Keith Carter - Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics - Staff Directory - Ole Miss Athletics

Staff Directory

Keith Carter

Title:
Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics
E-mail:
Phone:
662-915-7546
Alma Mater:
Ole Miss, 1999

Keith Carter, a former Rebel All-American basketball player and a decorated fundraiser and administrator for the Ole Miss athletics department, was named Vice Chancellor for Intercollegiate Athletics on November 22, 2019 by University of Mississippi Chancellor Glenn Boyce.

Carter served in the role on a temporary basis for the previous six months, having the interim tag removed after receiving a unanimous recommendation from the members of a highly respected search committee.

Carter’s first six years in the position have marked one of the most successful periods in the history of the university, producing two team national championships, record postseason results across all sports, four teams ranked No. 1 in the country and its three best finishes ever in the Learfield College Directors' Cup.

Under Carter, the Ole Miss brand has never been stronger, and that was evident during the landmark 2025 calendar year. Rebel student-athletes earned four individual national titles across three sports, while six teams achieved or equaled their best NCAA finish, including the first trips to the College Football Playoff and Women’s College World Series.

Golf national champion Michael La Sasso guided the men’s team to a top-four finish for just the second time as a program, while NCAA high jump titleist Arvesta Troupe led the men’s track squad to its best outdoor finish at eighth. Both basketball teams reached the Sweet 16, marking the women’s second appearance in three seasons and the men’s second trip in its history.

Ole Miss’ momentum under Carter has featured a surging football program that has posted four 10-win seasons in the last five years, including three straight for the first time ever. After installing defensive coordinator Pete Golding as head coach following the regular season, the 2025 Rebels thrived in the postseason to cap the greatest campaign of the modern era, advancing to the CFP semifinals while winning a school-record 13 games (13-2).

Carter’s booming culture resulted in arguably its greatest athletics season ever in 2021-22, headlined by a Men’s College World Series championship, its first 10-win football regular season and an Allstate Sugar Bowl appearance. With 16 of the 18 Rebel teams reaching the NCAA Tournament, Ole Miss earned a record finish in the Learfield Cup for the second straight year at No. 20, the highest ever for a school from the state of Mississippi.

In 2020-21 with Carter steering the athletics department through the COVID-19 pandemic, the Rebels excelled with 17 of the 18 programs advancing to the postseason en route to a 22nd-place finish in the Learfield Cup standings. Highlighting the banner year was the first outright NCAA team title in school history by the women's golf team. Other Ole Miss squads achieving at a high level included Rifle finishing third in the nation; Track & Field/Cross Country earning a third-place finish for the men and seventh for the women from the USTFCCCA; and Baseball, Soccer and Men’s Tennis reaching the NCAA rounds of 16.

Rebel student athletes have also excelled outside of competition under Carter. In November, Ole Miss Athletics achieved a record-setting 94 percent graduation success rate, three points above the national single-cohort rate of 91 and tied for third in the SEC, with six of teams posting a perfect 100 percent GSR. The Rebels’ Academic Progress Rate, a team-based measurement of student-athletes’ success in the classroom, has exceeded national averages for three consecutive year.

Carter’s administration made a monumental announcement in December 2021 and formally launched the CHAMPIONS.NOW. capital campaign. The campaign impacts several key facilities throughout the athletics department, including a $45 million renovation of the Olivia and Archie Manning Athletics Performance Center that was completed in July 2023 and the $32 million construction of the new Ole Miss Softball Stadium that opened in February 2025. Other projects in the near future include the Ole Miss Soccer Stadium and Ole Miss Golf Complex.

Carter’s tenure has also included innovation in the subject of name, image and likeness. It started with the implementation of Next Level, a comprehensive program that empowers Ole Miss student-athletes with the knowledge and resources to elevate their brand and platform. In addition, the Grove Collective is ranked among the nation’s top-10 collectives according to On3 and is the only collective selected to testify in front of Congress at an NIL hearing.

The 2016 Fundraiser of the Year Award from the National Association of Athletic Development Directors (NAADD), Carter’s impact in fundraising has continued since his rise to athletics director. The last two fiscal years have produced the second and third-highest giving years in department history and featured four of the five largest gifts ever to Athletics.

Before assuming the athletics director chair, Carter served as Ole Miss Deputy A.D. for Development and Resource Acquisition since February 2018. He was the Chief Revenue Officer for the athletics department while overseeing the Athletics Foundation and serving as the sport administrator for baseball and men's basketball.

Carter’s rise through the athletics ranks was swift and distinguished. He joined the Ole Miss Athletics Foundation in September 2009, when he was hired by then director Danny White (current Tennessee A.D.) and worked alongside Allen Greene (current Pitt A.D.). In less than three years, Carter was named OMAF Executive Director in June 2012 by then A.D. Ross Bjork (now at Ohio State) and served in that role until his own appointment as athletics director.

Under Carter’s guidance, the Foundation experienced what was then its four highest years for donations, including a record $45.6 million in cash contributions in 2015-16. During his tenure, commitments to the Forward Together capital campaign increased from $62 to $180.8 million in cash and pledges toward its goal of $200 million.

Among the major gifts was a $25 million gift from Jerry "Doc" Hollingsworth, which included $10 million in cash, the largest gift in the history of the Ole Miss athletics department by a single individual or organization. Carter was also responsible for several other seven-figure gifts including a $3.7 million anonymous gift, and a $2 million gift to the re-name the basketball practice facility to the Tuohy Basketball Center. He worked with executive level staff to build the vision for facility growth through the Forward Together campaign, which included plans for the $96.5 million Pavilion at Ole Miss.

Carter joined the Ole Miss Athletics Foundation after spending the previous year with the UM Foundation, where he worked in donor relations and meeting the financial needs of the School of Business.

A four-year starter at Ole Miss, Carter helped the Rebels to a pair of Southeastern Conference Western Division titles in 1997 and 1998 and earned All-America honors after his senior season in 1999. The four-year starter received All-SEC first and second team honors in 1998 and 1999. He also won a gold medal as a member of the U.S. national team at the 1998 Goodwill Games. Carter played professional basketball in Italy from 2001 until 2008.

A native of Perryville, Arkansas, Carter lives in Oxford with his wife, Jill, and three children – Drew, Callie and Hayes.