Ole Miss names Matt Luke its permanent head football coach

OXFORD — Matt Luke has turned his dream job into his permanent one.

On Sunday, Ole Miss decided to take the interim tag off Luke and make him its full-time replacement for Hugh Freeze, who resigned on July 20. The decision was disclosed to the team in a previously unplanned team meeting Sunday night.

RebelGrove.com's Neal McCready first reported the news.

It had been well known, since his introductory press conference, that this was a job Luke badly wanted. He had vocal support from the players, who he led to a 6-6 record this season and kept motivated despite a postseason ban.

Receiver A.J. Brown voiced his opinion after the Rebels' 31-28 victory over No. 14 Mississippi State in Thursday's Egg Bowl.

“A lot of the players want to see coach Luke,” Brown said. “We would be really upset if he’s not. We love that guy. We want him to be our head coach. Period.”

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Luke, who interviewed for the job on Friday, is known for essentially bleeding Ole Miss red and blue. His father, Tommy, played for Ole Miss, as did his brother, Tom. Luke turned down scholarship offers to walk-on to the football team and became a team captain. Later, he became an assistant coach with the Rebels and turned down offers from other programs.

He spent five years as Freeze's offensive line coach. Luke was also an assistant coach at Ole Miss from 2002-05.

This past season was his 14th as a coach or a player with the football program.

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There were some bright spots in Luke's interim season, such as the Egg Bowl win and a dramatic, last-second victory at Kentucky. There were also some sore spots, such as the second-half performance against Cal and a blown 24-point lead to last-place Arkansas.

Before the season, Luke admitted he'd have to learn as he went along.

Now he'll be tasked with guiding Ole Miss through a potentially dark future. A decision from the NCAA's Committee on Infractions could come at any time now, which could lead to another year without the postseason and player transfers.

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Luke is obviously the university's choice as a long-term answer; now, he'll have to prove he's the correct one. Ole Miss is on the verge of pulling in another low-ranked recruiting class, so there will likely be a talent deficiency whenever the 2016 recruiting class, which was one of the best in the nation, cycles through.

There will also be questions about what the staff will look like under Luke, whose lone hire on the current staff is offensive line coach Jack Bicknell.

Ross Bjork mentioned in the months leading up to this that he wanted a coach with a consistent identity of what they bring to a program. Luke was called on in a pinch back in July, so it remains to be seen what kind of form the program takes with him leading it in a full-time capacity.

Turnkey Search was the firm Ole Miss used in its search. It's the same firm LSU used last season when it hired Ed Orgeron, who was also an interim coach at the time.

With the hire of Luke, three jobs, Arkansas, Texas A&M and Mississippi State, remain open in the SEC West.