Focus turns to the Southern Miss coaching search as woes mount in Hattiesburg
In what has been a messy college football season nationwide, it’s hard to believe another program has had a more chaotic campaign than Southern Miss.
The muddle of a season continued Saturday with a Halloween horror show that included an injury to starting quarterback Jack Abraham and a 30-6 beating by the Rice Owls at M.M. Roberts Stadium.
The contest marked Tim Billings’ first game of leading the program on an interim basis after he replaced another interim coach, Scotty Walden, on Tuesday.
The 30-year-old Walden stepped down this week to immediately take over as head coach at Austin Peay.
There was some early buzz that Walden had a shot to replace Jay Hopson as USM’s permanent head coach, but his candidacy never quite got off the ground despite leading USM (1-5, 1-2 in Conference USA) to a short-handed win at North Texas on Oct. 3.
Hopson decided to resign after losing 32-21 to South Alabama in the Sept. 3 season opener.
Perhaps the fifth-year head coach saw something that concerned him that night against the Jaguars.
Maybe he saw that there were too many flaws on his defense to salvage the season.
It’s possible Hopson was at a point to where he found no enjoyment in leading a program that would resemble a contender on occasion, but always trend back toward mediocrity.
Hopson may not be disliked by USM fans in the way that Ellis Johnson still is after his one winless season in 2012, but like Johnson he leaves behind a significant rebuild for whoever takes over the USM football program next.
As USM falls farther out of relevance this season, much of the focus will turn the 2021 season and who will be the next head coach.
USM football’s woes continue vs. Rice
USM went to its third-string quarterback on Saturday when Abraham took a violent hit on a 15-yard run up the middle in the second quarter.
His usual backup, redshirt sophomore Tate Whatley, was unavailable after taking his own hard hit at the end of the 56-35 loss at Liberty the week prior.
Billings turned to Trey Lowe III, a redshirt sophomore who transferred in from West Virginia over the summer. He played the entire second half and finished 5-of-6 passing for 57 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions.
Before Abraham left the game, he completed 12-of-17 passes for 112 yards, no touchdowns and one interception.
Billings said he saw Abraham after the game and that “he appeared to be fine.”
Very little went right for the Golden Eagles on Saturday, including an injury to USM’s top defensive lineman, redshirt junior defensive tackle Tahj Sykes. He was helped off the field, unable to put pressure on his right foot.
Sykes was on crutches at the conclusion of the game.
The USM defense again struggled to wrap up, especially in the first half, giving up 412 total yards to a balanced Rice offense.
Rice senior receiver Austin Trammell’s seven catches for 143 yards and three touchdowns was the most impressive aspect of Saturday’s contest as the Owls improved to 1-1.
Candidates to be Southern Miss football coach
Speculation will build in the coming weeks over who will be the next USM head coach, and there are several buzzworthy candidates still standing after early talk ranged from Baylor offensive coordinator Larry Fedora, a former USM head coach, to Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze, a USM graduate.
With USM falling behind 23-6 at the half, it’s easy to imagine much of the discussion in the bleachers Saturday at “The Rock” revolved around USM’s coaching search.
USM athletic director McClain’s goal is to have a new head coach in place by the end of November. Considering USM’s track record of winning head coaches who were previously offense coordinators, McClain may look to that side of the ball.
However, McClain told the Sun Herald this week that he’s open to hiring someone with a defensive background.
That would put Indiana defensive coordinator Kane Wommack in the discussion. He’s a former USM football player and the son of Dave Wommack, who once served as Jeff Bower’s defensive coordinator at Southern Miss.
The 33-year-old Wommack was a defensive coordinator at Eastern Illinois at the age of 27 and also held the role at South Alabama from 2016-17.
USM is likely to hire a coach on the rise and Wommack falls in that category with the No. 17 Hoosiers.
What about Coastal Carolina’s Jamey Chadwell?
Another name that’s worth mentioning is Coastal Carolina head coach Jamey Chadwell, who was hired by McClain as the head coach at Division II Delta State ahead of the 2012 season. He left to take over at FCS Charleston Southern in 2013, where he had a successful run of 37-14.
The 43-year-old has been at Coastal Carolina since 2017, and he currently has the undefeated Chanticleers (6-0) ranked No. 20 in the nation.
USM could more than double his Coastal Carolina salary of $375,000, but his stock is on the rise by the week and he may have more than USM seeking his services.
At Oklahoma State, there are two staff members who have Southern Miss ties who would be viable candidates to be the next head coach — associate head coach/offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn and running backs coach John Wozniak.
Fedora, Bower and Todd Monken were all staff members at Oklahoma State when they were hired by the Golden Eagles.
Dunn was on Fedora’s staff in 2010 and Wozniak worked for both Monken and Hopson.
Tulane offensive coordinator Will Hall, who has experience as a Division II head coach at West Alabama and West Georgia, also deserves to be in the discussion. The Green Wave embarrassed the Golden Eagles 66-24
Miami offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee will likely be near the top of a lot of lists at the end of the season, but it’s unclear if USM will be in that hunt.
McClain has indicated that he is willing to make a significant investment in the next head coach and his staff after Hopson made just $500,000 a year. He wants USM’s head coaching salary to be in the top half of the conference the overall budget for the staff to be in the top five.
That means USM is likely to pay its next head coach around $800,000 or more with more money in the pot for the rest of the staff.
If the next head coach builds Southern Miss back into a championship contender in Conference USA, he will have earned every penny.
This story was originally published October 31, 2020 at 5:59 PM.
