Here are 10 top options to be the next Southern Miss football coach
After 61 games and a fair amount of ups and downs, Jay Hopson’s time as the Southern Miss football coach has come to an end.
Hopson resigned on Monday after a 32-21 loss to South Alabama in the season opener — one of the more disappointing defeats in the history of the USM program.
There was plenty of buzz over the weekend about the possibility of Hopson being out after falling to a nearby program that’s never had a winning season, but his departure just one game into the season is still a stunning development.
There’s been speculation that Hopson was forced out, but I’ve been told that this was indeed a resignation. USM administration did not want to change head coaches one game into the season.
Co-offensive coordinator/receivers coach Scotty Walden takes over on an interim basis, and he can’t be discounted as a candidate for the full-time gig.
He brings an energy that’s badly needed in the program. Hopson, 51, was a good fit at USM in a lot of ways, but he wasn’t like the big personalities that played for Conference USA championships like past coaches Larry Fedora and Todd Monken.
When Southern Miss has won big in the past, it’s been coaches who had a history on the offensive side of the ball who were at the helm, including Bobby Collins, Jeff Bower and Fedora.
The challenge will be for USM to improve its pay for the next head coach. Hopson, who only made $500,000 a year, was paid less than at least three coaches prior to him.
With that in mind, let’s roll off some of the possible candidates to replace Hopson at USM:
▪ Kasey Dunn, Oklahoma State offensive coordinator — USM hired three consecutive Oklahoma State offensive coordinators in Bower, Fedora and Todd Monken. Dunn spent one season on the USM staff under Fedora in 2010 so he’s familiar with the situation in Hattiesburg. For the last 10 years, he’s been on the staff in Stillwater. He’s headed into his first season as the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State. He’s also had stops at Baylor, Arizona, TCU, Washington State, New Mexico, Idaho and the Seattle Seahawks.
▪ Larry Fedora, Baylor offensive coordinator — The former Southern Miss head coach from 2008-11 was let go at North Carolina in 2018 after a pair of disappointing seasons, but he has an overall career mark of 79-62. USM football reached one of its high points in 2011 when he led the Golden Eagles to a 12-2 season and a Conference USA title. Fan interest was at a high point during Fedora’s four seasons and he’d certainly be an intriguing hire if he was indeed interested in returning to Hattiesburg. USM would have to up its pay package. Fedora started at USM in 2008 with a base package of $650,000.
▪ Will Hall, Tulane offensive coordinator — The Amory native has experience as a head coach at Div. II West Alabama and West Georgia, compiling a 56-20 record. He moved up to the FBS level in 2017 as offensive coordinator at Louisiana-Lafayette. He coached the 2018 season at Memphis and is currently in his second season at Tulane. Hall knows how to recruit Mississippi and he’s the son of a high school coaching legend in the state, Bobby Hall.
▪ Rhett Lashlee, Miami offensive coordinator — This isn’t the first time that his name has popped up in association with the Southern Miss job, and he seems like an ideal target this time around. The 37-year-old comes from the Gus Malzahn school of coaching, playing for the current Auburn head coach in high school. In 2018-19, he turned the SMU offense into one of the best in the nation. He has also served as an offensive coordinator at Samford, Arkansas, Auburn, Arkansas State, UConn and Miami.
▪ Kevin Johns, Memphis offensive coordinator — Brett McMurphy of Stadium listed Johns as a candidate not long after it was revealed that Hopson was stepping down, and the offensive coordinator does make some sense at USM. As a former offensive coordinator at Texas Tech, Western Michigan and Indiana, he could implement a high powered scheme that USM is likely looking for. Johns’ offense has always featured a strong ground game — something USM was missing during Hopson’s tenure.
▪ Chris Kapilovic, Michigan State offensive line coach — He served as Fedora’s offensive line coach from 2008-11. He followed Fedora to North Carolina where he worked his way up to offensive coordinator, serving in that role from 2016-18. He was the offensive line coach at Colorado in 2019 and took on the same role at Michigan State when Mel Tucker was hired there as head coach in February.
▪ Tyrone Nix, Texas-San Antonio defensive coordinator — The former Southern Miss player and defensive coordinator under Bower came pretty darn close to getting the job when Hopson was hired in 2016. Nix has served as a defensive coordinator at both Southern Miss and Ole Miss, but has bounced around since being fired at Middle Tennessee in 2016.
▪ Scotty Walden, Southern Miss interim head coach — The 30-year-old has been given an opportunity to prove he can lead the program with 11 games remaining on the schedule. Walden is regarded as a rising star in the profession and he has youth and an offensive mind working in his favor. He became the youngest head coach in all of the NCAA in 2016 at Div. III East Texas Baptist at 26, finishing 7-3. If the Golden Eagles can catch lightning in a bottle the rest of the way, Walden will have a decent shot at having the interim tag removed from his title.
▪ Kane Wommack, Indiana defensive coordinator — While it seems likely that USM will make an offensive hire, Wommack would make the most sense if McClain is open to hiring someone from the defensive side. He is the son of former USM and Ole Miss defensive coordinator Dave Wommack and he played for the Golden Eagles as a fullback and tight end from 2007-09. The 33-year-old has served as the defensive coordinator at Indiana since 2019 and he worked in that role for two seasons at South Alabama. Wommack is on his way to becoming a head coach at some point and he would bring some badly needed energy to the program.
▪ John Wozniak, Oklahoma State running backs coach — A key part of Monken’s staff for four seasons, Wozniak makes sense from the recruiting standpoint and an offensive point of view. He was the receivers coach at USM under Monken, also handling special teams. When current Troy head coach Chip Lindsey was hired by Arizona State prior to the 2015 bowl game, Monken elevated Wozniak to offensive coordinator. He stayed on to coach receivers for Hopson in 2016 before moving over to Oklahoma State to handle the program’s running backs. He recruited Nick Mullens to USM and is currently coaching the nation’s top running back, Chuba Hubbard.
This story was originally published September 8, 2020 at 1:37 PM.
