After a month of changes to the Bulldog coaching staff, the final piece has been added to the puzzle.
Former Oklahoma defensive line coach Chris Wilson was introduced Saturday as the defensive line coach/ co-defensive coordinator for Dan Mullen’s Bulldogs. Wilson replaces David Turner, who left to take a job on the University of Kentucky staff.
Mullen said he was impressed with the resume Wilson has put together in his 15-year coaching career which most recently has had stops at Army, Colorado and Oklahoma.
“[Wilson] made a great impression on me as a guy that is a proven recruiter, a proven coach, and has also been part of a coaching staff [Oklahoma] that has been one of the most successful coaching staffs over the last 10 years,” Mullen said.
Wilson believes MSU is only in the beginning stages of becoming a powerful program, and said he wants to be a part of building something special.
“There is a lot of excitement around this place,” Wilson said. “I want to be a part of it, and build something from the ground up. That’s kinda what you see here, the start of something that will last a long time.”
With Wilson on the staff, Bulldog coaches will now have plenty of rings to show off when they meet with recruits. Mullen has two national championship rings from his time at Florida, and Wilson was part of a coaching staff which won three consecutive Big 12 championships from 2006-2008. New defensive coordinator Manny Diaz also won a national championship as a Graduate Assistant at Florida State in 2000.
“Obviously, we hope to add to the rings he [Mullen] has,” Wilson said.
Wilson said he hopes to not only confuse opposing offenses with halftime adjustments, but also with adjustments in the middle of a series.
“We want to play smart, anytime people send our tape out they look at Mississippi State and say ‘these guys play smart, they’ve got answers,'” Wilson said. “I don’t mean answers at halftime; I mean answers during the middle of a series.”
As national signing day gets closer, Wilson echoed what Mullen has been saying since he first arrived in Starkville: Get the best players in Mississippi.
When asked about his goal in recruiting, he said, “Signing every top player in the State of Mississippi. Period.”
“If we can lock up our state we’ve got a chance to play with anybody in our conference, anybody in the country,” Wilson said.
Mullen looked at the National Championship game between Texas and Alabama as an example of what happens when a program can recruit all of the talent in their home state.
“When you look at recruiting, you look at a lot of the top players in the state of Alabama are committed to the University of Alabama, and they do a good job of doing that,” Mullen said. “A lot of top players in the state of Texas are committed to Texas, and then people wonder why those two teams are playing for the national championship.”
Mullen said he believes the same thing could happen in the Magnolia State.
“If we get all the top players in the state of Mississippi to come play for us, there’s not a whole lot of difference in talent level between us and those players. We just need them all to come to the same school, bond together, represent the state of Mississippi and go win a championship for us.”
So far the emphasis on Mississippi recruiting has paid off for Mullen and Wilson, as five of The Clarion Ledger’s “Dandy Dozen” players have committed to the Bulldogs.
With Mullen, Diaz and Wilson on the staff, under the new regime, the bulldogs are firmly headed in a positive direction both on and off the field.