Scott Padgett takes assistant coaching gig at Mississippi State

Former Kentucky Wildcats forward Scott Padgett is reportedly joining the Mississippi State Bulldogs coaching staff as “assistant to the head coach,” according to Jeff Goodman.

Prior to taking the job in Starkville under new head coach Chris Jans, Padgett served as an assistant at Manhattan under Steve Masiello.

Padgett has bounced around the college coaching world since 2009. He served on John Calipari’s first staff at Kentucky in the 2009-2010 season but left after the season to take an assistant job at Manhattan (his first stint with the Jaspers), where he spent two seasons.

In 2014, Padgett was promoted to head coach of Samford after serving as assistant coach for the previous two seasons. Padgett held the head coaching job at Samford until 2020, when he was relieved of his duties following an overall 84-115 record.

Padgett took an assistant job in 2020-21 at New Mexico and then returned to Manhattan last season for his second stint with the program.

Now, Padgett will take the job in Starkville and return to the SEC as a coach.