Ole Miss announces hire of Jeff Lebby as new offensive coordinator


Central Florida quarterback Dillon Gabriel (11) throws a pass as quarterbacks coach Jeff Lebby, left, watches during the first day of spring football practice Monday, March 4, 2019, in Orlando, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack via AP) (Photo: Phelan M. Ebenhack via AP)

OXFORD — New Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin has picked his new right-hand man.

On Thursday evening, Ole Miss announced it has hired Jeff Lebby as its new offensive coordinator. Lebby has spent the last two years working at UCF, first as the quarterbacks coach and then again as the offensive coordinator this season. Lebby had previously worked as the running backs coach and passing game coordinator at Baylor.

Lebby's 2019 UCF offense ranks No. 6 in the FBS in points per game (43.0), No. 8 in passing offense, No. 21 in rushing offense and No. 4 in yards per game. While working as the running backs coach at Baylor, Lebby coached five different 1,000-yard rushers.

Ole Miss also officially announced the hires Thursday of Wilson Love as Ole Miss' new strength and conditioning coach and of Kevin Smith as an assistant coach. Kiffin had previously announced those hires on Monday. Smith's role with the team has not yet been announced, but he worked as the running backs coach under Kiffin at FAU.

Kiffin said he'd be interviewing existing members of the Ole Miss coaching staff to see who he will retain for his staff. Kiffin has been photographed on recruiting visits this week with Ole Miss defensive coordinator Mike MacIntyre, defensive assistants Freddie Roach and Charles Clark and offensive assistant Calvin Magee.

No announcements about which assistants will be retained and which assistants will be let go have officially been made. That said, the following coaches have been removed from the list of coaches on Ole Miss' website: offensive coordinator Rich Rodriguez, offensive line coach Jack Bicknell, wide receivers coach Jacob Peeler and inside linebackers coach Jeff Koonz.

Lane Kiffin was introduced Monday as Ole Miss football's 39th head coach of the program. Kiffin previously coached at Florida Atlantic. Mackenzie Salmon, Clarion Ledger

SOURCE: Suss, Nick."Ole Miss announces hire of Jeff Lebby as new offensive coordinator." Mississippi Clarion Ledger, 12 December 2019, https://www.clarionledger.com/story/sports/college/ole-miss/2019/12/12/ole-miss-announces-ucf-jeff-lebby-new-offensive-coordinator/4414355002/

Contact Nick Suss at 601-408-2674 or nsuss@gannett.com. Follow @nicksuss on Twitter.

SPECIAL TEAMS

A potential candidate being mentioned for the Ole Miss Special Teams Coaching vacancy is Blake Gideon, who was in Oxford on Friday.  He played his collegiate career as a safety for Texas and started in 52 games.  Gideon is the special teams coach for Houston and has done a good job with the Cougars.  His stats at this job are as follows:

#9 nationally in efficiency
#1 Blocked kicks
#1 blocked punts
#2 net punting

Lane Kiffin hires new defense/special teams assistant for Ole Miss staff

Lane Kiffin’s Ole Miss staff continues to take shape.

Houston special teams coordinator and nickels coach Blake Gideon is leaving the Cougars to become a defensive assistant and special teams coordinator at Ole Miss. Gideon himself has confirmed the news on his Twitter account.

Gideon played at Texas from 2008-11 and got into coaching in 2014 as a defensive quality control staffer at Florida. He then joined the Auburn staff in 2015 as a graduate assistant. Gideon’s other stops have been Western Carolina (defensive backs/defensive passing game coordinator, 2016-17) and Georgia State (cornerbacks, 2018) before joining the Houston staff in 2019.

So far, the Rebels have announced two on-field assistants – offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby and assistant coach Kevin Smith – along with head strength and conditioning coach Wilson Love.

Blake Gideon
@Coach_Gideon
Grateful for what the City and University of Houston has done for my family and me. To my guys that continued to fight, you’re the reason. If you know, you know. #HottyToddy

133  7:50 PM - Dec 14, 2019
27 people are talking about this

Bruce Feldmanb✔
@BruceFeldmanCFB
SOURCE: #Houston Special Teams Coordinator and Nickels coach Blake Gideon will be the new Special Teams Coord and Defensive Asst at #OleMiss. Big addition for Lane Kiffin's staff. Gideon has good recruiting connections in TX and did a terrific job with special teams.

182  7:40 PM - Dec 14, 2019
75 people are talking about this

Andrew Olson, Andrew. "​Lane Kiffin hires new defense/special teams assistant for Ole Miss staff." Saturday Down South, 14 December 2019, https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/ol

You can almost be assured that Tommy is making more than 30k at his job with Ole Miss.  He and his father should be released from their duties so that there is no one with the last name of Luke in the Athletic Office.