Mississippi State football's Jeff Lebby continues making changes to the offensive staff
STARKVILLE — Mississippi State football coach Jeff Lebby is starting to round out his first offensive staff. MSU announced a series of hires Friday, including Jon Cooper as tight ends coach, Anthony Tucker as running backs coach, Matt Holecek as quarterbacks coach and Cody Kennedy as offensive line coach.
Wide receivers coach Chad Bumphis and defensive line coach David Turner will also be retained on staff.
MSU will not be retaining defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Matt Brock and safeties coach Brett Dewhurst, according to multiple reports. The announced hires replace running backs coach Tony Hughes, offensive line coach Will Friend and tight ends/tackles coach Mike Schmidt. Special teams coach Eric Mele and cornerbacks coach Darcel McBath will be departing, they announced via X on Thursday.
Offensive coordinator Kevin Barbay also will not be retained. Lebby said he will call his own plays, but he does intend on hiring an offensive coordinator.
Kennedy has spent the past three seasons at Arkansas. He was a 2021 Broyles Award semifinalist, which is annually awarded to the top assistant coach. His previous stops include Tulane and Southern Miss, among others.
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Cooper spent last season at North Texas, but he holds ties to Lebby, who spent the previous two seasons as Oklahoma's offensive coordinator. Cooper was an analyst on OU's staff in 2022. He also coached tight ends at Central Florida (2018-2019) when Lebby was offensive coordinator there.
Tucker spent the 2023 season as Indiana's co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach. He also worked with Lebby at UCF.
Holecek previously spent time with Lebby at Ole Miss before joining him at Oklahoma.
Stefan Krajisnik is the Mississippi State beat writer for the Clarion Ledger. Contact him at skrajisnik@gannett.com or follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, @skrajisnik3.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi State football: Jeff Lebby's latest staff changes
