A football legend from the Magnolia State is returning home to be the next head coach at Mississippi Valley State University.
Pascagoula native Terrell Buckley was announced Tuesday as the Delta Devils’ frontman. The College Football Hall of Famer and Super Bowl-winning defensive back will take over for Kendrick Wade, who was let go after his team posted a 1-11 record this past season.
Buckley has spent the last 18 years coaching at various universities and even on the professional level. No stranger to wearing a headset in his home state, Buckley spent time as Mississippi State’s defensive backs coach under Dan Mullen and Joe Moorhead from 2016-19.
He then jumped ship to Oxford to join Lane Kiffin’s inaugural staff at Ole Miss from 2020-21. Buckley took a shot at coaching at the next level, landing the XFL’s Orlando Guardians’ head coaching gig for the team’s lone season in 2023.
Welcome Head Coach Terrell Buckley to The Valley!!https://t.co/M4hvWJ9azI
— Mississippi Valley State Athletics (@MVSUDevilSports) January 22, 2025
“We are thrilled to welcome Coach Buckley as the new head coach of the Mississippi Valley State University football team,” MVSU Interim Athletic Director George Ivory stated. “He brings a winning mindset, a deep commitment to developing our student-athletes both on and off the field, and a vision that aligns perfectly with our program’s values.”
Buckley spent his college days at Florida State from 1989-91 and was notorious for being a ball hawk. As a Seminole, he secured a program-best 21 interceptions and broke the school’s all-time interception yards record with 501, earning him consensus All-America honors and the Jim Thorpe Award.
The prolific defensive back was selected by the Green Bay Packers with the fifth pick of the first round of the 1992 NFL Draft. From there, he amassed 50 picks, became the youngest player to return a punt for a touchdown, and was a member of the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl XXXVI run in 2001.
“We’re going to build a culture of accountability, hard work, and belief – because winning starts with the standards we set and the mindset we bring every single day,” Buckley said.
The new MVSU head coach will look to elevate the program in Itta Bena beginning this coming fall. The Delta Devils have not yet released their 2025 schedule.
