Mississippi State football adds Memphis' Matt Barnes, FAU's Corey Bell to Jeff Lebby's staff
STARKVILLE — Mississippi State football has added Memphis defensive coordinator Matt Barnes to new coach Jeff Lebby's staff, the team announced on Friday. He'll serve as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach.
The Bulldogs also hired Florida Atlantic's defensive passing game coordinator Corey Bell as cornerbacks coach.
The moves came as MSU was finalizing a deal to hire Alabama assistant Coleman Hutzler as Lebby's defensive coordinator. The hiring of Hutzler was also made official on Friday.
Barnes spent two seasons with the Tigers. In his first season under coach Ryan Silverfield, Barnes led Memphis to the No. 5 five scoring defense among 11 teams in the American Athletic Conference. The Tigers had the No. 9 scoring defense among 14 teams this year.
"We're so excited for Coach Barnes to join us at Mississippi State. He's a tremendous teacher and leader of men and has a remarkable track record of success," Lebby said in a school release.
Barnes' coaching career started in 2009 when he served as a running backs coach at Delaware Valley. He spent 2010-11 working on the offensive side at West Virginia Wesleyan before a pivot to defense.
He was a defensive/special teams graduate assistant at Florida (2012-14), a defensive analyst at Michigan (2015), a special teams coordinator and linebackers coach at Maryland (2016-18) and a special teams coordinator and defensive backs coach at Ohio State (2019-21).
"My family and I are so excited to be joining the community in Starkville," Barnes said. "Coach Lebby is one of the brightest minds in all of football but his leadership and character are what sets him apart."
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Bell's coaching career dates back to 1996 when he coached defensive backs at Miami Edison Senior High School. His first permanent jump to the college ranks came in 2014 when he started a stint coaching the secondary at Florida Atlantic.
Other stops include South Florida (secondary, 2017), Florida (secondary, 2017), Central Florida (cornerbacks, 2018-2020), Florida (assistant director of player personnel, 2021) and Florida International (cornerbacks, 2022).
Stefan Krajisnik is the Mississippi State beat writer for the Clarion Ledger. Contact him at skrajisnik@gannett.com or follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, @skrajisnik3.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi State football adds Matt Barnes, Corey Bell to staff
