Some of the greatest moments in the life of a Mississippi State fan have a common sound in the background. The voice of Jack Cristil is often as memorable as the game he describes.
This was no different for a young Rockey Felker, who spent his Saturdays listening to the radio broadcasts of MSU football games with his father.
“Somewhere around third or fourth grade, I remember sitting with my dad listening to a game on the radio, and it clicked with me then that he was a big MSU fan and that was who I was supposed to like,” Felker said.
Those are the memories that started Felker on a lifetime journey as a Bulldog no matter where he went. The next phase of football for Felker was the high school variety. He lettered in five sports at Brownsville High School in his hometown of Jackson, Tenn. His father Edwin “Babe” Felker was an assistant coach for the football team and saw his son garner all-state honors on the gridiron.
After his senior season, Felker had plenty of options but always felt a certain pull to one place.
“I was looking at Alabama, Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss and Mississippi State,” he said. “I visited around, but I think in my heart, I could always see myself playing at Mississippi State. It really wasn’t a hard decision; it was where I felt most comfortable. It was like a home away from home, the people then were the same way they are now 30 years later. It’s still a friendly place for a person out of high school leaving home for the first time to feel comfortable.”
The Dawgs struggled in Felker’s first few seasons, but in his senior year of 1974, things finally came together. That season he led his team to a 9-3 record including a win in the Sun Bowl over North Carolina. Felker led the SEC in total yards and was named the Nashville BannerSEC Player of the Year.
After his senior year it was decision time for Felker once again. He was drafted in the 10th round of the 1975 NFL draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. Felker gave the NFL some thought but knew he had other aspirations.
“I was a business major; my dad was a high school coach and didn’t want me to be an education major,” Felker said. “After being around college football, I knew that being a coach was what I wanted to do. I was fortunate enough to start out at Mississippi State that next season as an extra coach on the staff.”
Felker spent his next four seasons on the staff at MSU coaching receivers and running backs. He would spend the next seven seasons away from Starkville, coaching at Texas Tech, Memphis State and Alabama.
It was in 1986 that Felker got the call he had always been waiting for: The Bulldogs wanted their former quarterback to become the 29th head coach in the program’s history. Felker cherished the long-awaited opportunity.
“It was a dream come true,” he said. “It’s something I thought about a lot.”
After five seasons as the head coach in Starkville, Felker felt the pressure to move on and went on to become the offensive coordinator at the University of Tulsa. From Tulsa he went to Arkansas then back to Tulsa for another stint as offensive coordinator. Felker was happy in Oklahoma but deep down, he couldn’t forget his roots that were deep in Maroon and White.
“The longer I was out in Oklahoma, the years of disappointment as head coach grew less and less and I didn’t think about it as much,” Felker said. “The thought of coming back just got stronger as time went on. When the opportunity came it was something that we really wanted to do. I was thankful and very excited for the opportunity to get to come back.”
Since returning in 2002, Felker has fulfilled just about every role imaginable as a member of the Bulldog’s staff. To call him important to the success of the program is an understatement, according to athletic director Scott Stricklin.
“He’s a big part of our history as a player and a coach,” Stricklin said. “You walk in a room with Rockey Felker and he’s always the most popular guy in the room. Mississippi State people love him, and are very comfortable around him. He never meets a stranger.”
Stricklin said Felker was particularly invaluable when the Dawgs were searching for a new football coach after the 2008 season.
“When we were between Sylvester [Croom] and Dan [Mullen], Rockey ran the football program at the time,” Stricklin said. “He was basically in charge of the day-to-day recruiting and making sure the program was being run in the right direction. How awesome is it to have a guy with his experience that you can put in that situation during those kinds of periods.”
Praise of Felker’s work in the athletic department wasn’t limited to Stricklin, as Mullen also thinks highly of the former quarterback.
“It’s hard to find somebody that loves Mississippi State more than Rockey Felker,” Mullen said. “He’s a tremendous asset to have in our athletic department in all the different ways that he helps us.”
After all the years that Felker has been associated with MSU, he only has one wish for the future.
“I can only hope that others can have the same wonderful experience with Mississippi State that I have had,” Felker said.

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