It might not take an NFL job to lure Joe Judge away from the New England Patriots this offseason.
Judge, who pulled double duty this season as the Patriots’ wide receivers coach and special teams coordinator, has emerged as a leading candidate for the head-coaching vacancy at his alma mater, Mississippi State, according to multiple reports Monday.
Hearing that #Patriots STC Joe Judge has emerged as a strong candidate for the Miss. State head coaching job. A former #HailState player and assistant with strong ties to MSU, Judge was a name we were told to keep an eye on all along: https://t.co/nWnEKjcaEe
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) January 6, 2020
Top #MississippiState candidates are #Patriots special teams coordinator Joe Judge and #Florida defensive coordinator Todd Grantham. Judge played for Bulldogs and Grantham served as DC there under Dan Mullen. School also has talked to Gene Chizik and #Army coach Jeff Monken.
— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) January 6, 2020
Bruce Feldman of The Athletic wrote about Judge’s candidacy last Friday:
“The 37-year-old played at Mississippi State and then spent three years on Sylvester Croom’s staff. His wife was a soccer player for the Bulldogs as well. Judge also spent three years on Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama before spending much of the past decade working for Bill Belichick. I’m hearing he has always REALLY wanted this job and that he will have the support of some key folks at Mississippi State.”
Judge has been with the Patriots since 2012, working exclusively with special teams before adding receivers to his plate this past season. With New England’s season now over following Saturday’s 20-13 loss to the Tennessee Titans, Judge reportedly is scheduled to interview for the New York Giants’ head-coaching job Monday.
Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels also reportedly has three head-coaching interviews lined up (Giants, Cleveland Browns and Carolina Panthers) and defensive line coach Bret Bielema said he’s “garnered some interest” from collegiate programs.
