The search for a new athletic director for Ole Miss begins today (Oct. 30) as Chancellor Glenn Boyce announced the members of the search committee.
Ole Miss alumnus and retired FedEx executive Mike Glenn of Memphis will chair the committee. Glenn served as a co-chair in 2012 that found Ross Bjork.
Bjork left in May to take the same position at Texas A&M, and Keith Cater has served as interim AD in his stead.
The committee includes representation from the faculty, alumni and the M-Club. Members of the search committee, all of whom are Ole Miss alumni, 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.”
The timetable for the search has not been set, though the committee will move forward expeditiously with its work and recommend a candidate to Chancellor Boyce so that the committee can move quickly with the help of a search firm.
“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.
The University of Mississippi is one of the founding members of the Southeastern Conference, the most competitive conference in collegiate athletics.
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