As one of his first actions as Chancellor at Ole Miss, Dr. Glenn Boyce has officially launched a search for a new Athletic Director. Former AD Ross Bjork left to take the same position at Texas A&M back in May.
Keith Carter has served as the interim AD following Bjork’s departure, and it’s unclear if Carter is being considered for the position.
As the search begins, the university has announced the formation of a search committee consisting of representation from the faculty, alumni and the M-Club. The search committee will be chaired by Ole Miss alumnus and retired FedEx executive Mike Glenn of Memphis, who served as a co-chair for the director of athletics search in 2012. Other members of the committee include:
- David Dellucci, a former Ole Miss All-American baseball player who enjoyed a 13-year Major League career and works as an analyst for the SEC Network. Dellucci lives in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
- Peggie Gillom-Granderson, legendary Ole Miss women’s basketball star and long-time coach, who lives in Oxford and serves as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ women’s chaplain at Ole Miss.
- Jesse Mitchell, former Ole Miss football player and past president of the University of Mississippi M-Club, who is founding partner of The Mitchell Firm, PLLC in Ridgeland.
- David Morris, former Ole Miss football player and founder of QB Country, an athletic training and development company headquartered in Mobile, Alabama, that trains NFL, college, high school and middle school quarterbacks in 10 cities across the Southeast.
- Ron Rychlak, professor of law at the University of Mississippi School of Law, where he has been on the faculty since 1987. Since 2007, Rychlak has served as the university’s faculty athletic representative and chair of the University Standing Committee on Intercollegiate Athletics. He also serves on the Athletics Diversity Committee and the Athletic Compliance Committee, which he chaired for almost 10 years.
- Wesley Walls, former Ole Miss football player, who went on to play 15 seasons in the National Football League and was a five-time Pro Bowler. Walls is a development partner at Collett, a commercial real estate firm in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Ole Miss football legend Archie Manning has agreed to serve in an advisory capacity to the committee and Chancellor Boyce.
“On behalf of the search committee, we are honored to be involved in this process designed to identify the best person to serve the university in this key leadership role,” chair Mike Glenn said. “We have been charged by Chancellor Boyce to find someone with integrity, proven leadership in athletics, excellent management and interpersonal skills as well as someone who can be the public face of the university’s athletics department.”
While a specific timetable for the search has not been established, the search committee will move forward expeditiously with its work. The committee will recommend a candidate to Chancellor Boyce, who said a search firm will be retained to ensure a strong candidate pool and help the search committee move quickly.
“I have spoken to each of the search committee members, and they are ready to get to work in finding the right person to lead Ole Miss Athletics,” Boyce said. “The entire committee is committed to ensuring that we have the strongest pool of candidates.”
The vice-chancellor for intercollegiate athletics supervises a department with 18 NCAA programs, a $117 million budget, over 250 employees and almost 400 student-athletes.
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