Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 2011
Jackie Sherrill served as head football coach from 1991-2003.
Sherrill led the Bulldogs to six bowl games, more than any coach in program history at the time of his retirement. His 75 wins make him the winningest coach in program history.
Sherrill began his tenure at State with a 7-5 record and a Liberty Bowl appearance in 1991, the program’s first bowl game in nine seasons, with an upset of No. 13 Texas and a victory over Ole Miss in the first Egg Bowl played in Starkville since 1971.
The 1992 Bulldogs boasted another 7-5 record and finished the season ranked No. 23 in the AP Poll with a win over No. 13 Florida. In 1994, State put together its first eight-win campaign in 13 seasons and concluded the year ranked in the AP Poll.
In 1996, Sherrill led the Dawgs to an upset win over No. 8 Alabama and kicked off one of the greatest stretches State football has ever seen. The Bulldogs went 7-4 in 1997 with a road shutout of No. 11 Auburn.
The 1998 team is forever remembered as SEC Western Division champions. State boasted a conference record of 6-2, marking the program’s most SEC wins in a single season. Losing two of their first five conference games, the Bulldogs reeled off three-consecutive wins to claim the SEC West title, the most memorable being a 22-21 thriller over No. 8 Arkansas. MSU played eventual national champion Tennessee in the SEC Championship Game and Texas in the Cotton Bowl.
1999 marked the program’s second 10-win season. State began the year with an 8-0 record and rose as high as No. 8 in the AP Poll with comeback victories over LSU, Auburn and Kentucky. Sherrill’s squad concluded the regular season with a legendary fourth-quarter comeback win over Ole Miss, culminating with a win in the Peach Bowl to finish the year at 10-2. MSU’s final AP Poll ranking of No. 13 was the program’s highest since 1940.
State made its third-consecutive bowl game for the first time in program history in 2000 and finished with a record of 8-4. The Bulldogs notched back-to-back wins over ranked opponents No. 3 Florida and No. 15 Auburn before concluding the year with a memorable Independence Bowl triumph over Texas A&M, affectionately known as the “Snow Bowl.”
Sherrill’s nine wins over ranked opponents are a program record, and his teams finished ranked in the AP Poll four times – more than any coach in State football history.
He is a member of multiple halls of fame, including the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, the Texas A&M Athletics Hall of Fame, the Pittsburgh Athletics Hall of Fame, the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame, the Gator Bowl Hall of Fame and the Independence Bowl Hall of Fame.
