With a new head coach Jeff Lebby coming in to lead the Mississippi State football program, the staffing process has been nonstop since he took over the program.
Lebby explained the challenges of the staffing process while making an appearance on the College GameDay podcast. There, he shared that if there has been an aspect of taking over the job that hasn’t been fun it has been filling out the staff.
“I think the biggest constant without a doubt is all the staffing,” Jeff Lebby said. “That part has been non-stop.”
As a head coach in college football, hires to the coaching staff are important and get made quickly. However, they’re not the only hires that the coach is a part of making. They’re also working to fill out off-the-field staffers, which Lebby has learned can be an ongoing process.
“About four days ago, we had hired our last creative position inside our building to make a team of five, which I was fired up about that,” Lebby said. “Then, three days later, we had a GA leave. So, for the first time, we were fully staffed. Did not have an opening, and three days later I get a phone call and a young man has decided to leave. So, now here we are, working through that.”
This is a new challenge for Jeff Lebby. He’s never been a head coach before, only an assistant. So, this is a new challenge that he’s needed to adapt to while in Starkville.
“So, I think that’s the thing, not that it hasn’t been fun because I’ve enjoyed the pieces of being able to put it all together. I like that challenge and making sure that we’re maximizing every single chair inside our building and every single position, but it has been incredibly constant since November 26th.”
Jeff Lebby is the third head coach to start as many seasons for Mississippi State. Following the untimely passing of Mike Leach, he was replaced by Zach Arnett. However, Arnett only coached 10 regular season Ames before the school moved on, leaving a wake of staffing turnover for Lebby to deal with.
Jeff Lebby explains how he has brought stability to Mississippi State’s roster
Coaching and staff turnover can easily lead to roster turnover. So, one of Jeff Lebby’s key jobs was to bring stability to the roster.
“Hopefully, we’ve done a really good job of putting together a roster. I think that’s the first thing we had to get done; we had to make sure that the team that we’re going to feel this fall is a team that’s got good players. That was something that was huge for us. We needed the top part of our roster to be improved. But man, we needed the middle part of our roster to be much improved. We were able to get some of those pieces in place; a bunch in the first portal session, and then was able to adjust and find ways to add pieces in the second cycle,” Lebby said.
“At the end of the day, it’s gonna be all about those guys that are playing every single Saturday. This is a player’s game; we need the right pieces in place to be able to go win, have success, and be able to sustain (and) create stability for State.”
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