Football
- Title:
- Assistant Football Coach (Offensive Line/Run Game Coordinator)
- Phone:
- 325-3470
Mason Miller served as Mississippi State's offensive line coach/run game coordinator in 2022 after two seasons as offensive line coach. He joined the Bulldogs as offensive line coach on February 4, 2020, following the hiring of head coach Mike Leach.
Miller came to Starkville after two seasons at Washington State (2018-19) as the offensive line coach. No stranger to the Air Raid system, Miller has spent the majority of his career coaching in that style of offense, working with both Leach and Hal Mumme, two of the Air Raid’s architects.
Miller, who has coached at all three levels of the NCAA, has been a key part in establishing lethal offenses wherever he goes. With stops at Southeastern Louisiana, New Mexico State, McMurry and Tarleton State, Miller’s offenses have set a bevy of school records and ranked in the top five in the nation in multiple offensive categories.
At Mississippi State, Miller coached left tackle Charles Cross for two seasons before Cross was selected No. 9 overall by the Seattle Seahawks in the 2022 NFL Draft. Cross earned both first team All-America and first team All-SEC honors during his final season in Starkville. He was the SEC's top pass-blocker with an 84.9 grade from PFF and did not allow a sack on the year. After Cross was drafted ninth overall, Leach and Miller became one of three head coach and offensive line coach tandems with a first-round offensive lineman selected in two of the last four NFL Drafts. Another offensive lineman coached by Miller drafted by the Seahawks in 2022 was third-round selection Abe Lucas, who played under Miller at Washington State. Cross and Lucas were the Seahawks starters at the tackle positions during the 2022 season.Â
Over Miller's second and third seasons with the Bulldogs, his unit ranked No. 2 in the SEC and No. 15 in the FBS in offensive line efficiency, according to Coaches by the Numbers. MSU led the SEC and ranked No. 3 in the FBS in lowest percentage of tackles for loss allowed during that span.Â
Miller’s offensive line unit allowed the fewest sacks in the Pac-12 during each of his two seasons at Washington State (20 in 2019, 13 in 2018). Under Miller’s guidance in 2019, sophomore offensive tackle Abe Lucas earned All-Pac-12 second team honors and finished as the third-highest graded offensive lineman in the conference at 84.5 according to Pro Football Focus. Offensive guard Josh Watson also earned postseason honors as an All-Pac-12 honorable mention.
Miller's offensive line blocked for Will Rogers to lead the SEC in passing yards per game in 2021 and then again in 2022.Â
MSU center LaQuinston Sharp earned SEC Offensive Lineman of the Week honors three times during the 2022 season. Sharp became the fourth Bulldog offensive lineman in school history to earn that honor at least three times in one season.Â
Miller’s unit protected college football’s top passing attack in consecutive seasons as the Cougars led the nation in passing offense, averaging 437.2 yards per game. Quarterback Anthony Gordon averaged an FBS-best 429.2 passing yards per game in 2019 after Gardner Minshew II was tops nationally in 2018 with an average of 367.6 passing yards per game. The Cougars allowed only 20 sacks in 2019 and just 13 in 2018.
In his first season with Cougars, Miller’s group developed into one of the nation’s best offensive lines and was named one of 10 semifinalists for the Joe Moore Award, given to the nation’s best offensive line. In addition, three of his players earned All-Pac-12 honors. Left tackle Andre Dillard led the way earning All-Pac-12 first-team honors, and was later named to the All-America second team by SI.com. He was rated the top pass-blocking tackle in the country by PFF and was a first-round pick by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2019 NFL Draft. Dillard became the highest drafted Cougar offensive lineman in program history. Right tackle Lucas was named to the All-Pac-12 second team and later earned Freshman All-America honors by USA Today and The Athletic, while center Frederick Mauigoa earned All-Pac-12 honorable mention.
Prior to his time with the Cougars, Miller spent one year (2017) as Nevada’s offensive line coach under first-year coach Jay Norvell.
