Hughes Returns To Mississippi State

STARKVILLE, Miss. (MSU Athletics) — Tony Hughes, a veteran coach and heralded recruiter with three decades of experience in his home state of Mississippi, has been hired as an assistant football coach at Mississippi State, head coach Joe Moorhead announced on Wednesday morning.

“Very
few coaches understand the landscape of football in the state of
Mississippi better than Tony Hughes,” Moorhead said. “Tony has recruited
some of the greatest players in Mississippi State
history who have gone on to NFL success. He is an experienced SEC coach
and has a genuine ability to connect with his players. More
importantly, anyone who knows Tony, knows the type of gentleman and
mentor he is. He possesses a track record of developing
players into men and preparing them for life after football. We are
thrilled to welcome Tony and his family back to Starkville.”

Hughes
returns for his second stint in Starkville, where he spent seven
seasons from 2009-15 with the Bulldogs coaching safeties and as
recruiting coordinator. He also served as assistant head
coach for three of those seasons beginning in the spring of 2013.

“I
am extremely appreciative of Coach Moorhead for giving me the
opportunity to work at Mississippi State again,” Hughes said.
“Mississippi State means a lot to my family, and we are excited
to be a part of a great football staff and a terrific athletic
department. I can’t wait to get started.”

The
longtime Mississippian recently spent the last two-plus seasons in
Jackson, Mississippi, as head coach at Jackson State University.

Hughes
has a reputation as being one of the top recruiters in college football
on an annual basis. In 2015, 247Sports.com tabbed him as one of
America’s top 10 recruiters after the Bulldogs hauled
in one of the nation’s top 16 classes.

According
to Rivals.com, the 22 National Letters of Intent MSU received on
National Signing Day in 2015 made up the Bulldogs’ best class since
2003. MSU hauled in five of Mississippi’s top six
players, including No. 1 (safety Jamal Peters of Bassfield) and No. 2
(linebacker Leo Lewis of Brookhaven). Fifteen of the Bulldogs’ signees
hailed from the state of Mississippi.

A
teacher and mentor to his student-athletes, Hughes has excelled at
identifying players in the state of Mississippi that leave MSU as
five-star NFL prospects.

During
his seven seasons at MSU, Hughes recruited and helped tutor some of the
program’s most storied players turned NFL stars including 2012
first-round draft pick defensive tackle Fletcher
Cox – an eventual Super Bowl Champion and three-time Pro Bowl selection
– as well as second-round draft selections defensive end Chris Jones
and 2017 Pro Bowl defensive back Darius Slay, along with 2012 Jim Thorpe
Award winner Johnthan Banks and first-team
All-American Benardrick McKinney. McKinney was once a two-star high
school quarterback in Tunica, Mississippi, before being drafted by the
Houston Texans in 2015. Hughes also recruited Gabe Jackson, one of the
elite offensive linemen in MSU history from 2010-13
and now starting right guard for the Oakland Raiders.

With
Hughes on the coaching staff, the Bulldogs had unprecedented success in
2014 when they claimed 10 regular-season wins for the first time in
school history and reached their first Orange
Bowl since 1941. It was a season of firsts for the program, which spent
five consecutive weeks atop the polls and closed the year with its
highest Associated Press poll finish since 1940 at No. 11.

State’s
defense was dominant during the historic 2014 season, producing the top
ranked red-zone defense and ninth-ranked scoring defense in the
country. Following that season, two of Hughes’
safeties signed NFL free agent contracts, including his son, Jay who
was a team captain.

In
2013, Hughes’ safeties unit helped the Bulldogs rank among the SEC’s
top five in a number of categories, including fourth in total defense
(349.3 yards per game) and fifth in passing defense
(205.2 yards per game). MSU also held its final three opponents to just
11.3 points per game.

Hughes
first joined the Bulldogs in 2009 after spending one season at Southern
Miss, where he coached the secondary. Before that, he coached for three
seasons at Ole Miss. Named one of the top
25 college football recruiters in the nation by Rivals.com in the
spring of 2006, Hughes’ first two years were spent tutoring the
defensive backs with his final season in Oxford spent working with the
tight ends.

Prior
to a two-season tenure at Louisiana Tech, Hughes spent the previous 10
years on the coaching staff at Hinds Community College in Raymond,
Mississippi, where he served as the defensive coordinator
for one year and the secondary coach during his first nine seasons. He
coached eight players who later went on to the NFL, including former MSU
standout Fred Smoot.

Before
working at Hinds, Hughes’ first college stop as a full-time collegiate
coach was a two-year stay at West Alabama, where he was the secondary
coach in 1992 and 1993. Hughes coached for
seven years in the Mississippi high school ranks, serving as the
offensive coordinator and running backs coach at Hattiesburg High School
from 1988-1991. Hughes also spent two seasons as the defensive
secondary coach and boys track coach at South Natchez High
School in 1986 and 1987. His first high school coaching job came at
Philadelphia High School in 1985.

After
serving in the United States Marine Corps from 1981-84 and receiving an
honorable discharge, he began his coaching career as a graduate
assistant at Southern Miss in 1984, working with
the defensive backs.

Hughes,
who played football and ran track at Forest High School (1974-76) and
played defensive back at St. Paul’s College (1976-77), was a defensive
back for Southern Miss in 1977 and 1978. He
earned his bachelor of arts’ degree in sociology from there in 1980. He
is an active member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, serving as
a member of the Mississippi FCA State Board of Directors in 1999,
president of the Mississippi FCA Coaches Council
in 1998 and vice-president of the Mississippi FCA Coaches Council in
1997.

Hughes is married to the former Marion McCaleb of Meridian, Mississippi, and the couple has two sons, Jamison and Jay.

Coaching Experience

2018-present: Mississippi State (Assistant Coach)

2016-18: Jackson State (Head Coach)

2009-15: Mississippi State (Assistant Head Coach/Safeties/Recruiting Coordinator)

2008: Southern Miss (Secondary)

2007: Ole Miss (Tight Ends)

2005-06: Ole Miss (Defensive Backs)

2004: Louisiana Tech (Outside Linebackers)

2003: Louisiana Tech (Defensive Backs)

2002: Hinds Community College (Defensive Coordinator)

1994-2001: Hinds Community College (Secondary)

1992-93: West Alabama (Secondary)

1988-91: Hattiesburg High (Offensive Coordinator)

1986-87: South Natchez (Secondary)

1985: Philadelphia (Miss.) High School

Bowl Games as a Coach

2014: Orange Bowl (MSU)

2013: Liberty Bowl (MSU)

2013: Gator (MSU)

2011: Music City (MSU)

2011: Gator (MSU)

2008: New Orleans (Southern Miss)

Personal Information

Birthdate: May 22, 1959

Hometown: Forest, Miss.

Education:
1980 – Bachelor’s in Sociology from Southern Miss; 1985 – Certificate
of Education in Social Studies from Southern Miss

Wife: Marion

Children: Jamison and Jay