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Mississippi State set to hire longtime coach Mike MacIntyre to defensive staff

3rupauk8_400x400by:Robbie Faulk•about 9 hours•

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Mike MacIntyre (Photo by Nelson Chenault, USA Today Sports)

Another longtime defensive coach is joining Mississippi State’s staff as a Defensive Analyst.

Jeff Lebby is set to hire former collegiate head coach Mike MacIntyre as an analyst, news first reported by ESPN’s Pete Thamel. The report was confirmed through a State source. MacIntyre is expected to be in town this weekend to start his post with the Bulldogs.

MacIntyre is coming off of his third stint as a head coach with three years running Florida International’s program. The Panthers had three seasons of 4-8 and MacIntyre was let go after the season.

MacIntyre brings extensive experience to Bulldog defense

His first head coaching job came at San Jose State where he went from 1-12 in his first year to 10-2 by year three with a 5-1 mark in the Western Athletic Conference. That improvement pushed MacIntyre into a role as head coach of Colorado in 2013 and he was 30-44 in six years with a 10-4 record being his high point in 2016. MacIntyre led the Buffaloes to the Pac-12 Championship game that season and racked up Coach of the Year awards.

Outside of head coaching, MacIntyre’s work as a football coach is even more extensive. The former Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech defensive back started his coaching career as a Graduate Assistant at Georgia in 1990 and became a defensive coordinator in year three as a coach when he was hired at Davidson.

After spending a year in Germany coaching football as the head coach of the Plattling Black Hawks, MacIntyre came back over to the states and was DC for UT Martin from 1993-96 before going to Temple to coach their defense in the 1997 and ’98 seasons.

MacIntyre switched to the offensive side of the ball for two seasons when David Cutcliffe hired him to coach wide receivers in 1999 and he stayed with Cutcliffe for four seasons as he also coached defensive backs his last two years.

He would transition to the NFL for a few seasons after that when he was the Dallas Cowboys’ DB coach from 2003-06 and he coached the New York Jets DBs in 2007. Cutcliffe came calling against in 2008 and named MacIntyre his DC from 2008-09 and he would earn the AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year award in his first year as his Duke defense held opponents to under 10 points per game, the lowest such total since 1976.

After his time as head coach with San Jose State and Colorado, MacIntyre got back into being a DC when Ole Miss’ Matt Luke named him his coordinator in 2019. After inheriting a defense ranked in the 100s in most categories, MacIntyre improved the team’s total defense by 42 points and lowered the rushing total by 100 yards per game as Ole Miss was ranked 42nd nationally in defending the ground.

McIntyre spent 2020 and ’21 as the Memphis DC before getting back into head coaching with the Panthers.

This is the second former head coach hired to State’s defensive staff this spring. Earlier in the offseason, Lebby hired longtime DC and former Iowa State head coach Paul Rhodes as a Defensive Analyst as well. Both should be invaluable pieces for State as the Bulldogs try to restructure a defense ranked among the worst in the country a season ago.

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