Southern Miss hires Will Hall as its new football coach. He’s a Mississippi native
Tulane offensive coordinator Will Hall has agreed to become the new Southern Miss football coach, the Sun Herald confirmed Wednesday morning through a source with direct knowledge of the decision.
Hall’s hiring was made official Wednesday afternoon with USM announcing plans to hold an introduction to fans at 10 a.m. on Monday at Reed Green Coliseum in Hattiesburg. Masks will be required for the socially-distanced event.
Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated reports that Hall won’t officially take over as the USM head coach until after Saturday’s regular season finale for Tulane against Memphis in New Orleans.
Hall brings head coaching experience with him to USM after serving in that role at a pair of Div. II schools, West Alabama and West Georgia. In his six seasons as a head coach, his team reached the postseason four times and finished in first place in the Gulf South Conference on three occasions.
He has a career record of 56-20.
In his two seasons as the Tulane offensive coordinator, the Green Wave showed significant improvement statistically. His offense this season ranks fourth in the American Athletic Conference at 35.4 points a game.
The low point of the USM season was likely a 66-24 loss to Tulane, which included 569 total yards by Hall’s offense. The Green Wave piled up 427 yards in the ground game, which has been an inconsistent part of the USM offense in recent seasons.
The 40-year-old Hall is a native of Amory. He played quarterback in college at North Alabama and won the Harlon Hill Trophy as the nation’s top Div. II player in 2003.
Hall has also worked as an assistant coach at Presbyterian, Henderson State, Southwest Baptist, Arkansas-Monticello, West Alabama, Louisiana-Lafayette and Memphis.
FootballScoop.com reports that Hall has already gone about the work of putting his offensive staff together. Liberty offensive line coach Sam Gregg is expected to take over as offensive coordinator. Desmond Lindsey, who spent time on the USM staff under Jay Hopson, will become receivers coach and Cody Kennedy is expected to follow Hall from Tulane as his offensive line coach, according the report.
Hall replaces Hopson, who resigned following a season-opening loss to South Alabama. Scotty Walden, who left in October for Austin Peay, and Tim Billings have served as USM’s interim coaches this season. The Golden Eagles are 2-7.
Hopson made $500,000 a season as the USM head coach, but athletic director Jeremy McClain told the Sun Herald earlier this year that the new head coach will likely have a salary that ranks in the top half of Conference USA.
Old Dominion’s Ricky Rahne ranks seventh out of the 14 head coaches with a salary of $775,000 a season. Seth Littrell at North Texas is the highest paid coach in C-USA at $1.85 million.
Hall is the son of legendary high school coach Bobby Hall, who led programs at Biloxi, Amory and Madison Central. He was 310-105 in 33 years as a high school head coach and has been inducted into the Mississippi Association of Coaches Hall of Fame.
This story was originally published December 2, 2020 at 9:08 AM.
