Dr. Hunter Taylor is a professor at the University of Mississippi (UM) and the founding director of the Mississippi Excellence in Coaching Fellowship, also known as Tomorrow’s 25. This innovative initiative, which partners UM with the Mississippi Association of Coaches (MAC) and the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA), is a year-long fellowship for a select group of 25 coaches from across the state who have demonstrated a positive, long-term commitment to the student- athletes in their communities. In 2023, Taylor was given the distinction of Official Leadership Development Creator for the MAC and the MHSAA.

Before joining the UM faculty, Taylor spent 10 years as a men’s basketball coach. He has coached in three Division I NCAA tournaments, advancing to one Sweet 16 (Baylor University); been a part of the biggest single-season turnaround in Division I for 2016-17 (Arkansas State); won a DIII conference division title (Trinity University); and captured City (Powell Middle School - Jackson, MS), District (Spring Hill High School - Longview, TX), and State championships (Bishop O’Connell High School - Arlington, VA) on the secondary level.

Taylor is the author of Draw the Line: Jeff Traylor, the Gilmer Buckeyes, and a Season Deep in the Heart of East Texas, which examines the impact a high school football staff made over the course of 30 years in three different rural East Texas communities. The idea for the book was birthed out of Taylor’s doctoral dissertation that sought to understand how six different championship Texas High School football programs were constructed by their iconic head coaches, along with how they benefited their communities.

In the fall of 2017, while serving as a professor at UM, Taylor began consulting Oxford High School’s football program. Using improvement science methods, he and head coach Chris Cutcliffe developed plans that sought to better foster a family culture, develop future leaders, and maximize the program’s on-field potential. After two years of working together, the program captured its first 6A football state championship in school history and Max Preps named it the No. 1 overall football team in Mississippi. Their work is documented in the leadership book, How to Build a Thick Institution: Organizational Lessons from a Championship High School Football Team, as well as their TED Talk given at UM’s historic Ford Center.

An accomplished scholar, Taylor was one of 59 leaders from across the U.S. to be named a Presidential Leadership Scholar by the Bush Institute and the Clinton Foundation for his work in education. He’s a former finalist for Professor of the Year at UM (nominated by his students), and most recently, he was named one of the top 40 leaders under the age of 40 by the Mississippi Business Journal. In addition to his writing and speaking, Taylor also serves as co-host of the sports leadership podcast, Coach & Doc.

Originally from the East Texas area, Taylor graduated from White Oak High School where he was an All-East Texas basketball player and the region’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He has an undergraduate degree from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas, a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Mississippi, and a Doctor of Education from Baylor University. After completing his Masters, Taylor spent two years on Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison’s legislative staff in Washington, DC.

His wife Brittany was also a decorated basketball player (and the homecoming queen) at Barbers Hill High School in Southeast Texas, and both sets of their parents were long-time coaches in their communities. His father Bruce was inducted into the Southeast Texas Coaches Association’s Hall of Honor in 2022, the East Texas Coaches Association’s Hall of Honor in 2024, and was given the Fellowship of Christian Athletes’ highest honor - the Coaches Influence Award - in 2019. Hunter and Brittany now have three boys of their own - Yates, Simms, and Knox - and reside in Oxford, MS.