According to 247Sports, Lane Kiffin is adding Joe Cox to the Ole Miss football staff to teach tight ends. Cox replaces John David Baker, who was named East Carolina’s offensive coordinator in December of last year.
This marks Kiffin’s third assistant coach hire in the 2024 offseason, following the addition of former Ole Miss cornerback and Cincinnati defensive coordinator Bryan Brown and former Illinois wide receivers coach George McDonald.
Cox formerly worked as Nick Saban’s tight end coach at Alabama. Cox was not retained by Kalen DeBoer, who was recently enticed away from Washington and named to succeed Saban following a record 17-year championship-tier stint in Tuscaloosa.
At 37, Cox has made four trips in his early collegiate coaching career, which began in 2015 as a Colorado State GA.
He was a member of Alabama’s College Football Playoff and SEC winning teams this season before coaching on the Sugar Bowl winning squad in 2022. Prior to his two-year stint in Tuscaloosa, Cox coached tight ends for his hometown Charlotte 49ers in 2021, before joining Will Muschamp’s South Carolina staff to teach wide receivers. From 2016 to 2019, Cox coached tight ends at Colorado State, where he helped reinvigorate the Rams’ offense and broke records.
Cox played quarterback at Georgia from 2005 until 2009, under former head coach Mark Richt. Throughout his career, he completed 56% of his throws for 3,016 yards and 29 touchdown passes. After replacing eventual No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick Matthew Stafford in 2009, Cox had the second-highest single-season touchdown pass total in UGA history. He completed 56 percent of his ball attempts, totaling 2,584 yards and 24 touchdowns.
As the offseason progresses, Inside the Rebels will give further football and recruiting coverage. On Aug. 31, the Rebels will face Furman at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium to kick off the highly anticipated 2024 season. The start time and television coverage are yet to be announced, but Inside the Rebels will be on hand to provide updates, notes, facts, observations, and more.
Mississippi finished the 2023 season 11-2 overall, setting a program record for most wins in a season, and 6-2 in SEC play, including defeats to the eventual SEC East and SEC West champions. At the end of the season, the Rebels defeated No. 10 Penn State 38-25 in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, finishing in the top ten of the AP and Coaches Polls for the first time since 2015, under former head coach Hugh Freeze. Kiffin is the first Ole Miss head coach since the legendary Johnny Vaught to have multiple 10-win seasons, thanks to what the Rebels accomplished this season and in 2021.
