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Oklahoma football: It’s now official; Jeff Lebby named Mississippi State head coach

By Chip Rouse

Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby claps and shouts as the Oklahoma Sooners warm up before a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the TCU Horned Frogs at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Friday, Nov. 24, 2023. Oklahoma won 69-45.
Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby claps and shouts as the Oklahoma Sooners warm up before a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the TCU Horned Frogs at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Friday, Nov. 24, 2023. Oklahoma won 69-45. /
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What had been widely speculated earlier on Sunday has now been confirmed. Oklahoma football offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby has been named the new head coach of the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

According to a report by Pete Thamel of ESPN, Lebby agreed to a five-year deal. Financial details were not immediately disclosed. Lebby becomes the fifth head coach at Mississippi State since Dan Mullen departed for Florida after the 2017 season.

Lebby replaces Zach Arnett, who was fired after 10 games this season. The Bulldogs were 4-6 at the time Arnett was released. Arnett was awarded the job following the death of Mike Leach from a heart attack a year ago.

Lebby, who is an OU alum and former player, has been the Sooners’ OC for the last two years. He was hired away from Ole Miss, where he held the same position for two seasons (2020 and 2021) and was at UCF for two seasons before that. Lebby was one of Brent Venables’ first staff hires after he became the Sooners’ head coach.

Under Lebby, Oklahoma produced over 500 yards of offense this season, fourth best in college football this season and the sixth-best passing offense. Oklahoma had one of its best offensive games of the 2023 season on Friday with 602 yards in a 69-45 win over TCU.

Lebby has been heavily criticized this season for some of the play calling, especially in Oklahoma’s upset loss at Kansas, and the inconsistency of the offense. He also took a great deal of heat from OU officials after he allowed his father-in-law, Art Briles, to come down on the field at Oklahoma after an early season win over SMU.

Asked after OU’s win over TCU on Friday about the possibility of Lebby being a candidate for a head coaching job, Venables told reporters:

"“I want all my guys to have opportunity,” he said after the game on Friday. “I’ll support them in any way I can. My charge to all the staff — all the staff — is everything has its time.”"

A leading candidate to replace him is another former Sooner, Seth Littrell, who has a lengthy experience as an offensive coordinator (at Arizona and North Carolina) and was head coach at North Texas from 2016 to 2022. 

Littrell was a fullback at Oklahoma from 1997 to 2000, which included the first two seasons for Bob Stoops and Venables as co-defensive coordinator. Littrell is currently an offensive analyst as part of the Sooner football support staff.

A couple of other possible candidates for the OU offensive coordinator position are offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh and former Sooner quarterback Joey Halzle, who is now offensive coordinator at Tennessee under head coach Josh Heupel, himself a former Sooner.

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