Jeff Lebby is bringing in an offensive mind with head coaching experience to lead his wide receivers room at Mississippi State.
The Bulldogs are finalizing a deal with Philip Montgomery, who was most recently the offensive coordinator turned interim frontman at Virginia Tech, a source tells SuperTalk Mississippi News. Montgomery was tasked with temporarily running the Hokies’ program after Brent Pry’s firing last September.
Before his one season in the ACC, he spent the 2023-24 campaign as Hugh Freeze’s offensive coordinator at Auburn before becoming the XFL Birmingham Stallions’ co-offensive coordinator in 2025. Prior to that, he was Tulsa’s head coach for eight seasons and led the Hurricanes to four postseason matchups — one of which was a 28-26 Armed Forces Bowl loss to Mississippi State in 2020, a game that ended in a massive brawl.
Montgomery will take over a position formerly held by Chad Bumphis, who was let go from the program early in the offseason. Bumphis, a former Bulldog football great, has since returned to Utah, where he coached wideouts before being hired by his alma mater.
As for Montgomery, the new wideouts coach will inherit a wideouts room headlined by Anthony Evans III. Last season, Evans logged 831 receiving yards and four touchdowns on 67 receptions, and is expected to be an asset for promising sophomore quarterback Kamario Taylor. The Bulldogs will look to right the ship after two sub-.500 seasons under Lebby’s leadership.
Mississippi State will kick off the 2026-27 campaign at home versus Louisiana-Monroe on Sept. 5.
