Why Southern Miss chose Will Hall and lured him in with an upgraded salary commitment
When Southern Miss formally introduced Will Hall on Monday as the school’s new football coach, athletic director Jeremy McClain wrapped up a three-month process that started with a long list of candidates and ended with a coach he is confident is the man for the moment.
USM announced Hall’s hiring last week, but his first day on the job didn’t come until Monday.
The Amory, Mississippi, native called the plays for one last game as the Tulane offensive coordinator Saturday, helping lead the Green Wave to a 35-21 win over Memphis in New Orleans.
In front of a socially-distanced and masked gathering of fans Monday, McClain explained how he started the search three months ago looking to replace Jay Hopson, who resigned on Sept. 7.
As he worked his way through a long list of candidates, he stayed focused on a “cheat sheet” that listed qualities he wanted in a new head coach:
▪ Great level of energy.
▪ Amazing leadership.
▪ Experience as a head coach.
▪ The ability to build a culture to lead and develop young men.
▪ Strong relationships in the state of Mississippi.
▪ A CEO mentality.
▪ A coach who has the “it factor.”
“Will Hall definitely checked the box when it comes to ‘it factor,’ ” McClain said. “You guys will understand that very quickly. It’s the old saying, ‘Winners win’ and everywhere Will Hall has ever been, he has won. As a player, as a coach, he’s a guy that gets it done.”
With a forceful voice and an upbeat outlook, Hall showed the energy and passion that got him the job.
“We’ve got to get this thing back together,” Hall said. “We’ve got the resources to do it and be back where we’re supposed to be. Everybody knows where we’re supposed to be. We’re supposed to be the top football-playing school in the Group of 5. We were Boise State before Boise State. We can be back to that again, but we’ve all got to jump on this thing. Quick making excuses. Quit being negative. Let’s get on this train and all push it together.
“We’re fixing to get it done.”
What’s Will Hall’s salary and buyout at Southern Miss?
As he went about the process of finding a new coach, McClain pledged to make a larger financial commitment to the football program after Hopson made $500,000 a year as the lowest-paid football coach in Conference USA.
The 40-year-old Hall, who was 56-20 as a Div. II head coach at West Georgia and West Alabama, has a four-year contract at USM that will pay him $800,000 a year.
The total pool for his assistants is $2.1 million, putting the program in the top three in Conference USA in that area.
If Hall leaves USM prior to the start of the 2022 season, the school will be owed $1.5 million dollars. The buyout would drop by $500,000 over the next two seasons.
If the State College Board or USM terminate Hall’s contract during the contract period without cause, Hall would receive 100 percent of the remaining salary as long as he makes “diligent” efforts to obtain employment elsewhere. If Hall gets another job under during the contract period, the buy-out amount would offset his salary if he makes less than he did at USM.
If Hall is terminated with cause, he would not be owed any remaining compensation.
Will Hall has an eye on USM this week
Hall starts at USM under the unusual circumstances where the team has yet to close out the regular season.
The Golden Eagles (2-7) are scheduled to finish the season at 5:30 p.m. Thursday with a home game against Florida Atlantic.
While Hall still has work to do to finalize his staff, he’ll take the opportunity to watch practices this week.
“I don’t want to be a distraction. I want us to win this game Thursday night,” Hall said. “I will be at practice, walking around and observing much like a scout. I want to walk around and see the guys move around, see them practice, see their energy level. I want to see how they work and start familiarizing myself with putting a name to a face.
“I want to start getting to know these guys individually. I want to start with the older guys and work my way to the younger guys. We want to get to get these older guys bought in and want them to stay so we create alignment from me all the way through the program.”
Hall arrives at USM with some familiarity with the roster after facing the Golden Eagles twice in 2020 — once on Jan. 4 in a 30-13 Tulane win in the Armed Forces Bowl and a 66-24 drubbing of USM on Sept. 26 in Hattiesburg.
An early goal for Hall is to make sure none of the key players decide to move on after so many Golden Eagles, including redshirt senior quarterback Jack Abraham, opted to transfer.
“(Through game-planning) I’ve got some past history with some of those defensive players,” Hall said. “Going through the interview process, I’d already jumped in the roster and started examining it, looking at where the pieces are from a recruiting standpoint and where we need to fill gaps.
“It’s a weird year with the COVID situation, and a free year for the kids. The first thing we’ve got to do is get the kids on this team right now to stay here. They chose to come here because they know what a special place it is.”
USM coaching staff additions
Hall has already made several additions to his staff, according FootballScoop.com.
Louisiana-Lafayette inside linebackers coach Austin Armstrong, who worked with Hall as an assistant West Georgia, is the apparent choice at defensive coordinator.
Central Arkansas defensive coordinator Chad Williams, a former USM football standout who also worked with Hall at West Georgia, is expected join the staff and coach defensive backs.
After FootballScoop.com reported last week that Liberty offensive line coach Sam Gregg was likely to become Hall’s offensive coordinator, the website is now reporting that Hall is focusing on another former West Georgia staff member, Emporia State offensive coordinator Cayden Cochran.
It was previously reported that Tulane offensive line coach Cody Kennedy is expected to follow Hall to USM and take on the same role in Hattiesburg.
This story was originally published December 7, 2020 at 1:59 PM.
