It felt like a foregone conclusion that Brent Venables was going to snatch Jeff Lebby away from Ole Miss when the rumors started going around that Venables would be the next head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners. Of course, that is exactly what happened as Venables brought the OU alum back home to Norman.
Since leaving Baylor, Lebby has been a coach at Southeastern, UCF, where he first worked with Sooners QB Dillon Gabriel, and Ole Miss. Lebby had been the offensive coordinator at Ole Miss for the last two years before getting the call from Venables.
There’s no telling how long the Sooners will benefit from Lebby’s presence at OU. Pete Thamel included Lebby on his names to watch for the 2023 coaching carousel.
By leaving Lane Kiffin’s and Josh Heupel’s shadow, the 38-year-old Lebby can cement himself among the game’s top coordinators and playcallers now that he’s working for a defensive head coach in Venables. Lebby has reunited with Dillon Gabriel, which should lead to points. No coach from Art Briles’ last Baylor coaching staff in 2015 has been hired as a head coach. – Thamel, ESPN
As a college football coach, Lebby is the complete package. He’s a masterful recruiter, and an playcalling mastermind. If the Sooners have a top-five offense this season, his phone will start ringing, but will it be from another top-tier program like Oklahoma?
The last line of Thamel’s paragraph on Lebby is very important. I will leave it at that.
If the Sooners offense does perform well enough in 2022 for Lebby to get head coaching offers, that is a very good thing for OU. But could Jeff Lebby go the Brent Venables route and wait for the right job to come up?
He’s a young offensive coordinator with nothing but time. Hopefully the Sooners can hold onto Lebby for some time.
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