After the 1971 season, Gibbs returned to Ole Miss full-time as a baseball coach and football recruiter. In 1972, he coached Ole Miss to the SEC championship. The team set an SEC record for consecutive conference wins, and went to Omaha for the 1972 College World Series (CWS), and Gibbs was named coach of the year. Gibbs was named coach of the year again in 1977. Gibbs retired in 1990 with 485 wins, more than any coach in Ole Miss history, though this was later surpassed on March 9, 2013, by Mike Bianco.