Following the 2023 season, Middle Tennessee State University parted ways with longtime head football coach Rick Stockstill and named former Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason as the new coach of the MTSU program.

After a 4–8 season for the Blue Raiders in 2023, the university opted to move on from Stockstill, owing him a reported contract buyout of approximately $5 million.

Stockstill had served 18 years at the helm for MTSU, fourth-longest-tenured active coach in the Football Bowl Subdivision (which contains 133 schools), posting a total record of 113–111 with the Blue Raiders.

Mason gave credit to his predecessor following the early December announcement of the change, calling the program “the house that Rick Stockstill built.”

Rick Stockstill with former Blue Raider Kevin Byard

“He left good bones and a strong foundation. He did a lot to raise and encourage these young men and help them take the journey,” Mason said. “I can’t wait to get started.”

The new coach signed a five-year deal with a $1 million annual value, according to MTSU Athletics Director Chris Massaro. Stockstill made $910,000 in total pay in 2023, according to reports.

But just one year after MTSU agreed to an extension with Stockstill, which was set to run through 2029, Massaro decided that the Stockstill era was over, opting to pay the buyout and making a change for the Blue Raiders.

Following Mason’s hiring, Massaro said that the new coach has “bounce” and “charisma.”

“That’s what we need to engage our fans, to engage our community,” said the MTSU director of athletics.

The feedback was quite mixed from the Blue Raider fan base, with many ready for change, but plenty of others very supportive of Stockstill, who formed numerous relationships in the Murfreesboro community at large over the past two decades beyond the confines of Floyd Stadium and the MTSU campus.

“About time,” one fan commented succinctly, upon learning of Stockstill’s firing.

Another observer of the program, Ronnie Mangrum, said he admired Stockstill leading MTSU to 10 bowl appearances in his 18-year career, amidst “very little fan base support.”

In contrast, Buck Davis called Stockstill’s tenure, and his overall record of only two games above .500, “an atmosphere of total mediocrity.”

While many fans were on board with making a coaching change, some question Mason’s track record as a head coach.

During his era at Vanderbilt, Mason led that team to a 27–55 overall record throughout seven seasons, going 10–46 in the SEC.

“We just got rid of a coach for being mediocre, now we are getting one who is a proven loser,” Keith Bennett stated. “This is just awful.”

Stockstill had plenty of chances to compete against SEC schools, but posted a 1–16 record when the Blue Raiders had opportunities to play teams from the mighty Southeastern Conference.

Mason and Stockstill went head-to-head three times as head coaches, with Vanderbilt winning all three games.

Vanderbilt fired Mason in 2020 after eight consecutive losses that season, and seven consecutive losing seasons in a row.

The following two years, Mason served as defensive coordinator for Auburn in 2021, and for Oklahoma State in 2022, but was not with a team in 2023 until his December hire with MTSU, working as an analyst for the SEC Network during the 2023 season.

Yet Massaro praised Mason’s “experience as a head coach” and “his reputation for coaching fast, aggressive defenses” saying that “Coach Mason’s vision for MTSU football fits exactly what we were looking for.”

MTSU welcomed Derek Mason as its new head football coach at a Dec. 6 press conference in the MTSU Student Union Building

When asked about how he wants the Blue Raiders to look on the field, Mason responded “physical, tough and intelligent.”

“This league is physical,” Mason said. “When it comes down to it, you better be able to win the middle eight. You better be able to find yourself converting on third and short. And you better be able to win in the redzone. And in order to do that, you have to find a way to be physical.”

Ultimately, regardless of what the opinions are, MTSU made the move—trading a coach with a 50.4% winning percentage at a Conference-USA / Sun Belt school for a coach with a 32.9% winning percentage at an SEC school—and for 2024 Mason will lead the Blue Raiders into battle.

MTSU Director of Athletics Chris Massaro, Coach Derek Mason and MTSU President Sidney McPhee

“Love what the future holds for this MTSU team,” Rachel Sheffield commented. “Congrats, Coach Mason!”

In his first season with MTSU, 2006, Stockstill led the Blue Raiders to an appearance in the Motor City Bowl. Although MTSU fell to Central Michigan in that contest, it marked the first bowl game appearance for the program in over 40 years.

Since then, Stockstill led Middle to bowl games in 10 of his 18 seasons, completing his tenure with a bowl game record of 4–6, most recently earning victories in the 2021 Bahamas Bowl against Toledo and in the 2022 Hawaii Bowl against San Diego State.

Wes Pruett said the coach will be remembered for being a quality ambassador for Murfreesboro, a “legend,” he said, who helped put the town on the national map.

“Most around the nation had never heard of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Over the last 18 seasons, the nation now knows where it is, who is there, and how great the university is,” Pruett said. “The foundation laid will last forever.”