STARKVILLE — Jeff Lebby was greeted enthusiastically by Mississippi State players and fans alike as he walked off the plane Sunday night at George M. Bryan Airport. But it was nothing compared to the reception Lebby’s new boss received.
Bulldogs players lifted athletic director Zac Selmon on their shoulders and paraded him down the red carpet, clearly approving of Selmon’s first major hire and what it could mean for a football program stuck in neutral for much of 2023.
Lebby, who spent the last two seasons as Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator, called plays for a Sooners team that has averaged 43.2 points and 502.6 yards per game, both in the top five among all 133 Football Bowl Subdivision schools. MSU’s offense, meanwhile, scored a total of 33 points in its last five Southeastern Conference games in 2023.
In his initial remarks to the assembled crowd after he disembarked, Lebby, 39, made it clear where his priorities lie as he takes on his first head coaching position.
“We’re going to be a football team that scores a bunch of points,” Lebby said before being drowned out by the ringing of dozens, if not hundreds, of cowbells. “We’re going to (play) a very exciting brand of football for everybody who is so passionate about the game of football here at State. You guys are going to be incredibly proud of what’s happening on Saturday afternoons at Davis Wade. That’s a promise.”
Selmon announced Lebby’s hiring Sunday afternoon, less than two weeks after the Bulldogs fired Zach Arnett 11 games into his head coaching tenure. MSU concluded a 5-7 season with a 17-7 Egg Bowl loss to rival Ole Miss on Thursday night and will miss out on a bowl game for the first time since 2009.
“Honestly, I’m just excited for a fresh new start,” said Tristan King, a 19-year-old lifelong Starkville resident who attended Lebby’s arrival with her mother and younger sister. “It’s just something we really need. Based on what I’ve heard about him, I think he’s a great hire. We just need someone who’s going to go out there and has fire and really shows that this is Mississippi State, and we’re here to play.”
Lebby’s hire does not come without baggage, however. From 2008 until 2016, he was an assistant coach at Baylor under his father-in-law, Art Briles, who was dismissed after an investigation revealed concerns about how the Bears’ program handled sexual assault. Lebby was named by a female student as one of the coaches who failed to take action against running back Devin Chafin after she reported that Chafin physically assaulted her three times.
This September, Briles was seen on the field at Oklahoma with Lebby after the Sooners defeated SMU. Lebby later apologized for “creating a distraction,” clarifying that the intent was simply to “celebrate with (his) family.”
“As long as he’s not trying to bring his father-in-law on the sideline this year, I think we’re fine,” said Dalton Price, a senior at MSU who was in attendance Sunday night. “That was a while ago, and he hasn’t had any problems since. It’s definitely something I’m sure Zac Selmon looked into and was very diligent about. There’s obviously some concern there, but I don’t think it will be an issue.”
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