Cowbell Corner Q&A Part 2: MSU D-line coach Jeff Phelps discusses Mike Leach and his Starkville-area roots

Earlier this week, Cowbell Corner caught up with Mississippi State defensive line coach Jeff Phelps. Here is the second part of that discussion, edited slightly for clarity. You can find the first part of the chat by CLICKING HERE.

Cowbell Corner: Overall, this defensive line coming into last year had lost a lot. Montez Sweat and Jefferey Simmons and more were gone. The group was a big question coming into last year. Do you feel like, given what you have, it could be a strength this year?

Phelps: It just shows the strength of the program. It shows the strength of the players that are here in the state of Mississippi and throughout the south that you can graduate and get guys drafted and go off and be professionals and it gives the next guys the chance to step in and now it’s their time. The previous coaching staff did a great job recruiting. The players did a great job of continuing to not look at is as rebuilding or, ‘Well we lost this guy and that guy’. It’s simply, ‘Now it’s my time to show why I came to Mississippi State.’ When you have that type of mentality and that type of attitude, you can see guys step in and have success as you have guys graduate and move on. Those guys that finished playing here, hat tip to them, because they showed how it is to be a Bulldog and what you’re supposed to do and how to conduct yourself and get yourself ready from year one to year two to year three and so forth so that you can continue that cycle of success even as people leave your program and you add new ones in.

Cowbell Corner: You’ve been with Coach Leach for a few years now. This has been asked to just about all of you at this point, but what’s it like to work for Coach Leach? What has been your experience with him?

Phelps: This is going on year four with me and the way I came in contact with Coach Leach was we played against each other in a bowl game. Of course you heard all the stories about him and things of that nature. You see him from afar and on the news and on ESPN and winning games at Texas Tech and winning games at Washington State. Then when you get a chance to get around him and get to know him as a person, you just see that he’s a great guy. He allows you the opportunity to be a football coach, but at the same time, he allows you the opportunity to be a husband and a dad and have that quality of life that allows you to come back and give everything you can for the program that you’re with. To have a guy like that, those are the guys you want to work for. I’ve been fortunate over the years. I’ve worked with some great head coaches and great defensive coordinators. We ran into an unfortunate circumstance where we were let go at Minnesota and got the opportunity to join Coach Leach. It was an opportunity to join a great coach that allows you to be a family guy and knowing football brings in those student-athletes to become a part of your family and you become part of theirs and it all goes hand in hand with each other. But he allows you to work. He allows us to run the defense. He allows me to be sort of the head coach of the defensive line. There’s a lot to that because I feel like I’ve gained leadership skills from that, saying hey, I’m the head coach of the defensive line and carry that title and make sure the defensive line are in line and in order. I’ve been fortunate to be around some great coaches, but you hear some stories about some of the coaches that aren’t like that. I’m very fortunate that I landed with a great coach and a great program and then he brought me here to continue what we were doing at Washington State. I’m really excited about it.

Cowbell Corner: It seems like with Coach Leach there might also be those times where you show up to work and learn about things and talk about things that have nothing to do with football. Is that about right?

Phelps: Oh there’s no question. He’s like a walking encyclopedia. He loves reading. He loves to travel. He’ll communicate with someone. It doesn’t matter who you are. He’ll sit and have a conversation and be able to learn something and teach something all in the same. Then he’ll spread that knowledge along. The craziest scenario was starting out with him and being on the first home visit. I tell you, we didn’t talk a whole lot about football. We were just following the lead of the parents and the recruit. It was a lot of talking about just life and life after football and how that all plays out and the opportunities that you’re given and that you have to take advantage of. Here I am as a younger coach ready to go through the bullet points and talking about official visits. You think there’s a certain way it’s supposed to be done, but he does it his way. He’s had success with that. It puts the coaches at ease. It puts the players at ease. They can go and be themselves and have success doing that.

Cowbell Corner: If I’m not mistaken, you had Golden Triangle ties before coming to Mississippi State. Your mother was from West Point correct?

Phelps: That’s correct. She was born in West Point and we used to come down in the summers with the cousins and all pile up in the car headed down from Chicago to visit family down here. So to be back, it feels like being back at home. That’s exciting. Matter of fact, I was back in Chicago on a family situation and we were all talking about the road trips we used to do. I was joking with my grandmother and telling her she’d have to get back in the car and drive down here. She got a great chuckle about that. But yeah, it’s exciting to be down here and exciting to be in this part of the world where the people are great and the facilities are great. We’re a part of a great program. Can’t ask for much more than that.

Cowbell Corner: Did you have any Mississippi State fans in your family as you grew up, given your roots?

Phelps: The crazy thing about it is I’m finding out that they’re all Mississippi State fans now. Of course I’m in college coaching, and then there’s the surreal feeling of now being part of Mississippi State, a university that was kind of like my family’s home university, so to speak. Some didn’t go off to college, but remembering watching games or listening to games on the radio or whatever it might be with flags flying and the whole nine. It’s kind of neat. To rehear some of those stories that really weren’t relevant before, now they are. You hear about all the old stories and then you start hearing some names of some places and you’re like, ‘I know those places now.’ It has been a surreal feeling for sure.