The search is over: Jeff Lebby to coach at Mississippi State
The search has ended, and the Mississippi State Bulldogs have found their next head coach in Jeff Lebby, the former offensive coordinator for the Oklahoma Sooners. This will be Lebby’s first crack at head coaching.
Lebby served in multiple roles at Baylor before his head coach and father-in-law Art Briles was let go by the university.
After Baylor, Lebby shined as an offensive coordinator at NAIA Southeastern. The success there led to being brought on as the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator at UCF. There, reunited with now Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel, his offense shined.
His efforts with UCF earned him the nod for the same job at Ole Miss where, under Lane Kiffin, Lebby’s offenses reached even greater heights. After signing an extension with Ole Miss, he was hired by Brent Venables to serve as the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma. This season, Oklahoma finished with a 10-2 record with losses to Kansas and Oklahoma State.
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When former head coach Zach Arnett was fired, Mississippi State athletic director Zac Selmon said that his main priority with this coaching search was to find a winner – someone that has won wherever they’ve been. Certainly, Jeff Lebby fits that description.
However, with the program missing a bowl for the first time in over a decade and losing a huge chunk of its production, there are concerns on whether or not Lebby has the experience to build a program up from a bit closer to ground level.
Lebby and the Sooners will of course be in a bowl game, but afterwards, a new era will begin in Starkville in a pivotal time for the program itself.
