Updating All Major Changes on Ole Miss Football Staff
It has been a successful year for Ole Miss football, and as head coach Lane Kiffin says, when a program has success, other programs want a piece of what they are doing.
As Rebel fans can see, the Ole Miss program is having massive amounts of turnover after their first ten-win regular season in school history. In this article, all changes will be mentioned as well as possible replacements that may come.
Jeff Lebby, Offensive Coordinator
The first major domino to fall during this coaching carousel was the announcement of Lebby to his alma mater of Oklahoma as he was the man targeted immediately to run the offense by new head coach Brent Venables.
Lebby was announced by Venables on Dec. 10 as one of his first major hires after helping lead the Rebels to top offensive marks in scoring and yards in the country the past two seasons.
Charlie Weis Jr. has been hired to replace Lebby as the offensive front man and was confirmed by Kiffin during media availability at the Sugar Bowl.
Weis Jr. is familiar with Kiffin as his OC during his time at FAU and has most recently been at South Florida in that same role.
Wilson Love, Strength and Conditioning
Another confirmed departure came from Kiffin at the Sugar Bowl when he announced that Love would be departing for the same role at Oregon under new head coach Dan Lanning.
Love has also served in that role under Kiffin for the past two seasons.
One rumored candidate to fill that role in Kiffin’s staff is Nick Savage, who served in that same role for former coach Dan Mullen’s entire tenure. He is recognized as one of the better strength coaches in the SEC.
Matt Lindsey, General Manager
A position that came to be with the hiring of Kiffin is now open for the first time ever in the history of the Rebel program as Lindsey is leaving to take a position at Athletes First, a sports agency.
Lindsey was previously at South Carolina and with the Philadelphia Eagles in different roles.
According to SI.com, “While general manager at Ole Miss, Lindsey’s priority was to identify potential recruits and build relationships with them in hopes of bringing their talents to Oxford. Lindsey oversaw recruiting, analytics, handled out walk-on spots and managed transfers all while remaining in constant communication with head coach Lane Kiffin.”
D.J. Durkin, Defensive Coordinator
The most recent departure came on Wednesday was it was reported that Texas A&M had settled in on Durkin to fill their open defensive coordinator position.
Reports had surfaced earlier in the week that Durkin was leaning towards staying with the Rebels, but the ever-changing world of college football has now seemed to lead the former Maryland head coach to College Station as it was reported that he has signed a three-year deal.
Ole Miss still has co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Chris Partridge on staff, but it remains to be seen if Kiffin will opt to make another hire or elevate Partridge to the head position.