During Miller’s time at Tarleton State (2014-16), he engineered the program’s high powered offense into one of the nation’s best. In 2014, Tarleton State ranked third nationally in total offense, averaging 534 yards per game and put up 43 points per game. The same continued in 2015 with one of the highest powered offenses in the country, averaging nearly 40 points per game.
Prior to Tarleton State, Miller served as the head coach at McMurry for the 2013 season. While leading the War Hawks, the offense set school records in multiple categories including total yards (5,775), yards per game (523.1) and most points scored (424). Before his promotion to head coach, Miller was an assistant coach for the War Hawks for four seasons (2009-12). He had been an integral part of three consecutive winning seasons at McMurry, something that had happened just six other times in the university’s 87-year football history. In his four seasons as an assistant coach, the War Hawks averaged 416.0 yards per game of total offense with more than 346.0 passing yards per game. Miller began as the War Hawks’ assistant head coach and offensive line coach and was promoted to offensive coordinator after the departure of Matt Mumme following the 2010 season. Miller also served as McMurry’s recruiting coordinator.
The 2012 campaign, which was McMurry’s first at the NCAA Division II level, saw the War Hawk offense average more than 433.0 yards per game in total offense and 367.0 yards per game via the passing game. Quarterback Jake Mullin became just the 59th player in NCAA history – at any level – to pass for both 10,000 yards and 100 touchdowns in a career, leading the team to its first bowl appearance and first bowl win in 63 years.
In 2011, Miller’s first as offensive coordinator, he orchestrated an offense that ranked 18th in the nation and second in the American Southwest Conference in scoring offense at 37.7 points per game. Eight of his 2011 players were named to the All-ASC team on offense. McMurry set the NCAA Division III single game total offense record with 863 yards against Texas Lutheran. In 2010, Miller’s offensive line paved the way for the second-best passing offense in both the ASC and NCAA Division III.
Miller played running back at Valdosta State for two seasons (1994-95) under Leach, who was offensive coordinator at the time. Miller was a member of the NCAA Division II team that made the national playoffs for the first time in school history. He stayed on at Valdosta State as a student assistant after suffering a career-ending knee injury. Miller was a part of the staff that led VSU to a 1996 Gulf South Conference Championship.
Following a two-year stint coaching Valwood High School (1998-99) in Valdosta, Georgia, Miller returned to the collegiate ranks at Washington and Lee University, serving as the wide receivers coach. He then reunited with his old college football coach and helped Hal Mumme start the Southeastern Louisiana University football program from scratch. Miller coached the running backs in 2003 and moved to coach the offensive line in 2004 and helped SLU lead the nation in total offense.
Mumme took Miller with him to New Mexico State (2005-08) in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Miller worked with the Aggies’ offensive line all four years and an offense that ranked third in the nation in total offense. He coached four all-conference linemen at NMSU including Nick Cole, who played in the NFL for the Philadelphia Eagles. Miller was promoted to assistant head coach prior to the 2008 season with the Aggies.
Miller graduated from Valdosta State with a bachelor’s degree in history in 1999.
He and his wife, Megan, have two daughters, Madison and Mallory.
Hometown:Â Marietta, Ga.
Education:Â Valdosta State, 1999 (B.A., History)
Wife:Â Megan
Children:Â Madison, Mallory
Birthday:Â July 23, 1975
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2020-21: Mississippi State (Offensive Line)
2018-19: Washington State (Offensive Line)
2017: Nevada (Offensive Line)
2014-16: Tarleton State (Associate Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator)
2013: McMurry (Head Coach)
2009-12: McMurry (Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line)
2007-08: New Mexico State (Associate Head Coach)
2005-06: New Mexico State (Offensive Line)
2004: Southeastern Louisiana (Offensive Line)
2003: Southeastern Louisiana (Running Backs)
2000: Washington and Lee (Wide Receivers)
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2021 Liberty Bowl (Mississippi State)Â
2020 Armed Forces Bowl (Mississippi State)Â
2019 Cheez-It Bowl (Washington State)
2018 Alamo Bowl (Washington State)
2012 NCAA DII Heart of Texas Bowl (McMurry)
2011 NCAA DIII Playoffs First, Second Round (McMurry)
