in SEC play. Three of the five losses came against top 15 teams with a loss in the Liberty Bowl against Air Force.

1991 brought an All-American in defensive lineman Nate Williams and linebacker Keo Coleman and offensive tackle John James were first-team All-SEC with linebacker Daniel Boyd earning second team honors.

Coleman would go on to be drafted in the fourth round by the New York Jets and Williams in the eighth round by the Steelers.

For Sherrill, that was only the beginning. The coach had seven winning seasons in his 13 years and, though he was just .500 for his career, he changed the culture in Starkville. Fans began feeling they could win again and could win big as the program won the SEC West in 1998 and had its first 10-win season since 1940 and just the second ever when they went 10-2 in 1999.

Sherrill went to six bowl games in his career, equaling the total number that MSU had accomplished in its entire history leading up to his arrival. His 59 wins in the 90s helped that decade become the winningest in school history until Dan Mullen arrived. Since 2010, MSU has been to 13 bowl games and won 96 games.

The records and accomplishments have mostly been passed over the years, but Sherrill will always be known as the Kang in Starkville. For every person that told him he couldn’t win in Starkville, he told them to watch and learn.