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Report: Oklahoma Expected to Hire Jeff Lebby as Offensive Coordinator

According to a Mississippi recruit, Brent Venables is close to making it official that he'll be hiring the former Sooner and Ole Miss assistant coach.

John E. Hoover

Report: Oklahoma Expected to Hire Jeff Lebby as Offensive Coordinator
Report: Oklahoma Expected to Hire Jeff Lebby as Offensive Coordinator /

New Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables is close to hiring Ole Miss assistant coach Jeff Lebby as his offensive coordinator.

That’s according to SI All-American’s John Garcia, who spoke with a quarterback recruit scheduled to visit Ole Miss who has changed his plans based on Lebby's situation.

Lebby was reported as Venables’ “top choice” Sunday on Twitter by ESPN’s Chris Low.

According to SI All-American, Jacurri Brown — a quarterback from Lowndes High School in Valdosta, GA — was scheduled to take a visit to Ole Miss, where he’s been recruited heavily by Lebby. Now, however, that visit is off.

Garcia also mentioned UCF transfer Dillon Gabriel, who played under Lebby and Josh Heupel at Central Florida and was also planning to make a visit to Oxford.

Venables replaced Lincoln Riley at the OU helm and flew to Norman on Sunday night, and on Monday morning he was greeted by some 3,000 OU fans at a pep rally inside the Everest Training Center.

Lebby, 37, first came to OU as a prized offensive line prospect but never played for the Sooners due to a back injury. He instead spent four years on Bob Stoops’ coaching staff, and has since emerged as one of the most productive offensive coordinators in college football at Ole Miss under Lane Kiffin.

Over the last three seasons in Oxford, Lebby’s offenses have averaged an SEC record 562 yards per game, 555 yards per game and this year 506.7 yards per game, ranking fourth nationally in 2021.

Lebby graduated from OU in 2007 and is married to the former Staley Briles, Art Briles’ daughter. Lebby was at Baylor under his father-in-law during the school’s years-long sexual assault and rape scandals that cost Briles, the Baylor president and the athletic director their jobs.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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