Dr. Glenn Boyce, Chancellor of the University of Mississippi

Ole Miss Chancellor Glenn Boyce has formed a committee – particularly heavy on former Ole Miss athletes – to search for a new athletic director.

The committee will be chaired by Ole Miss alumnus and retired FedEx executive Mike Glenn of Memphis. Five of the six remaining members are former Ole Miss athletes, and Archie Manning also has agreed to serve in an advisory capacity to Boyce and to the search committee.

The search committee will include:

• David Dellucci, the former Ole Miss All-American baseball player and Major Leaguer, who works as an analyst for the SEC Network and now lives in Baton Rouge.

• Peggie Gillom-Granderson, the former Ole Miss women’s basketball standout and long-time coach, who lives in Oxford and is the Fellowship of Christian Athletes women’s chaplain at Ole Miss.

• Lawyer Jesse Mitchell, former Ole Miss football standout and past president of the Ole Miss M-Club.

• David Morris, former Ole Miss football player and founder of QB Country, an athletic training and development company in Mobile that trains NFL, college and high school quarterbacks at sites across the South.

• Ron Rychlak, Ole Miss law professor, who has served as the university’s faculty athletic representative since 2007.

• Wesley Walls, former Rebel football standout and College Football Hall of Famer, who played 15 seasons in the NFL and was a five-time Pro Bowler. Walls lives in Charlotte.

Glenn and Manning co-chaired the Ole Miss athletic director search in 2012 that resulted in the hiring of Ross Bjork.

No specific timetable was announced, but Boyce said he expects the search to move forward expeditiously.

“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 in a prepared press release. “The entire committee is committed to ensuring that we have the strongest pool of candidates.”

Former Ole Miss basketball standout Keith Carter has served as interim athletic director since May 27 and is expected to be a strong candidate for the permanent job.

Rick Cleveland, a native of Hattiesburg and resident of Jackson, has been Mississippi Today’s sports columnist since 2016. A graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi with a bachelor’s in journalism, Rick has worked for the Monroe (La.) News Star World, Jackson Daily News and Clarion Ledger. He was sports editor of Hattiesburg American, executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame. His work as a syndicated columnist and celebrated sports writer has appeared in numerous magazines, periodicals and newspapers.
Rick has been recognized 12 times as Mississippi Sports Writer of the Year, and is recipient of multiple awards and honors for his reporting and writing.