When Joe Moorhead decided to leave his post as the head coach at Fordham (FCS - NY) at the end of the 2015 season after a 9-3 finish (fresh off an 11-3 season in 2014 and a 12-2 season in 2013) to join James Franklin's staff at Penn State as the offensive coordinator, many folks asked why someone that had worked their way up the ladder to become a well respected head coach would leave to essentially take a minor step back to become an assistant again.
As Moorhead explains in an article on PennLive, the decision to move away from being a head coach and back into a coordinator role was extremely valuable for him, and wasn't something he took lightly.
With Penn State coming off back-to-back 7-6 seasons under Franklin, Moorhead saw the opportunity to join the staff as a chance to do a reset of sorts.
"It gives you fresh perspective and a new set of ideas, and eventually when you have the opportunity again to be a head coach, it makes you better."
Now, heading into his first season leading the program at Mississippi State, Moorhead is able to take that fresh perspective and put it to work.
"You're really trying to take all the positive things from all the places you've been and certainly from my time at Penn State, from a program-building, from a cultural aspect, from an Xs and Os and what we did offensively. And certainly, Coach is a renowned recruiter. I'm carrying those good things and bringing them down to Mississippi State."
Surely, there are a hundreds of coaches at the high school, college, and NFL level out there right now that - whether they walked away from the head coaching post on their own, or they were fired - can fully grasp what Moorhead is saying.
Head here to read more from Moorhead, including more on the type of stuff he's taking with him from Starkville after learning under Franklin for two seasons.