Matt Luke will continue to live his dream.
Ole Miss has named Luke its permanent head coach following his interim role in the 2017 season. The team was informed during a mandatory meeting Sunday night in the team meeting room inside the Manning Center on campus.
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The decision to pull Luke’s interim tag comes three days after the Rebels ended their season with a 31-28 upset win over No. 14 Mississippi State in Starkville. Ole Miss rebounded from a 2-3 start to finish 6-6 in a season full of turmoil.
Luke, who spent the previous five seasons as Ole Miss’ offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator, was thrust into the role just a few weeks before training camp began in August following Hugh Freeze’s abrupt resignation amid a female escort scandal. It came in the midst of the NCAA’s investigation, which resulted in 21 rules violations being levied against the program and a bowl ban being self-imposed by the school for this season.
Ole Miss started 2-0 before losing its first three games against Power Five opponents, including setbacks to Alabama and Auburn that came by a combined 84 points. The Rebels stopped the bleeding with a win over Vanderbilt before the next bout of adversity came when quarterback Shea Patterson suffered a season-ending knee injury seven games in, but Ole Miss never had winning or losing streaks longer than two games the rest of the way.
The Egg Bowl win and a comeback victory at Kentucky were the high points. There was also a 38-37 loss to an Arkansas team that finished last in the SEC’s Western Division after Ole Miss led 31-7.
But the season’s circumstances never fazed Luke, who called being the head coach at Ole Miss a dream in his first press conference after taking over this summer and had his players vouching for him once it was over.
This season was Luke’s 14th as a player or coach at Ole Miss. He was a center at Ole Miss from 1995-98, becoming the third member of his family to suit up for the Rebels. His father, Tommy, was a defensive back for the late Johnny Vaught in the 1960s while his brother, Tom — who’s on staff as the Rebels’ assistant athletic director for player development — played quarterback for Ole Miss.
Luke began his coaching career as a student assistant at Ole Miss in 1999. His first stint as an on-field assistant for the Rebels came from 2002-05 as offensive line and tight ends coach. Luke’s other stops as an assistant have included Murray State, Tennessee and Duke.