How Mississippi State’s Jeff Lebby prepared accordingly for NCAA easing restrictions on countable coaches

When putting together his first staff as a head coach, Mississippi State’s Jeff Lebby had a potential rule change in mind.

This week, the NCAA Division I Council passed a rule, effective immediately, that allows off-field staffers such as analysts, quality control coaches and others to coach players. Previously, schools were limited to 11 countable coaches — one head coach and 10 assistants — who could recruit off-campus and provide technical and tactical instructions during practices and games. Despite the proliferation of analysts across college football, they were only allowed to help with game planning. 

The rule was expected to pass last year, but the Division I Council surprisingly declined to approve it. However, there was growing momentum this time around that it would pass and coaches hired accordingly. 

“We’ve got pieces in place that felt like this was going to happen,” Lebby told CBS Sports. 

One area that could benefit the most from the rule change is special teams. More and more schools have made special teams coordinator an off-field, non-recruiting role. In the SEC alone, five of the 16 schools don’t have an on-field special teams coordinator, including Kalen DeBoer’s first staff at Alabama. There was an inherent risk with that strategy before the rule changed, but now these non-position coach special teams coordinators can be actively involved in coaching players up on game days. 

Lebby, who arrived at MSU after a stint as Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator, did hire an on-field special teams coach (Cliff Odom) but still used two of his off-field spots to employ coaches with special teams experience in anticipation of the rule change. He also retained Cody Leach, the son of former Mississippi State coach Mike Leach,…

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/how-mississippi-states-jeff-lebby-prepared-accordingly-for-ncaa-easing-restrictions-on-countable-coaches/

Author : John Talty

Publish date : 2024-06-27 17:43:30

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.