Will Hall fired by Southern Miss football in 4th season as coach

Posted by Admin October 20, 2024 Football

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Southern Miss fired football coach Will Hall on Sunday, the team announced. General manager Reed Stringer will serve as the interim coach. The Golden Eagles are 1-6.

Hall was in his fourth year with the Golden Eagles.

He was hired in December 2020 after a successful run as the offensive coordinator at Tulane and was expected to bring over his offensive success to Hattiesburg, but that never happened. He led Southern Miss to a seven-win season in 2022, but the team regressed to 3-9 in 2023 and hasn’t rebounded this season.

According to Hall’s contract, he will be owed the remaining salary on his deal that pays him $824,000 annually and was set to expire on Dec. 31, 2025. It will be distributed in equal monthly payments and prorated for this month.

Why was Will Hall fired?

Hall was a star Division II quarterback at North Alabama, but it was oddly the one position he could never solve with the Golden Eagles. Each of his four seasons contained a revolving door at the position.

Midway through the 2023 season, after Southern Miss suffered a 55-3 blowout loss at South Alabama, Hall relinquished his offensive play-calling duties and it yielded positive results. Southern Miss nearly won at Appalachian State the following week, but blew a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter. The next week, it snapped a miserable seven-game losing streak with a win over ULM followed by an overtime victory at Louisiana.

Hall hired Chip Long as the offensive coordinator for the 2024 season in an effort to put more of his own attention to the rest of the team, but it didn’t translate into wins. Southern Miss beat Southeastern Louisiana in Week 2 but hasn’t won since. Three different quarterbacks have started this season due to injury and poor play at the position.

Southern Miss lost 44-28 to Arkansas State on Saturday in what was Hall’s final game. Fans chanted for his firing during the game.

Who will replace Will Hall?

Southern Miss will now be searching for its 23rd coach in program history. It hasn’t had a coach last five full seasons since Jeff Bower coached 18 seasons from 1990 to 2007. The Golden Eagles also haven’t won eight or more games since 2017.

Some former Southern Miss players that are now coaching in college include Derrick Nix (Auburn’s offensive coordinator), Deke Adams (Arkansas defensive line coach), Patrick Surtain Sr. (Florida State defensive backs coach) and Tyrone Nix (Tarleton State defensive coordinator). Todd Pinkston is the Kansas City Chiefs running backs coach.

The FCS route could be another path with teams like Texas State finding immediate success under GJ Kinne. James Madison also hired Bob Chesney from Holy Cross.

Will Hall contract details, buyout

Hall is owed what is left his contract that pays him $824,000 annually. He originally signed a four-year contract, but an automatic one-year extension was triggered after his first season.

However, some of that money could be clawed back if Hall finds another job. The contract states, “If Employee obtains employment of any type, the Buy-Out Amount shall be offset by the amounts earned from such employment during the Contract period (had it naturally expired).” Also, he must “make reasonable and diligent efforts to obtain a fair market salary for his services.” If not, Southern Miss could terminate his buy-out.