Jeff Lebby knows that pressure comes with OU football's OC job. 'He has a plan of attack'

NORMAN — Jeff Lebby sat on the stage at Life Church last week, taking questions from fans as part of an OU coaches luncheon, when a zinger came his way.
“Coach Lebby, are we going to score against Texas this year?” asked a Sooner loyalist who was seeking not information but the spotlight.
Lebby answered with uncommon grace.
“I would like to say that if we don’t, I won’t be sitting here next year,” the OU offensive coordinator responded.
Welcome to the job. For five years, Lincoln Riley held the dual role of head coach/offensive coordinator, and we sort of forgot what a frying-pan life is led by the lieutenant in charge of the Sooner offense. Josh Heupel, Chuck Long, Jim Donnan, Galen Hall. Others far less successful.
All had to dodge the arrows of entitled fans. All sort of know that it comes with employment in Oklahoma Territory. Especially when you don’t score against Texas.
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OU's offensive coordinator role automatically comes with pressure, and that isn't lost on Jeff Lebby.
The Longhorns waxed the Sooners 49-0, but we all know why. OU was without quarterback Dillon Gabriel, the Sooners had no capable backup and Lebby’s Ave Maria gameplan was direct snaps to tight end Brayden Willis. OU actually moved the ball better than you’d think, but this was 2022; 1934 offenses aren’t going to get you far.
Otherwise, the Lebby/Gabriel offense was just OK. Nothing like the Riley glory days under Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts, but not far off the Spencer Rattler/Caleb Williams years. It’s just that OU fell on the wrong side of some close games, a 6-7 season resulted and Lebby drew his one mulligan.
But Lebby knows the score. He’s the protégé of Heupel, now the Tennessee coach and Bob Stoops’ OU offensive coordinator from 2011-14.
“I think I was pretty familiar with that part of it,” Lebby said Tuesday during OU Media Day. “As much as anything, because how close I was with Josh — working for Heup (at Central Florida), and him being a huge part of the reason I’m here today — I think I had a pretty good understanding of what I was getting into.”
Heupel, fired by Stoops after the 2014 season, knows well the demands.
Lebby has a job of great expectations, courtesy of 75 years worth of high-powered offenses that went into even more overdrive in recent years.
“I don’t think it’s any different than anywhere else that’s very successful,” Brent Venables said of the pressure on OU coaches. “I don’t know. I don’t really judge that. You’re at a place that has high expectations and has a standard of excellence...
“He’s been a stud, confident … He has a plan of attack. A track record, so to speak, of success. He’s very confident both in himself and in his coaching system. So I never asked him how he’s doing, but he’s been great, if you ask me.”
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Offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby talks with Oklahoma Sooners quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel (8) and Davis Beville (11) before the Red River Showdown college football game between the University of Oklahoma (OU) and Texas at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022. Texas won 49-0.
And Venables suggests that asking him is what’s most important. He wants his players and coaches to be “inside out.” Don’t worry about the opinions of people from whom you wouldn’t seek advice.
But OU fans have had strong football opinions going back to the 1915 crowds that stood on Main Street, in front of Barbour’s Drug Store, getting play by play via telegraph.
And Sooner fans didn’t need Morse Code to know that Gabriel and the offense needed to be better last season. Lebby’s offense was far more effective than Venables’ defense, but that’s been the Oklahoma norm for many years.
And Lebby knows his offense is what’s got to carry this program until Venables can work his magic.
Lebby on Tuesday talked of efficiency and situational improvements. He remains haunted by OU’s last drive of the season, after Florida State kicked a field goal to take a 35-32 lead with 55 seconds left in the Cheez-It Bowl. The Sooners didn’t even make a first down on the ensuing possession.
In the first half, a penalty negated an OU touchdown that would have given the Sooners a 21-3 lead. Two straight negative plays pushed OU farther back, and Zach Schmit missed a field goal.
“That’s the difference in being on the right side and the wrong side,” Lebby said. “So again, talking about efficiency, talking about situational football, helping our defense, and putting them in better situations, is something we gotta be better at. And that’s the goal and that’s the strain.”
The truth is, as much as fans want to win, coaches want to win more. Especially coaches toiling at their alma mater.
Lebby came to OU in 2002, suffered an early injury and became a student coach. Returning to the Sooner staff was a dream come true.
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OU offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby speaks during a media day for the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) football team in Norman, Okla., Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023.
He says he hasn’t learned much new about the job over 18 months. He knew what the job entailed and how much it meant to him.
"I knew how much I loved my alma mater,” Lebby said, “but being back in the middle of it and the thick of it, every single day, I learned real fast, I knew how special OU was to me, but as we stand here today, I think even moreso than it’s ever been.
“As much as anything, having great pride for the interlocking OU and understanding that we are fighting every single day to get it back where we want it to be and where it needs to be.”
So when the zinger came at Lebby last week, he didn’t turn catty and he didn’t turn mean. Lebby fell back on the truth.
Scoring on Texas is required. Beating Texas would be nice. Lebby’s offense is on alert.