'A Good Evaluator': Lane Kiffin Explains Ole Miss' Hiring Of Mike Williams

The Ole Miss Rebels have found their new senior director of player personnel in Mike Williams for the 2024 season.

Since being hired by Ole Miss, Lane Kiffin hasn't shied away from doing the best thing for his program. It's what led to the recent hiring of Mike Williams to his staff for the 2024 season.

Williams, a longtime NFL scout with experience in the player personnel role, joins the Rebels as the new senior director of player personnel, per the team's official website. He spent over two decades building rosters at the professional level, so he should have a baseline understanding of what it takes to build a contender in the college ranks.

For Kiffin, it's much more than just building a contender. It's about making a program that carries significant weight at the pro level and coincides with top-level institutions like Alabama, Michigan, Ohio State, and Georgia.

"I just try to say, ‘Okay, this is where it is,’ and try to look at things a different way," Kiffin said Tuesday during his weekly presser. "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."

Williams heads to Oxford after most recently working with the Los Angeles Rams as the vice president of player personnel. Prior to that, he spent time on staff with the San Fransico 49ers under Jim Harbaugh.

Dec 30, 2023; Atlanta, GA, USA; Mississippi Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin celebrates after a

Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

As the college game moves toward an NFL model, where the NIL collective continues to run ablaze without any limitations, Kiffin plans to stay ahead of the curve by having Williams monitor the fine print. A simple contract could pay dividends between retaining one player or potentially missing out on two.

For Williams, who's been around the block with contract negotiations, this will be a moment where he can continue to build the Rebels in a more promising light for 2025 and beyond.

“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.”

Williams will join forces with Billy Glasscock, who Kiffin recently hired away from Texas to serve as the new general manager. Together, the duo should help Ole Miss remain a player in every deal moving forward surrounding deals based on offers from The Grove Collective.

"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.”