Track & Field
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- jlg30@msstate.edu
Entering his eighth season assisting with the MSU track and field program is Joe Gant. Gant, a former two-year letterwinner on the Bulldog track squad in 1974 and 1975, works daily with the vertical jumps. The Vaiden, Miss.native came to State in 1974 after a two-year stint in the junior college ranks in Mississippi. He turned in a personal best 15 feet, six inches in the pole vault competition and placed second in the Southeastern Conference decathlon with 7,041 points. His total in the event is a school record (old javelin).
After his collegiate days, Gant remained in the state of Mississippi in the high school football ranks at Weir High School in Choctaw County, Miss. While at WHS, Gant led the Lions to five Class 1A State Championships. His quintet of state titles is second all time in the Mississippi High School Athletic Association's coaching laurels. He is the only coach in Mississippi to have won that many at one school.
His nephew, Jamie Gant, played two seasons for the MSU Diamond Dogs from 2003-04.
