It looks like a key part of the Mississippi State baseball program might be sticking around with the Bulldogs for a little while longer. According to a report from Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball, Jake Gautreau will be remaining in Starkville.

It appears as if MSU’s assistant coach will continue on helping coach the Bulldogs even though he was reportedly in the running to be the head coach of the Rice Owls baseball team.

Rice recently parted ways with Matt Bragga, who was unable to get the Owls turned around, despite having prior success in building Tennessee Tech into a really good team that took down Ole Miss in the NCAA Tournament back in 2018.

Now, Rice is searching for a new head coach.

Gautreau, who serves on the Mississippi State baseball coaching staff as the “recruiting coordinator, hitting instructor and infielders coach,” according to his bio on Mississippi State’s website, has been instrumental in Mississippi State’s success over the past few seasons.

Now in his third season with the Bulldogs, Gautreau has helped provide consistency to a team that needed it in the midst of head coaching turnover as well as helping guide the Bulldogs at the plate.

Gautreau was hired following the end of the 2017 season, replacing Will Coggin, and then stuck with Mississippi State after the Bulldogs parted ways with then-head coach Andy Cannizaro in the midst of the 2018 season. After the separation of Mississippi State and Cannizaro, MSU made an unlikely run to the College World Series with pitching coach Gary Henderson serving as the interim head coach.

The Bulldogs were able to keep Gautreau for the 2019 season as Chris Lemonis was brought to Starkville and they thrived at the plate all the way to another College World Series.

Now, as Mississippi State looks to return to Omaha for a third-straight time (the 2020 cancelled season doesn’t count because of the pandemic), Gautreau has reportedly chosen to stick with State for at least a little while longer. That said, it feels as if it’s only a matter of time before he ultimately takes a head coaching gig somewhere as Gautreau is a great candidate for a multitude of jobs.

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