Jeff Lebby is not done building out the offensive brain trust at Mississippi State, and his latest addition brings a familiar face and a résumé full of head coaching reps.
Former Utah State and Texas Tech head coach Matt Wells is joining Lebby's staff in Starkville as a senior offensive consultant, according to Robbie Faulk of State 1878.
Wells and Lebby already have history together. The two overlapped on Brent Venables' Oklahoma staff in 2022 and 2023, with Lebby running the offense as coordinator and Wells working as an offensive assistant. That familiarity will certainly help with the learning curve on scheme language and how Lebby wants things done as the head coach of the SEC program.
For coaches who know Wells' background, it's easy to see the value he brings to an already stacked offensive staff. He spent six seasons as the head coach at Utah State, going 44-34 with two 10-win seasons and five bowl appearances, including a 10-2 regular season in 2018 that got him the Texas Tech job. Things did not break his way in Lubbock, where he went 13-17 before being let go eight games into his third season in 2021. But the up-and-down nature of that stretch does not erase what he has seen as a play-caller and a program builder, and that is exactly the kind of experience a staff wants in the room on a game-planning day.
Most recently, Wells spent the last two seasons at Kansas State working under Chris Klieman as assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach, so he is not coming to Mississippi State cold. He has been in the Big 12 grind, coaching the position that matters most to what Lebby aims to do offensively.
The Wells hire adds to what has become a loaded offensive staff for Lebby this offseason. He brought in Philip Montgomery, the former Tulsa head coach and Broyles Award finalist, as associate head coach for offense and wide receivers coach back in March. He also added Kevin Johns, a veteran with 14 years of FBS offensive coordinator experience who most recently coached quarterbacks at Oklahoma State, to work with the Bulldog signal-callers.
Now Wells joins that group as another set of experienced eyes.
The staff investment tells you where Lebby's focus is heading into a big year. Mississippi State opened 2025 with a 4-0 start, its first since 2014, and knocked off then No. 12 Arizona State before the wheels came off in SEC play. The Bulldogs finished 5-8 overall and 1-7 in the league, and Lebby knows the finishing has to be better. Surrounding himself with former head coaches and longtime coordinators is one way to try to fix it.
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