Jeff Lebby, the new Mississippi State head coach, doesn’t want to wait to succeed as he laid out his expectations for the program.

“The biggest thing is I don’t want to talk about being patient or, you know, trying to … put a ceiling on our locker room right now,” Lebby said on SiriusXM radio on Thursday. “I want to be as good as we can as fast as we can … that’s something we talked about with the guys in the very first team meeting.”

Lebby inherits a program that went 5-7 this year, a drop-off from 2 winning seasons in 2021 and 2022 under the late Mike Leach.

“We are truly in a race against ourselves to see how good we can be as fast as we can be,” Lebby added. “And you know, that to me is what it’s all about — getting these guys to understand and believe that we’re going to have an opportunity to win on Saturday.”

“So that’s the biggest thing. I think we’re going to be able to go get some pieces that we need,” Lebby continued. “I want our fan base to walk into that stadium really excited and walk out really excited and really proud from the product … that’s put on the field.”