Ole Miss coach rising as a candidate at Texas Tech

Ole Miss offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby has emerged as an early candidate to replace Matt Wells at Texas Tech. The Red Raiders announced Monday they had fired Wells, who was in his third season at the helm.

Lebby is in his second season leading the Rebels after previous stops at Baylor and UCF. He has molded Ole Miss into the No. 1 offense among Power 5 schools, averaging 41.9 points and 541.1 yards per game.

Jeff Lebby, who is 37, grew up in McGregor, Texas, a town roughly 100 miles away from Texas Tech’s campus in Lubbock. He is the son-in-law to former Baylor coach Art Briles and an alumni of Oklahoma, having graduated in 2007.

Wells went 13-17 in three seasons. The former Utah State head coach had the Red Raiders at 5-3 this season, but they were routed by Texas and TCU and barely survived against FCS Stephen F. Austin. The final straw came this past week against Kansas State when Tech blew a 14-point halftime lead.

Sonny Cumbie, Texas Tech’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, will take over as the interim head coach, according to a report from Max Olson.

Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt is now tasked in finding the school’s fifth football coach since 2010. Other potential candidates include SMU’s Sonny Dykes, UTSA’s Jeff Traylor and Arkansas offensive coordinator Kendal Briles.

Candidates other than Jeff Lebby for Texas Tech

Sonny Dykes, SMU

A former Texas Tech assistant, Dykes has SMU sitting at 7-0 and ranked No. 19 in the latest AP poll. In five seasons, he has resurrected the Broncos and made them relevant again in Dallas. Before landing at SMU, Dykes was the head coach at Cal for four seasons, going 19-30 and 10-26 in Pac-12 play.

Jeff Traylor, UTSA

Traylor spent the early part of his career entrenched in Texas high school football. With many in-state connections he has the Roadrunners at 8-0 and ranked No. 23 in the nation in only his second season on the job. He has prior assistant coaching jobs at Arkansas, SMU and Texas.

Art Briles, former Baylor head coach

The head coach that brought Baylor to two consecutive New Year’s Six bowls, Briles’ time in Waco ended in scandal. Briles was fired after the 2015 season. Despite all the baggage he would bring to Lubbock, reports point that his name is a contender for the job. Briles played two seasons at Texas Tech and was later the running backs coach at the school.

Kendal Briles, Arkansas offensive coordinator

The son of Art Briles, Kendal is the current offensive coordinator for an Arkansas team that knocked off Texas A&M and Texas in the opening weeks of the season. He spent time at Baylor before taking the offensive coordinator job at FAU and Florida State. Hiring Kendal would also allow Art Briles to join the staff or help his son in an advisory role.

On3’s Pete Nakos contributed to this report.