Coming to the ‘Sip | Lane Kiffin continues to assemble blue-chip personnel staff with hiring of Mike Williams, Joe Judge
OXFORD, Miss. — It is well-known that Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin has assembled a strong 2024 football roster, including the nation’s number one transfer class. But he’s also quietly assembling perhaps one of the strongest personnel staffs in the nation. This week, alone, Kiffin has added two more powerhouses, Mike Williams and Joe Judge, to an already loaded group in Oxford.
Williams is a former NFL director of personnel, while Judge is a former head coach of the New York Giants who also served as an assistant in the NFL and as an analyst for Nick Saban.
Kiffin had already made some monster moves during this offseason following the Rebels’ record-breaking 11-win season in 2023 . In February, he hired Billy Glasscock away from Texas, followed by the hire of former Mississippi State head coach Zach Arnett in March. Then, the Rebels added SMU’s Alex Brown, general manager for the Mustangs, to the staff in Oxford.
With the addition of Williams and Judge, the Ole Miss staff can be considered one of the best in the country.
“I just try to say, ‘Okay, this is where it is,’ and try to look at things a different way,” Coach Kiffin said of his staff-building Tuesday during his weekly press conference.
“You need to have really good personnel people because now you got, just like the NFL, you got all these investment pieces where people are paying players.”
Lane Kiffin on staff additions
With all the changes to the collegiate process, including collectives and NIL, the portal and multiple-time transfers, Kiffin is smart to add personnel experts who have experience navigating such waters.
“Great players got paid, but here’s another side piece that isn’t necessarily good,” said Kiffin.
“Players around the country, they’re at a place, but maybe other people may be wanting to come to that place. Then they got to figure out if they’re going to keep paying them or go pay the new players just like the NFL. Every benefit has a cost, and that’s one of them for the players,” Kiffin added.
Let’s take a look at the two newest personnel hires:
Mike Williams
Williams joins Ole Miss as the senior director of player personnel, according to the Rebels’ website. He is a longtime NFL scout who has over two decades of experience in player personnel, building pro rosters.
Most recently, Williams served as the vice president of player personnel with the Los Angeles Rams. He also was on staff with the San Francisco 49ers under head coach Jim Harbaugh.
Kiffin talked Tuesday about Williams.
“Another evaluation and a really good evaluator that’s got NFL background that (Jim) Harbaugh signed off on with me is really important,” Kiffin said. “So you put somebody like that, and then they’re scouting all the players around and your own players just like you would in the NFL.”
Joe Judge
At his most recent stop, Judge was an assistant head coach with the New England Patriots in 2023. Prior to coaching the Patriots, Judge was the head coach of the New York Giants for two seasons.
He spent three years at Alabama as an analyst and special teams assistant under Coach Nick Saban who retired after the 2023 season. Judge was on staff with the Tide as they won national titles in 2009 and 2011.
Prior to his time in Tuscaloosa, Judge spent one season at Birmingham-Southern, serving as special teams and linebackers coach in 2008. He started his career as a grad assistant under head coach Sylvester Croom at Mississippi State from 2005-07, after playing for the Bulldogs from 2000 through 2004.
Stars Everywhere
These personnel additions are combined with recent onfield coaching hires, as well. The Rebels have added new secondary coach Bryan Brown, wideouts coach George McDonald, and new tight ends coach in Joe Cox.
Stay tuned to The Rebel Walk for all your Ole Miss sports news. Hotty Toddy!
Evelyn Van Pelt
Evelyn has covered sports for over two decades, beginning her journalism career as a sports writer for a newspaper in Austin, Texas. She attended Texas A&M and majored in English. Evelyn’s love for Ole Miss began when her daughter Katie attended the university on a volleyball scholarship. Evelyn created the Rebel Walk in 2013 and has served as publisher and managing editor since its inception.
