Starkville - Mississippi State has announced the hiring of Anthony Tucker as the team's running backs coach.
Tucker comes from Indiana where he spent the 2023 season as the co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach. He previously served as the offensive coordinator at Utah State from 2021-22, and worked with newly hired head coach Jeff Lebby at UCF.
Tucker, a former Fresno State wide receiver who spent four seasons in the NFL from 1999-2002, has been coaching college football since 2010. He started out as an offensive assistant at Colorado before spending two seasons as the wide receivers coach at Idaho State from 2011-12.
In 2013, Tucker got his first on-field role at the FBS level as the running backs coach at Arkansas State under Bryan Harsin. The Red Wolves surpassed 2,000 rushing yards all three seasons under Tucker, with back-to-back 1,000 yard seasons from Michael Gordon.
Tucker became the running backs coach at Maryland under D.J. Durkin in 2016, where he produced another 1,000 yard rusher in Ty Johnson as the Terrapins surpassed 2,500 yards as a team.
In 2018, he joined Josh Heupel's staff at UCF alongside Lebby, where the Knights went 12-1 and picked up over 3,000 rushing yards in his first season. In 2019, UCF finished with a 10-3 record and were fifth in the nation with 43.4 points per game, picking up over 2,900 yards on the ground. The 2020 UCF ranked 8th nationally with 42.2 points per game and rushed for over 2,700 yards.
Tucker became the offensive coordinator at Utah State under Blake Anderson in 2021, helping lead the Aggies to a 11-3 record, a Mountain West Championship and #24 finish in the AP Poll. Utah State averaged 32.6 points per game that season behind 3,628 passing yards and 36 touchdowns from Logan Bonner. In 2022, Utah State finished with a 6-7 record and averaged 22.2 points per game.
During the 2023 season at Indiana, the Hoosiers finished averaging 22.2 points per game. Tucker helped convert quarterback Donaven McCulley into the team's leading wide receiver with 48 receptions for 644 yards and six touchdowns.
Rounding out Lebby's offensive staff is offensive coach Cody Kennedy, quarterbacks coach Matt Holecek and tight ends coach Jon Cooper to go along with wide receivers coach Chad Bumphis who was retained from the previous staff. On the defensive side, retaining defensive line coach David Turner has been the only move.
--------------------------------------------------------------
- Follow Bulldog Blitz on Twitter!
- Follow Bulldog Blitz on Instagram!
