Jeff Lebby leaving Oklahoma to become Mississippi State head coach
After two seasons calling plays for Oklahoma, Jeff Lebby is leaving the Sooners for his first head coaching opportunity at Mississippi State.
NORMAN — Jeff Lebby and Dillon Gabriel shared an embrace near midfield on Friday afternoon, holding on to their final moments together on Owen Field following a 69-45 win against TCU in Oklahoma’s regular-season finale.
That moment turned out to be more than just the culmination of the duo’s two years together leading Oklahoma’s offense after recultivating a coach-player relationship that began four years earlier at UCF. It proved to be Lebby’s final act as the Sooners’ offensive coordinator.
Lebby was named the new head coach at Mississippi State on Sunday, 247Sports confirmed. The Bulldogs announced Lebby’s hire shortly before 5 p.m., the move coming a little more than 48 hours after OU’s regular season ended, with Lebby taking over a Bulldogs program that earlier this month fired first-year head coach Zach Arnett amid a disappointing season in Starkville, Mississippi. It marks the first head coaching opportunity for the 39-year-old Lebby, whose coaching experience includes two years as Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, two more in the same capacity at Ole Miss and another season as offensive coordinator at UCF in 2019.
Lebby’s named had been heavily linked to the opening at Mississippi State, where Zac Selmon is the athletics director. Selmon, a native of Norman who spent close to 15 years working in Oklahoma’s athletics department, took over in Starkville back in January. Prior to that, he served as a deputy AD for the Sooners and worked in the athletics department when Lebby was hired as Brent Venables’ offensive coordinator on Dec. 8, 2021. Lebby interviewed for the opening with the Bulldogs on Wednesday, and his candidacy picked up steam throughout the week.
Lebby was asked about the Mississippi State job on Friday after Oklahoma’s win against TCU but didn’t offer much too dispel the rumors, saying “to me there’s a time and a place for all of it. Had great focus on today, finishing the regular season here at home today. Hopefully the chips fall in our favor, and we get to go play next weekend. We’ll see about that. But that’s about it.”
He went on to explain that his focus during the Sooners’ regular-season finale was singular, adding that Oklahoma’s offensive performance backs that up. The Sooners’ offense rolled against the Horned Frogs, putting up 62 points and more than 600 yards while averaging 7.7 yards per play. Gabriel threw for 400 yards and accounted for four touchdowns, while Drake Stoops turned in another 100-yard receiving day, and Gavin Sawchuk recorded his fourth consecutive 100-yard rushing performance to close out the regular season.
Outside of the final moments, when Oklahoma was kneeling out the clock, the Sooners’ offense scored on 10 of their 12 possessions against TCU in what was one of the team’s best offensive efforts in Lebby’s two seasons at the helm.
Oklahoma finished the regular season with one of the nation’s top offenses, averaging 43.2 points per game and 6.74 yards per play. The Sooners also boasted one of the country’s top third-down offenses, converting 49.38% of their third-down tries, and were top-25 in red-zone touchdown efficiency (68.75%) under Lebby.
Though it was a largely successful season for Oklahoma’s offense under Lebby, it was not without its issues, both on and off the field. The Sooners experienced some offensive lulls and questions arose about Lebby’s play-calling decisions in key situations during back-to-back road losses against Kansas and Oklahoma State. In a 38-33 loss to the Jayhawks in October, the Sooners needed to pick up one first down inside the final few minutes to seal the game but went backwards, losing 2 yards before punting the ball back to Kansas, which went on to score the go-ahead touchdown with under a minute to play. The following week in Bedlam, Oklahoma turned in a perplexing display of self-inflicted mishaps and offensive inconsistency, particularly down the stretch, while sustaining a 27-24 loss to Oklahoma State.
Off the field, Lebby also had a misstep and came under fire after Oklahoma’s Week 2 win against SMU, when his father in-law — disgraced former Baylor coach Art Briles — was seen on the field after the game with family. Lebby addressed questions about it after the game, while Venables was made aware of the situation right before the start of his postgame press conference, saying that it was being dealt with.
Lebby issued an apology two days later during his weekly Monday press conference, saying it was “something that created a distraction and I do apologize for that. That was not the intent at all. The intent was to celebrate with my family…. (Oklahoma athletics director) Joe Castiglione and Coach Venables have both addressed concerns with me and have talked to me about it and, again, came make sure that everybody understands that this is something that will not come up again.”
Along with being Briles’ son in-law, Lebby spent eight seasons on Briles’ staff at Baylor prior to the coach being fired in the wake of the sexual assault scandal that rocked that program. Lebby remained on staff at Baylor in 2016 as the Bears’ running backs coach and passing game coordinator before spending the 2017 season as the offensive coordinator at NAIA program Southeastern.
Lebby’s coaching career began as a student assistant at Oklahoma in 2002, where he was introduced to former Oklahoma quarterback Josh Heupel. Heupel was a graduate assistant with the Sooners in 2004 and became quarterbacks coach in 2006, during Lebby’s final season as a student assistant. Heupel went on to hire Lebby at UCF in 2018 as the Knights’ quarterbacks coach and promoted him to offensive coordinator the following season. Lebby linked up with Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss in 2020 and eventually returned to his alma mater at the end of the 2021 season, signing a three-year deal worth $5.7 million.
Lebby now replaces Zac Arnett, who was fired less than one year into his tenure as Mississippi State head coach after being promoted following the death of Mike Leach last year. His contract with the Bulldogs is reportedly for five years.
Venables, meanwhile, is tasked with finding a replacement for Lebby as Oklahoma awaits its bowl destination before preparing for the program’s move to the SEC.
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