Ole Miss hires longtime NFL director of personnel Mike Williams to staff
Ole Miss is recruiting hard for the 2025 class, but Lane Kiffin is also recruiting to his staff. On Tuesday, the Rebels officially filled a vacancy on the staff, hiring longtime NFL director of personnel, Mike Williams. The news was first reported by 247Sports’ Matt Zenitz.
Williams’ official title will be senior director of player personnel. The newest member of Ole Miss’ staff is originally from California and attended Santa Clara. He has worked as a vice president of player personnel for the St. Louis Rams for three years as well as a pro personnel director for the San Francisco 49ers for five.
He has also worked as a scout in the NFL for nine years as well as a recruiting consultant for San Jose State. Most recently, Williams has coached at Archbishop Riordan (Calif.) and has been the general manager and lead scout for HUB Football.
Mike Williams is the most recent big-time addition to Ole Miss’ staff.
Ole Miss hired former SMU general manager Alex Brown last month. His presence on the SMU staff was a big reason for last year’s 11-win season and conference title.
The innovative thinking and thorough scouting was a key cog for Rhett Lashlee and his staff. The Mustangs went from seven wins to the top of the American Athletic Conference in one year. In an exclusive interview with 247Sports’ Jordan Hofeditz, Brown explains his thought process when evaluating talent.
“So it’s about getting our staff trained up and getting their eyes right. So I take a lot of pride in how we onboard, like the new interns that we bring on, the student interns that we bring on, and then our scouting staff in general,” Brown said. “And even on the recruiting side, like Tyler Foster does a lot on the evaluating side because he’s done so much of that at his previous schools. So it’s more about training up the eyes of the people that work with you and creating those filters at each position.
“At quarterback, these are the traits that we look for,” Brown said. “These are the minimums because it’s not necessarily about like, ‘We want 6-4, 220 running a 4.5,’ right? Then you paint yourself into a corner.”
The Rebels also hired Texas’ general manager, Billy Glasscock.
Steve Sarkisian spoke with CJ Vogel about Glasscock’s importance.
“I don’t take it lightly of the work he did at NC State and building that roster, with the amount of draft picks they had at that time,” Sarkisian said. “So when I was trying to find somebody to fit in that role, I wanted someone who had done it before. When we knew we had to build this roster and construct it, I had an idea of what I wanted to look like but there’s follow through to ideas.
“I think Billy did a nice job with his team. They have got the right competitive spirit in their style of play, they have high football IQ’s,” Sarkisian said. “Ultimately, I think that our roster is highly competitive. They look the part and now we have to make sure to play the part. But we have the right people in place to go do that.”
