NFL
By: Brock Vierra
When Mississippi State decided to fire Zach Arnett to hire Jeff Lebby just 10 games into his first year, I was quite shocked. Arnett, who had coached only 11 games up to this point was thrust into the position after the death of Mike Leach. Arnett steadied the ship, won a bowl game, and was using 2023 to adjust to Leach’s passing.
Mike Leach ran a unique style of the Air Raid offense, allowing players like QB Will Rogers to flourish. Other OCs couldn’t do what Leach did so when Arnett attempted to implement his offense with Leach’s players, it was clear that a roster overhaul was needed. That’s fine as Arnett would have the 2024 offseason to make the proper acquisitions to get the Bulldogs back to a competitive standard. Obviously, that wouldn’t be the case.
Mississippi State hires Jeff Lebby
Now all those who hail state look to the former Oklahoma Sooner offensive coordinator to be their saving grace. Despite being the subject of many angry rants on Oklahoma message boards, Mississippi State elected to go with Jeff Lebby as their next head coach. Lebby who was awarded the OU coordinator job after a successful stint at Ole Miss under Lane Kiffen will attempt to bring his brand of offense to the SEC, a brand we have yet to see in the conference as Kiffen was and remains the primary play-caller for the Rebels.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I grade this hire a -12. I am not going to let the divine efforts of Dillon Gabriel in the Red River Rivalry blind me from the fact that Lebby brings with him a ton of baggage. From a schematic standpoint, Oklahoma at multiple times performed to the level of their opponents, being stagnant on offense while continuing a troubling trend of not putting the football in the hands of their playmakers.
His overreliance on Drake Stoops was a crime in itself but what was even more unacceptable was how much better their fellow Big 12 offense were. Texas was virtually unstoppable with OU only triumphing because Dillion Gabriel decided to mimic his father’s heroic performances against BYU in 1989 and 1990 while Oklahoma State issued another 1000-yard Cowboy rusher in Ollie Gordon II. In comparison, Oklahoma’s leading rusher had 610 yards.
Despite losing their starting QB, Kansas remained efficient when they beat OU 38-33 and if we look back at Oklahoma’s record, they only have 4 wins over teams with a winning record. Lebby is not a good offensive mind.
Jeff Lebby’s past should continue to haunt him
What I find even more troubling is his past and how that is affecting the present. Before Oklahoma and Ole Miss, Lebby spend 9 years as an assistant at Baylor. Do you know why he left? Because he was fired. Do you know why he was fired? Because his boss, Baylor head coach Art Briles was fired for covering up multiple sexual and physical assaults along with rapes committed by Baylor football players.
Oh but Lebby wasn’t just an unlucky casualty of his boss’ immortal actions, Lebby was a willing participant. While working as running backs coach at Baylor, Lebby was notified of the crimes committed by Devin Chafin against Baylor student Dolores Lozano. Chafin, a running back, a player that Lebby knew and worked with personally, was accused of physically assaulting Lozano on three separate occasions. Lebby did nothing.
In fact, in the wake of the entire Baylor scandal coming out, Lebby supported head coach Art Briles by making shirts with #CAB printed on them. Yes, wearing “coach Art Briles” across your chest was more important to Lebby than you know, doing the right thing.
Now one would think that Lebby would have learned his lesson by now. If you think that, you’d be wrong. Lebby during the 2023 season invited Briles to an Oklahoma game in Norman, posing with him on the field. When Sooner head coach Brent Venables was questioned about the incident, he had no idea it happened, displaying a troubling trend of Lebby having no foresight and no understanding of the consequences of his actions.
However, when you dive deeper, it makes sense why Lebby has taken these strong stances. Jeff Lebby is a married man with children. The lady he’s married to is Art Briles’ daughter. Yup. Jeff Lebby is Art Briles’ son-in-law.
Oh but it gets worse because multiple sources have confirmed that not only did Art Briles know what was going on in his program but Baylor’s OC at that time, Kendal Briles knew what was going on too. Yup, Kendal Briles, Art Briles’ son and Lebby’s brother-in-law knew the extent of the rapes and assaults committed by players on their team and Lebby tried to help his family cover it up.
Jeff Lebby is an average coach at best but a below-average person in the nicest way possible. A man and a father for which I have no doubt would protect his children from the harms of the world yet he couldn’t even report the harms and vile crimes committed by those he held power over. Now he’s entrusted to run a program reliant on the hard work of impressionable, young men? Get out of here.
We can’t change the past and we can’t make up for the things we’ve done but what we can do is learn from our choices and hopefully form new ones. Lebby hasn’t. He’s not sorry for participating in a culture that put women in danger, he openly promotes promoters of domestic violence and rape and he’s once again, not a good coach, as if the last sentence needs to be said.
So to the people of Starkville, when Lebby’s offense goes stagnant in week 3 and Briles and son are brought in in 2025, don’t be mad when your program goes on probation in 2026.
Jeff Lebby. A terrible coach, a terrible leader, and a terrible man. Hope the sound of Cowbells drowns out the cries for help that Lebby ignored.
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