Ole Miss Football Names Interim Matt Luke Permanent Head Coach After 6-6 Season Finish

Ole Miss has a brand new football head coach, and it’s none other than their interim coach.

Ole Miss New Football Coach News

Matt Luke was named the Rebels’ permanent head coach after he led the team to a 6-6 record this season and sixth in the SEC West. Former coach Hugh Freeze abruptly resigned in July.

Rebels athletic director Ross Bjork met with the team Sunday night in an auditorium on campus to notify them that Luke would be Freeze’s successor, and the players appeared to wholeheartedly approve.

Luke thanked Bjork for the opportunity, then told the players, “It’s because of you all that I am standing right here. You know this is a dream of mine. But just like I told you before that last game [a win over Mississippi State], Mississippi is not a stepping stone. This is somewhere that I want to be, and love, and want to be here ’til they run me out of here.”

Ole Miss upset their in-state rivals, the No. 14 Bulldogs, 31-28 in the Egg Bowl on Thanksgiving evening. The Rebels self-imposed a postseason ban for this season in February, after receiving a revised NCAA notice of violations that included illegal recruiting tactics and offering clandestine financial assistance to players.

Following the victory, Ole Miss players reportedly chanted “We want Luke” in their locker room.

The Rebels have yet to hear from the NCAA on whether or not the association’s committee on infractions will accept their self-inflicted penalties, which also includes loss of end-of-year bowl eligibility, the loss of scholarships and forfeiture of SEC playoff revenue this year, or add on more punishment for rules violations committed under Freeze and former coach Houston Nutt.

Bjork stated Monday that potential NCAA infractions did not factor into the school’s coaching search. “We got the right guy,” he said.

“I think there is some uncertainty and [recruits] are waiting to see what happens,” Luke said. “But there is a lot of interest and we’re going to be right there either way.”

Luke, 41 — who hails from Gulfport, Mississippi — was a center for Ole Miss from 1995-98.  His father, Tommy, was a Rebels defensive back in the 1960s, while his brother Tom played quarterback from 1989-91.

In other college football-related news, former Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen has just been hired to lead the Florida Gators in 2018. Mullen had been with the Bulldogs since 2009.

OXFORD, MS – OCTOBER 28: Head Coach Matt Luke of the Ole Miss Rebels watches his team warm up before a game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Hemingway Stadium on October 28, 2017 in Oxford, Mississippi. The Razorbacks defeated the Rebels 38-37. (Photo by Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)