Ole Miss Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics Ross Bjork will take the Athletic Director job at Texas A&M, as first reported by Dallas Morning News’s Ben Baby.
Both universities made official announcements shortly after the reports surfaced. Bjork will be officially introduced following the SEC Spring Meetings next week in Destin, Florida. He’ll will replace Scott Woodward, who left College Station for the job at his alma mater, LSU, last month.
“I am proud of the athletics accomplishments and the infrastructure improvements we were able to achieve during the last seven years, but I am most proud of our student athletes,” Bjork said in a statement. “Despite some challenges along the way, Ole Miss is a great place and i appreciate all of the support that every chancellor has provide and especially my strong relationship with Larry Sparks.We have built lifelong friendships and will always revere our time as Rebels.”
Bjork had been in his role at Ole Miss since March of 2012 and came into the job as the youngest AD at an FBS school at age 40. Since then, Ole Miss Athletics has seen a No. 3 football ranking, the opening of the Pavilion and NCAA sanctions due to recruiting violations.
Bjork will have more resources with a bigger program in College Station alongside second-year football coach Jimbo Fisher. According to reports, Bjork was making about $700,000 annually at Ole Miss while Scott Woodward made upwards of $935,000 in 2018.
The Dodge City, Kansas, native was the Athletic Director at Western Kentucky for two years before arriving in Oxford, and had previously worked as an associate AD at Missouri, Miami and UCLA.
The announcement comes just after Bjork and his staff revamped the football program with two high-profile assistant coach hires and had early success from basketball coach Kermit Davis.
Ole Miss interim Chancellor Larry Sparks now has the task of finding his replacement in an important juncture for the department. The administration will either hire a new AD permanently or name an interim until the chancellor search is concluded.
