Sources: Mississippi State is finalizing a deal to make longtime coach Philip Montgomery the new wide receivers coach and associate head coach for offense. He brings extensive experience with MSU HC Jeff Lebby from their time at Baylor. pic.twitter.com/HL8WwCY3kN— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) March 3, 2026
Glad Monty is getting picked up. He was put in a bad spot here and handled it as well as could be expected.
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Glad to see this. He is a class act
Monty did a lot with what he was dealt and always did it with poise. Wish he had been more consistent. Happy to see that he will be OK, other than moving multiple states away, which is always a PITA but comes with the territory.
Glad to hear he got another shot at coaching. He did the best with a terrible situation and kept the team together. Will always respect him for his time here,
I'm happy for him, but the way he held things down after Pry was fired, guy deserved the big whistle somewhere.
Good for him and I thought he would get a HC job at lower profile school. Maybe that's not his goal anymore and wants to stay in the P5. Either way, he did a bang up job with the situation he was handed after Pry was fired.
P4 Coordinator pays pretty well and has way less responsibilities so maybe he didnt want a HC job.
I'm not sure he had much demand at a lower level. He didn't win enough at Tulsa. He wasn't a great OC here or at Auburn (extenuating circumstances at both locations, sure). Hell, after auburn he took a job as a co-OC in the UFL.
Its interesting that there have been a number of people on Pry's staff hired while Fuente's weren't even though Fuente's teams had better results even at the end. It's one of those things that if some one could explain they'd make a lot of money hiring football coaches for a school.
Honestly not sure that Pry wouldn't still be head coach if he had made those moves two years ago instead of in the last year. I think the last crew was good, they just didn't get the time to fix the problems.
Probably because Fuente's dudes were weird dudes that didn't deserve to be coaching in the ACC or the P5. Maybe Vance Vice had the skills, but still a weird dude nonetheless.
Pry staff was also way better connected than Fuente's staff. Pry hired guys he had a connection to. Fuente hired guys who had been with him for years at different spots.
Who specifically? J-Ham, Lecht, Shibest, Ryan Smith, and Vice are all still coaching.
A major factor is that Pry is simply one of the worst in-game coaches we've ever seen at this level, good assistants or not.
Vice took a year off for his kids which was understandable so it was probably more perception, but then went to UNLV so that was a step back
Smith was the only coach to immediately get a p4 offer.
Ham was not working in 2022, amd then was a quality control coach in 2023, but is not in college coaching anymore.
Shibest didnt work in 2022 and then went to UNLV as the same position he was here
Letch went DII.
We now had Quinn land a DC at a FBS school after spending most of his career at FCS. He came to VT as a position coach and then went to a coordinator position which seems to be a promotion or lateral move at worst.
Montgomery went from p4 OC to p2 OC so he most likely got more money, though hebhas to live in Mississippi.
Chris Marve did take a year off but now is in an equal position.
Bowen left for a raise at OSU.
Mist of Prys staff worked immediately and left for equal position if not upgrades. Fuentes staff almost all took a year to find work(vice probably took it off to see kids graduate) and they had to take lower positions
J-Ham moved into NFL and presently is CB coach for the Patriots after a year at Titans and year at Colts moving back up the ranks.
Yes he is coaching but didnt immediately get a job and is having to work back up the ranks, while most of Pry's staff is better off this year than last.
small nit
He's associate head coach for offense and wide receivers coach. He's not a coordinator, playcaller, or even QB coach. He's most likely taking a paycut.
But otherwise I think your point stands
I missed that, but as Bowen showed us leaving a coordinator to become a position coach can get you paid better when it is going to a P2 school
I don't think there's many programs like that. Ohio State is inarguably a top five program, arguably the number one program in the country.
Mississippi State is probably the worst program in the SEC, and bottom five in the P2?
I see you your thought process, but to situations really aren't comparable in my opinion
Still good pay for a position coach at north of $500k
KY looks like worst pay and then USC. MSU is comparable to UT and Ole Miss for position coaches
Watch him end up being an interim head coach again
Exactly what I thought
Fantastic human being who was put in a really bad position. He held the team together and had them competing. I was proud that he was our Head Whistle during the "interim" period. It makes me happy to see him find a great landing spot!
Okay cool your jets. This dude was working closely with Art Briles at Baylor during the rape scandal and made a statement or two that was quite unbecoming of someone in his position.
Over the past year, he was a good servant leader to this team and this fanbase during an awkward transition period.
Let's not overstate it or conveniently ignore his connection to some very unsavory people and events.