After serving as head coach at Jackson State the past three years, Tony Hughes is joining Joe Moorhead’s staff at Mississippi State.

Though Hughes hasn’t worked with Moorhead, he does have experience in Starkville, having served as the Bulldogs’ recruiting coordinator and safeties coach from 2009 to 2016.

As you can see in the video below, he said it made a lot of sense for him to return to the place he spent so many years as an assistant:

“It’s my home state,” he said. “I love the people in the state of Mississippi — my wife’s from here, I’m from here, our family is here, my parents are here. What a great opportunity to come back to a program where I had the opportunity to do some special things. It was kind of a no-brainer when Coach (Moorhead) gave me a chance to come back here.”

Hughes was a key component of Dan Mullen’s staffs, so it’s safe to say Moorhead will love having him around, too.