Mississippi State Coach Jeff Lebby Effusive With Praise for Oklahoma

Jeff Lebby is the head coach at Mississippi State, but his opening comments Wednesday morning at SEC Media Days had a very strong Oklahoma flavor.

Lebby, whose Bulldogs were 0-8 in Southeastern Conference play last season, coached just two seasons at OU as Brent Venables’ offensive coordinator in 2022 and 2023.

Lebby, a former Sooner offensive line recruit whose playing career was wrecked by a back injury his freshman year, got into coaching immediately and has been fast tracked to the top. 

He started out by thanking his boss, former Joe Castiglione pupil Zac Selmon.

“I’d like to thank Zac Selmon, our athletic director,” Lebby said in his opening comments. “What we've been able to get accomplished in fundraising over the last calendar year has been record-setting for our university. He and his team have done an incredible job creating momentum. Facility upgrades at our stadium, the announcement of our new indoor practice facility, all the things that have happened to get us where we need to be. Incredibly appreciative to him and his team for that.”

Selmon — son of College Football Hall of Fame defensive lineman Dewey Selmon, one-third of the legendary Selmon brothers who helped changed the face of OU football in the 1970s — has also long been the subject of speculation someday placing him in Castiglione’s chair. Now that Castiglione has officially announced his forthcoming retirement, Selmon’s visibility among Sooner Nation is higher than ever.

Lebby also spoke glowingly about his old boss when a Texas reporter asked him about Venables and what qualities Venables has that will allow him to turn the Sooners around in Year 4.

“Toughness. Consistency. Conviction,” Lebby said. “He

is going to be very, very true to his process. He is the same man every single day, not letting result dictate who's going to show up in the building every day. Those are the things, to me, that are going to create stability and help them down the road.”

Lastly, if Lebby is going to turn the Bulldogs around in Year 2, he’s going to rely on the help of a former Sooner wide receiver to do it.

Brenen Thompson started out at Texas, then played at OU for two years before transferring to Mississippi State. Lebby was his offensive coordinator in 2023, when the Sooners went 10-3 and Thompson averaged 34.4 yards per catch.

In his first year with the Bulldogs, Lebby didn’t hesitate to bring him to Atlanta to represent the team at media days.

“He's here with me today because this is a young man that, I do, I want to make sure all of our guys inside our locker room understand that transfers, if they can operate as Brenen Thompson operates on a daily level, they're going to set themselves up to have great success,” Lebby said. 

“Brenen is a guy that is about the right stuff. He shows up every single day with great intent. He's an incredible teammate. As much as he works, he teaches, too.”