Lebby Was Just Glad To Still Be Coaching When He First Met Lane Kiffin

STARKVILLE — At one point in his coaching career, Mississippi State head coach Jeff Lebby was just trying to find a place that would hire him after the fallout at Baylor in the mid-2010s.

In a time when opportunities were hard to come by, he found a landing spot at Southeastern University in the booming city of Lakeland, Florida. It was at the NAIA institution he found his first offensive coordinator job for the 2017 season, and quickly became a household name for his explosive offense.

It was with the Fire where Lebby produced his first stellar unit, helping the program to a Mid-South Conference Sun Division title and a berth in the playoffs. Southeastern would finish with the No. 1 scoring offense and the No. 3 total offense in the NAIA ranks and his return to the FBS level didn't take long.

Former Mississippi Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin greets Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach Jeff Lebby before the game at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Lebby's career trajectory was unknown at that point, but there was another embattled coach in Lane Kiffin, who had just finished up at the Nick Saban "Coaching Rehabilitation Center" in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Kiffin took notice of Baylor's veer-and-shoot scheme that was growing in popularity at the time, and was already using certain concepts during his time as Alabama's offensive coordinator from 2014-16. Instead of running a similar version, he decided to hire Kendal Briles as offensive coordinator and wanted to add another coach in the tree in Lebby.

"He may not know this, but part of what I loved about Lebby was when they had the issue and they couldn't get jobs," Kiffin said on Monday. "Kendal (Briles) was out. Lebby was out. I hired Kendal at FAU. Lebby was at a really, really small school [Southeastern]. It was a directional school. I came down and I met him, because Kendal wanted to hire him. We talked about him as a position coach."

That idea was shot down quickly. FAU's administration had already approved Briles' hiring and wasn't willing to take a chance on another former Baylor assistant.

"Our administration was like, 'We're giving you one. We can't take more than one,'" Kiffin continued. "[Lebby] was on like a 20-hour bus ride coaching, he said, 'It's just so awesome. I'm still coaching.'"

The 31-year-old coach wasn't sure where that next opportunity was going to come from. But, it was that pure joy for him still being able to coach somewhere, even at the NAIA level. That's when Kiffin knew there was something different about the future Bulldogs head football coach.

This was more than just football to him.

For Lebby, coaching wasn't something he was ready to walk away from, even when the opportunities weren't what he once envisioned.

That appreciation stuck with Kiffin. While Lebby couldn't join him at Florida Atlantic, the two would eventually cross paths again with a chance to build something special in the SEC in 2020.

"That (conversation) said a lot about him," Kiffin said. "I ended up hiring when we went to Ole Miss. He was awesome and a huge part of our success there. He was part of building a cool place to go offensively."

Years removed from their time together in Oxford, the scheme has evolved with the perfect quarterback in Kamario Taylor leading the way.

It's a scheme the third-year Bulldogs coach has spent the past three seasons installing and developing in Starkville, with the same tempo and aggressive approach that helped make him one of the nation's most sought-after offensive coordinators.

Mississippi State Bulldogs head coach Jeff Lebby reacts with defensive lineman Jaray Bledsoe (9) after defeating the Missouri Tigers at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

"I just think he's really, really good," Kiffin said. "I don't like playing against him, because they go so fast. He does a great job and a really unique job of staying in formations. They get it fast and can pick you apart."

That offensive philosophy that he once helped popularize down in Waco, has been copied by many coaches through the years across college football. But this has become his identity and one he's using to build a Mississippi State program capable of having sustained success in the SEC.

That's something Kiffin understands, and knows will be tough to combat come Saturday inside Death Valley.

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