A former FBS head coach is the newest addition to the defensive side of Dan Mullen‘s Mississippi State coaching staff.
MSU announced Thursday that Ron English has been hired by Mullen as the Bulldogs’ safeties coach. English replaces Maurice Linguist, who left Starkville to take the defensive backs job at Minnesota.
“We are fortunate to hire someone of Ron’s caliber as safeties coach,” Mullen said in a statement. “To bring someone to our staff who has served as an FBS head coach and been a successful defensive coordinator is a tremendous asset for our program. His knowledge of the game, especially in the secondary, will complement our staff. We are excited to welcome Ron and his family to Starkville.”
English spent the 2016 season as the defensive coordinator at San Jose State, his first coaching job in nearly three years following a controversial departure from his last one.
Eastern Michigan announced Nov. 8, 2013, one day before its game with in-state rival Western Michigan, that English had been fired as its head football coach. A day later, athlete director Heather Lyle alluded to a tape of English using “wholly inappropriate language” in a team meeting that had been brought to her attention and triggered the dismissal.
English subsequently apologized for losing his poise and using “homosexual slurs” in the meeting. In his mea culpa, English added that he was looking “forward to continuing a career that has been marked by molding men of integrity, passion, and intensity for 21 years.” That continuation didn’t come until mid-February 2016 when he was named the coordinator at SJSU.
Prior to his five-year stint at EMU, English was the defensive coordinator at Louisville (2008) and Michigan (2006-07).