Matt Luke named UGA football associate head coach, offensive line coach

Matt Luke has been named UGA football associate head coach and offensive line coach, the school officially announced on Tuesday.

Welcome, Coach Matt Luke! #GoDawgs pic.twitter.com/oNMRAiyfAY

— Georgia Football (@GeorgiaFootball) December 10, 2019

Luke replaces Sam Pittman, who left Athens to become the new head coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks.

“We are extremely excited and fortunate to have Matt join our staff,” said UGA head coach Kirby Smart. “He’s a proven football coach who has a wealth of experience on the offensive side of the ball, especially in the offensive line. He has a great reputation among those who have played for him and it’s obvious watching his teams over many years that players love him and play hard for him.”

Matt Luke was most recently the head coach of the University of Mississippi. He was named the interim head coach at Ole Miss on July 20, 2017 following the resignation of Hugh Freeze, and the Rebels would finish the season 6-6. The school removed the interim tag on November 26, 2017, and Luke would go on to lead the Rebels to records of 5-7 in 2018 and 4-8 in 2019 (15-21 overall, 6-18 SEC).

Luke was fired as the head coach at Ole Miss on December 1, 2019. The school would later name Lane Kiffin as the new head coach. Kiffin spent the previous three seasons as the head man at Florida Atlantic University.

From the UGA release:

A former offensive lineman at Ole miss from 1995-98, Luke began his career as a graduate assistant at Ole Miss in 1999.  His previous coaching stops which led to his head coaching position at Ole Miss included Murray State (OL, 2000-2001), Ole Miss (OL/TE, 2002-2005), Tennessee (OL/TE, 2006-07), Duke (Co-OC/OL, 2008-2011), Ole Miss (Co-OC/OL, 2011-2016),  and Ole Miss interim head coach (2017).  He was named head coach at Ole Miss where he served from 2018-2019.

A native of Gulfport, Miss., Luke was a standout at Gulfport High School before enrolling at Ole Miss.  He graduated from Ole Miss in 2000 with a Bachelor of Business Administration.  Along the way he served under head coaches  David Cutcliffe at Ole miss and Duke, Ed Orgeron at Ole Miss, and Hugh Freeze at Ole Miss.

Luke is married to the former Ashley Grantham of Oxford, Mississippi, and the couple has two sons, Harrison (born Feb. 18, 2008) and Cooper (born July 20, 2011). His father, Tommy, was a defensive back at Ole Miss in the 1960s while his brother, Tom, quarterbacked the Rebels from 1989-91.