Ole Miss Makes New Addition to Recruiting Staff with Mississippi Native

OXFORD, Miss. — The Ole Miss Rebels made a new addition to their coaching staff on Monday, hiring Ole Dominion’s cornerback coach Dwike Wilson, who was just hired by the Monarchs in January.

Although Wilson is headed to Oxford from Virginia, he’s already made one stint as part of the Rebels’ coaching staff years ago. Wilson is a Mississippi native who spent his college playing career at Hinds Community College in Raymond, Mississippi. Once he left Hinds C.C., he made his first trip to Oxford, where he took a graduate assistant role and earned his bachelor’s degree.

After stints at Hinds C.C., Jones County C.C., North Carolina A&T, Murray State, and Itawamba C.C., Wilson got his first big job when he was hired at Indiana as the director of player personnel and high school relations.

He spent two seasons in Bloomington, and in that time, the Hoosiers managed a 14-7 record and finished at No. 12 in the final AP Poll of the 2020 season. After two seasons there, Wilson joined South Alabama.

He spent two seasons with the Jaguars, helping them match the school season record with 15 interceptions and 25 total takeaways. In his second season, he helped South Alabama reach the New Orleans Bowl after a 10-win season, which set a school record for most wins and conference wins in a season. The South Alabama defense also finished the 2022 season with the No. 25 total defense in all of college football.

After that, he made his way back to Mississippi by taking on the role of cornerback coach and recruiting coordinator at Southern Miss. Although multiple injuries led to two wide receivers transferring over to the cornerback position, his corps still recorded nine interceptions by the end of the season.

His second season was quiet, just like the role of recruiting coordinator, a title which he also held with the Jaguars. It was then in January when Old Dominion offered him the same position there, which he accepted before taking the Ole Miss job today, about eight months later.

Now, head coach Lane Kiffin and the Rebels seem to be hoping he can hone in on his skills as a recruiting coordinator in his home state, as they have now added him to the recruiting and personnel office.

It is still uncertain what role specifically he will play in Ole Miss’ recruiting efforts, but with some good momentum for Ole Miss on the recruiting trail already, he could end up playing a key role in some defensive players’ commitments in the future.

The cornerback position seems to be one of the Rebels’ weakest areas as of now, so it’ll be interesting to see if he can contribute to the addition of high-value defensive recruits and improve the DB room at one of his home state’s institutions.