Less than 24 hours after dropping its sixth game of the season, Southern Miss gave its fans the answer they knew was coming but didn’t know when. The Golden Eagles’ firing of Will Hall marked the second coaching move of the 2024 season.
The hire seemed like one of sound logic when it was first announced after the 2020 season. Hall is from the state, spending his prep days at Amory under legendary Mississippi high school coach Bobby Hall, Hall’s father. He’s a Mississippi guy through and through, and he wasn’t lying when he’d tell you.
As far as coaches go, he’s as nice of a guy as I’ve had the pleasure of being around. He shares similarities with plenty of men I grew up around in South Mississippi. A former quarterback himself, there was a lot to love regarding the hire. Heck, 2022 was as fun of a USM season as there’s been in the last half decade. But that was the only highlight of his tenure, unfortunately.
Outside of that 7-6 season which featured a LendingTree Bowl victory, Hall was 7-23 during his time in Hattiesburg. He inherited a mess of a situation with a substantially subpar turnout of scholarship players in 2021, but he was unable to build off of the highs of 2022. The Golden Eagles started out 1-6 in three of his four seasons, with the latest being the last straw.
According to most recruiting websites, Southern Miss boasts a roster that’s in the top half of the Sun Belt in terms of talent, but that hasn’t translated to on-field success. Quarterback play has been the biggest flaw of the Hall administration as, not counting Frank Gore Jr. at “Superback”, 12 different signal-callers have attempted passes across the last three-and-a-half seasons. There was only one 300-yard passing performance, courtesy of Jake Lange in a losing effort at Rice in 2021. No quarterback was able to deliver anything above average performances in the Black and Gold under Hall.
During a three game stretch between Sept. 21 and Oct. 12, the Golden Eagles only converted one third down in each contest. This comes after Hall relinquished play-calling duties last season and hired Chip Long as USM’s offensive coordinator this year. It just wasn’t working, and the defense, which was always a strength early in Hall’s tenure, wasn’t holding up its end of the bargain, either.
Aside from an FCS win against Southeastern Louisiana in Week 2, the Golden Eagles have allowed an average of approximately 38 points per game. Coupled with an average offensive output of 15.5 points per game in FBS contests, Southern Miss was just completely out of sorts this year.
It had been reported a few weeks back by BigGoldNation that the USM administration wanted to wait until the end of the season to make a change due to a variety of factors, including some dollar signs, but a 44-28 Homecoming loss to Arkansas State was the nail in the coffin. Assistant head coach Reed Stringer, whose son quarterbacks PCS for the Marion Countians with an interest, was promoted to interim head coach, and away he goes.
It will be interesting to see which direction the once-proud program goes in during this year’s hiring cycle, as conference realignment, the transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness have completely changed the sport as we once knew it. It will be USM AD Jeremy McClain’s first major outside coaching hire in this new era.
There have been numerous names already floated as potential candidates, including former Golden Eagle Patrick Surtain, who currently serves as the defensive backs coach for Florida State. That would be a gamble, but I’m sure most fans would welcome back one of the program’s legends with open arms.
One name in particular that has seemingly gained steam is Bill Clark, the former UAB head coach. He previously stepped away from coaching a couple of years ago due to health reasons, leading to Trent Dilfer coming in and ruining everything he built. Clark brought the Blazers back from the dead, literally, as he made UAB a winner after it did away with its football program for a number of years. If he is a legitimate candidate, that’d be one that I’d bring in for a second interview. He’s a winner.
The Pickoff
Well, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred got his wish with this year’s World Series. The Los Angeles Dodgers square off against the New York Yankees in what should be one of the most talked about Fall Classics in recent memory.
Both teams entered as the top seed in the American League and National League, respectively, which is a stark contrast from last year’s Wild Card-fest between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Texas Rangers. It was a fun story last year despite critics who whine about TV ratings, but this is big-time, big market baseball with the game’s two brightest stars.
Seeing Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge face off will be worth the price of admission itself, not to mention the other All-stars on each team. Mookie Betts, Juan Soto, Will Smith, Giancarlo Stanton, Freddie Freeman, Gleyber Torres, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Gerrit Cole make up some of this series’ top names, and there’s more where that came from.
The Yankees have the better top-level hitters with Stanton, Judge and Soto, while the Dodgers boast a more complete lineup with an excellent bullpen as well. The Yankees have a strong ‘pen as well, but it’s starting pitching where New York has the edge due to injuries in Los Angeles.
It could go either way, but I lean towards Los Angeles winning this series in six games. It should be a fun one.
Play of the Week
Who doesn’t love a good big fella touchdown?
In East Marion’s 36-0 win against Resurrection Catholic Friday, quarterback Caiden Belton threw an interception after a tipped pass, leading to a return. Wide receiver Caden Mingo showed up with a great effort play, ripping the football loose once again. Seeing his opportunity, Shamar Akins, the team’s center on that play, scooped up the loose ball and used a convoy on his 48-yard touchdown scoop-and-score. It was East Marion’s first touchdown of the game, and it helped the Eagles pick up their second district win of the season.
