Ole Miss set to hire Texas' Billy Glasscock as new general manager hours

Ole Miss saw its former general manager Austin Thomas return to LSU, yet again, last week. But, head coach Lane Kiffin didn’t waste much time finding his replacement. As first reported by ESPN’s Chris Low, the Rebels have hired Texas director of player personnel Billy Glasscock.

Prior to his time in Austin, Tex., Glasscock was in the same role at NC State. Before his time in Raleigh, N.C., he was the director recruiting operations at Minnesota on PJ Fleck’s staff.

Glasscock started his career as a coach in junior college. He had stints at Arizona Western and Joliet Junior College before serving as a recruiting operations assistant and assistant strength and conditioning coach at Northern Illinois for two years. Then in 2011, Glasscock followed then-head coach Jerry Kill from Northern Illinois to Minnesota to serve as the Director of Recruiting Operations. National recruiting analyst Tom Lemming named Glasscock one of five national Director of Recruiting Operations of the Year.

On3’s Jake Langi calls Billy Glasscock the “OG” in the college player personnel and recruiting space.

Last year, Langi wrote about his time spent with the now former Texas staffer and what makes him a great addition to Kiffin’s staff at Ole Miss.“

A pioneer in the college player personnel and recruiting space, Glasscock witnessed firsthand the birth and evolution of this side of the business. He was one of the first directors of recruiting in the entire country, so there weren’t many people who sat in his chair that he could lean on,” Langi said. “Glasscock had to create his own recruiting blueprint through trial and error. That same blueprint has been refined over the years and then borrowed, stolen, and recycled many times over by staffers all over college football.”

Joe Cook from Inside Texas echoed Langi’s thoughts on the new Ole Miss general manager.

“Glasscock was one of the bigger contributors behind the scenes in Texas’ recent recruiting efforts that saw the Longhorns land three straight top-6 classes and highly-ranked portal hauls,” Cook said. “The Longhorn roster is as healthy as it’s been since the mid-2000s heyday of Mack Brown thanks in part to Glasscock’s work as the director of player personnel.”

Not to be outdone, head coach 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.”

Texas has landed three-straight Top 10 classes under Billy Glasscock.

Furthermore, the Longhorns landed four five-stars during this span, including two high school Five-Star Plus+ prospects in Arch Manning and Colin Simmons. Texas has also been extremely vigilant and successful in the transfer portal. Quinn Ewers, a Five-Star Plus+ recruit himself, made his way to Austin after initially signing with Ohio State. AD Mitchell left Georgia for Texas in 2023 and this most recent cycle, Glasscock was instrumental in the signing of several instant impact transfers:

• 4-star CB Andrew Mukuba
• 4-star WR Matthew Golden
• 4-star EDGE Trey Moore
• 4-star WR Isaiah Bond
• 4-star TE Amari Niblack
• 4-star LB Kendrick Blackshire

Austin Thomas was a huge loss for Ole Miss, but Kiffin swiftly responded and made a home run hire for the biggest season in program history. 

SOURCE: Berry, Zach. "Ole Miss set to hire Texas' Billy Glasscock as new general manager." On3.com - OMSpirit, February 1, 2024, https://www.on3.com/teams/ole-miss-rebels/news/ole-miss-football-2024-billy-glasscock-rebels-general-manager-texas/