HAILSTATEBEAT: Fitzgerald Takes Over As Leader During Coaching Transition

The gap barely stretched 48 hours of real time, but from Sunday night to Wednesday morning, Mississippi State's old football coach was gone and its new one had yet to be identified. The coaching vacuum was impressively brief, but when the Bulldogs lost the man who had led their program the last nine years – plus several of the people who helped him do it – it seemed for a moment that they might not know who they were anymore.

They were 8-4. They were No. 23 in the College Football Playoff rankings. They were going to a bowl game. But who was their leader? What was their identity? What was going to happen to them next? Was everything they had worked for about to fall apart?

If there was panic at all in the locker room, it didn't last long. Had this happened to last year's team, perhaps things would have gone differently, but in 2017, MSU had figured out who it was, and the leaders of the team weren't about to let one person leaving change that.

At 5:45 Sunday afternoon, junior quarterback Nick Fitzgerald took to Twitter to let everyone – teammates and fans alike – know exactly where his team stood.

"Thank you coach Mullen for building this program into what it is today," his tweet began. "But a program is bigger than 1 person! We pride ourselves on our ability to always give relentless effort and I am very excited to be able to lead this team to a new level next season! #HaiIState"

Behind the scenes, Fitzgerald was repeating the message to his teammates, joining other team leaders in helping to ensure that morale and expectations both remained high. Fitzgerald said he knew there was an onus on the team leadership to keep things moving in the right direction, and his challenge to his teammates was simple.

"With Coach Mullen leaving and him bringing other guys with him, it leaves a lot of holes in the coaching staff, but all of us players are still here, we're all the same people," Fitzgerald said Tuesday night. "From a player standpoint, you know have to be a voice. Someone has to step up. Someone has to kind of rally the troops, keep everyone calm and make sure we all realize that coaches weren't the ones making the plays on the field. We were doing that. We're coming back. We're going to be just fine."

Sophomore defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons, one of the more vocal leaders in the locker room, shared a similar message when he followed Fitzgerald's Sunday tweet with one of his own exhorting his teammates.

"We will be alright I promise you that," he tweeted. "Our goal is to take one day at a time. No matter what may happen, nothing will break this team! We all we got we all we need! HaiIState Finish"

Fitzgerald, in his new role as acting figurehead for the program, even went so far as to reach out to MSU's current recruits, knowing that a change at head coach could be a worrisome thought for many who already committed to play at State.

Tweeted Fitzgerald, "#stateteam18 Y'all didn't commit to a coach.. you committed to a program, to a family! Coaches didn't make those throws, catches, tackles, etc.. The real Miss State team is still here in stark and we about to do something special! Come be a real part of it!"

The point, Fitzgerald said, was to make sure that recruits and commits don't freak out over something that only ended up lasting about two days. Fitzgerald knows how good MSU can be in 2018, his senior year, regardless of who is on the sideline, and he wanted to share that message with those who aren't yet on campus.

"For the recruits coming in, my tweet was saying, hey, just because a coach leaves, doesn't mean anything about the program changes," Fitzgerald said. "The team is still coming back. We're still going to have 18-20 starters returning. We're going to be fine. Just because a coach leaves doesn't change the fact that the players are here, we're ready to play and we're still going to have a good season. That can impact them. The rest of the program is the same. We're ready to rock, so y'all just come be a part of it."

And now, the gap has been bridged. Reports leaked late Tuesday night, and on Wednesday morning Mississippi State announced Joe Moorhead as its 33^rd head football coach. And as luck would have it for MSU's dual-threat quarterback, his new coach happens to be one of the smartest and most creative offensive minds in the country. And his specialty: the spread.

"Couldn't be more excited!" Fitzgerald tweeted. "Welcome to the family!"

Mississippi State University Athletics

HAILSTATEBEAT: Fitzgerald Takes Over As Leader During Coaching Transition

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