Lebby excited for start of new era in Starkville

A lifelong dream comes Jeff Lebby’s way at 5 p.m. on Saturday night.

The son and son in law of head football coaches, all the 40-year-old knows is football. He’s paid his dues and he’s spent countless minutes, hours, days and years preparing for Saturday at Davis Wade Stadium. That’s when he takes the field for the first time as a head coach and leads Mississippi State into a new era.

“I think there’s going to be a ton of emotion,” Lebby said of game one. “You build up to this point and it being Year 1 of laying the foundation. Our guys are going to be incredibly excited to play. My hope for them (is) making sure we’re not using energy on things that don’t matter and finding ways to make sure our energy is used in a way that will help us go win the football game and go play the way we need to play.”

Fresh start for Bulldogs under Lebby’s leadership

Lebby begins year one against Eastern Kentucky with the goal of bringing consistency and excitement back to Starkville. The Bulldogs are on their fifth coach in the last eight years after having a historic run from Dan Mullen from 2009-2017.

Since the consistent run of Mullen, the Bulldogs had failed coaching jobs by Joe Moorhead and Zach Arnett sandwiched around a three-year stretch from Mike Leach that ended with the coach’s tragic passing.

More than anything, the Bulldogs need that consistency from Lebby and an offensive scheme that will put fans in the seats. That might not come right away as the Bulldogs are rebuilding following the three coaches in five years and a roster turnover, but Lebby likes this group.

“I do love the fact we’ve got so many guys that got here in January and then a good group of guys that got here this summer,” Lebby said. “They’ve bought into the connection piece of who we are and that’s probably been the most fun as a head coach, making sure we got a team and guys that care about each other, love to go play the game and gonna represent State the right way on Saturdays.”

Giving State fans something to be proud of is Lebby’s number one goal. Since he landed at Bryan Field in Starkville that cold November night last year, Lebby has built a strong relationship with the people in the community and, in turn, he’s been welcomed with opened arms.

Having grown up in a small town in Texas and thrived in places like Norman, Okla., Oxford and Waco, he’s not searching for a big city life. Starkville has been just the right spot for his first coaching gig.

“It’s been humbling. Hopefully everybody that’s had the opportunity to come in contact with me and my family knows how thankful we are to have the opportunity and seen us trying to connect,” Lebby said. “I think that is one of the coolest things about where we live and where I get to work every single day, there’s this incredible amount of connection. There’s an incredible amount of community and people that have great love for our university. For me, man, that’s fun to be a part of it. It’s been humbling and we’re just getting started.”

This week has been the chance for the coach to start marking off “firsts” at every step. He had his first game week press conference on Monday, the team had its first walk through and mock game day run. Friday is the first night in the team hotel and Saturday brings him the first game day as a head man.

With a lot of work still to do, the coach has his hopes and dreams. One of those is to leave a mark at State that brings positive memories for Bulldog fans for a long time to come and he hopes he is in position to stamp his legacy his way.

“I think for me, our players that have come before us and the coaches that have come before me and understanding I’m just the keeper of the room right now, knowing and hopefully it is a long time from now that there’s somebody else that will lead this program,” Lebby said. “What I want to do is make sure I leave it better than I found it and fighting every single day to get that done and get that accomplished is my goal for our fanbase and our university and everybody I go to work with every single day. I’m sure that point will come. Right now, it seems a long way away. But I’m excited to be able to lead our football team down that tunnel Saturday evening.”