For more than 20 years, Greg Knox has toiled in relative anonymity in the Southeastern Conference.

The 54-year-old has coached at Auburn, Ole Miss and Mississippi State, mostly as a position coach and behind-the-scenes recruiting coordinator. He’s been at Mississippi State for almost a decade, yet many fans are probably unfamiliar with him.

That’s about to change now that Knox has been thrust into the spotlight.

In the wake of head coach Dan Mullen’s departure for Florida, Knox was promoted to fill his old boss’ shoes on an interim basis. He’ll lead the Bulldogs in the Tax Slayer Bowl against Louisiville on Dec. 30 in Jacksonville, Fla., and for the month of practice leading up to it.

It’s a job with plenty of strings attached.

Knox will not have the opportunity to earn the full-time job. Mississippi State has already hired Joe Moorhead to replace Mullen.

Knox might not even have a job when the bowl game is over. Moorhead is slowly filling out his staff and it’s uncertain which of the current assistants he’ll retain, if any.

None of that is stopping Knox from taking advantage of the brief chance to be a head coach.

“I’m excited about it. The players are excited about it. It’s a great opportunity. I see it as an opportunity for me,” Knox said last week, at a press conference following Mississippi State’s first bowl practice. “(Athletic director John Cohen) put his trust and faith in me. The program is based on hard work. We’re going to do what we do. Nothing is going to change.”

Knox started his tenure at Mississippi State as the running backs coach, but was promoted to special teams coordinator in 2014. He figures the overlap of having coached both offensive and defensive players is what led Cohen to tab him as the interim head coach.

The expanded role has taken some getting used to, though. Rather than being accountable for a handful of players, he’s suddenly having to keep tabs on all of them.

“That’s different for me. Normally, I’m horse blinders. I’ve got my guys, my six running backs. All week last week, I had the whole team now. I’m making sure the whole team is at tutoring. I’m making  sure the whole team is at study hall. I’m making sure the whole team is on top of their academics,” Knox said. “I had to take the horse blinders off. So today was actually good to be out there running around with the defense and the offense. I haven’t done that before, so that was exciting and fun.”

This month of transition from the regimes of Mullen to Moorhead is a time of uncertainty for the Mississippi State football program. Knox said he’s trying to continue the system Mullen put in place, even though there will obviously be major changes after the bowl game.

Moorhead is also shadowing the program, keeping his distance and observing for now. Both Knox and quarterback Keytaon Thompson said they’ve only spoken briefly with Moorhead in the two weeks since he was hired.

“He’s busy. He’s gone on the road recruiting. He’s got recruits in this weekend. We haven’t had an opportunity to visit much,” Knox said. “I just passed him in the hall. He said, ‘Hey coach, how are you doing?’ I said, ‘Hey coach, how are you doing?’ We passed, and we kept going. He’s out on the road recruiting, doing what he needs to do.”

Whether Knox remains at Mississippi State or moves on after the Tax Slayer Bowl remains to be seen. Moorhead has hired four assistants so far, but not yet a special teams coordinator. An experienced SEC coach and recruiter like Knox would be an asset to any staff, but Moorhead has so far selected assistants he’s more familiar with.

So, in the meantime, Knox said he’s just trying to put one foot in front of the other and focus on the task at hand.

“It’s like I told Coach Cohen, my total focus is on this team and on these players and on these seniors finishing off a career,”Knox said.” We got ourselves in a great bowl game, and we’re excited about that.”