The Golden Boy is being shown the door

[Coach34]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sources: Southern Miss is firing coach Will Hall. They are 1-6 on the season and Hall is 14-30 in four seasons there. <a href="https://t.co/mWfwu8Pm3b">pic.twitter.com/mWfwu8Pm3b</a></p>&mdash; Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeteThamel/status/1848139602797707317?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 20, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[BankerDog]

Several posters on this site stated we should pursue Hall when our HC job came open. Its laughable we have some of the fans we do.

[Coach34]

Several posters on this site stated we should pursue Hall when our HC job came open.

Yes they did

[parabrave]

Heard that from a couple of boosters at the beginning of the month. Told one of them Greg Knox was available. This guy, also a huge state fan, said that wouldn't be a bad idea since he was very familiar with south LA.

[Goldendawg]

OM can hire him as another Analyst.

[Todd4State]

OM can hire him as another Analyst.

That's probably going to happen by Friday at the latest.

[Todd4State]

Several posters on this site stated we should pursue Hall when our HC job came open. Its laughable we have some of the fans we do.

We would have been the laughing stock of the SEC after the introductory press conference. Would have been awkward seeing him after games talking to his Dad who would be wearing Ole Miss gear I'm sure too. Our fans would have loved that.

He's a decent OC and that's his ceiling. I wouldn't be surprised if Willie Fritz tries to hire him at Houston in the offseason. He has saved his ass from a bad OC before.

[SPMT]

Heard that from a couple of boosters at the beginning of the month. Told one of them Greg Knox was available. This guy, also a huge state fan, said that wouldn't be a bad idea since he was very familiar with south LA.

Good gosh our fans are dumb. Makes you wonder how they were ever successful.

[Todd4State]

Good gosh our fans are dumb. Makes you wonder how they were ever successful.

Well we haven't been that successful in football historically. Arnett's staff was at least half boosters friends so exhibit A on our fans hiring coaches.

[Johnson85]

Well we haven't been that successful in football historically. Arnett's staff was at least half boosters friends so exhibit A on our fans hiring coaches.

I'd be interested to know the booster involvement when Mullen was hired. That seemed to be the most buttoned up coaching search I can ever remember paying attention to. Don't now if we just moved too quickly once we targeted Mullen for leaks to happen but there wasn't anything that search like there was in subsequent searches and it doesn't seem like other schools do any better.

Of course booster involvement might would have helped when Cohen was doing the hiring. Moorhead and then offering Judge was a hell of a lack of accountability.

[Coach34]

it leaked about us talking to and offering Chris Peterson before Mullen

[StarkVegasSteve]

I'd be interested to know the booster involvement when Mullen was hired. That seemed to be the most buttoned up coaching search I can ever remember paying attention to. Don't now if we just moved too quickly once we targeted Mullen for leaks to happen but there wasn't anything that search like there was in subsequent searches and it doesn't seem like other schools do any better.

Of course booster involvement might would have helped when Cohen was doing the hiring. Moorhead and then offering Judge was a hell of a lack of accountability.

It was buttoned up tight until it got through the cracks that we were meeting with Chris Peterson. Once that happened, Byrne shut everything down and everyone out.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Back to the USM front, I find it laughable some of their fans think they're going to get Brendan Marrion, OC at UNLV, to come be their HC. That's right up there with folks thinking Bob Stoops was going to come be our HC. They're going to have to get lucky or find a MS guy who wants to see a MS team succeed. They have no money and very little fan support. Their only hope is that the Duff brothers decide they want to help out USM. I would call Matt Luke if I was them. He's from Gulfport. He recruited at a decent level at OM and wasn't bad as a HC. Hell he was 15-21 with ZERO defense and very little outside of AJ and DK on offense. The other thing about Matt is that he can put together a staff because he's done it before. I really believe their only hope is someone like that. I mean MAYBE Joe Judge would do it. I doubt it though. Will Hall was kind of the perfect storm for them. A MS kid who always wanted to lead a MS program.

[Johnson85]

it leaked about us talking to and offering Chris Peterson before Mullen

It leaked but depending on who you believe, it leaked when they thought it was a done deal. Mullen leaked too when it was a done deal I think but it was happening so fast at that point that I think he was basically headed to the airport before it leaked.

I'm not saying it was perfect, but wayyyy better than any recent search I've paid attention to. It may be that agents are less trustworthy now because a lot of leaks and fake leaks seem to come from agents trying to leverage an offer into more money with their current school. Not sure what you can do about that. Maybe if SEC ADs had an agreement to name and shame agents that leaked it would help. But at the end of the day, no AD is going to claim that they are skipping on what might be the best candidate because they can't trust the agent.

[Johnson85]

Back to the USM front, I find it laughable some of their fans think they're going to get Brendan Marrion, OC at UNLV, to come be their HC. That's right up there with folks thinking Bob Stoops was going to come be our HC. They're going to have to get lucky or find a MS guy who wants to see a MS team succeed. They have no money and very little fan support. Their only hope is that the Duff brothers decide they want to help out USM. I would call Matt Luke if I was them. He's from Gulfport. He recruited at a decent level at OM and wasn't bad as a HC. Hell he was 15-21 with ZERO defense and very little outside of AJ and DK on offense. The other thing about Matt is that he can put together a staff because he's done it before. I really believe their only hope is someone like that. I mean MAYBE Joe Judge would do it. I doubt it though. Will Hall was kind of the perfect storm for them. A MS kid who always wanted to lead a MS program.

USM is just in a bad place. They really aren't that much worse off than a lot of Sunbelt members, but they are worse off than ULL and USA and both of those schools are better positioned to take advantage of areas that have historically been their recruiting grounds. And there's not a sunbelt member that is just in a clearly inferior position compared to USM. Maybe Old Dominion? I guess App St and James Madison are relatively (and very) new FBS entrants but seem to generally be ok.

A retread with Mississippi ties probably isn't a bad option for them. Or somebody running a gimmick offense. Going to be hard to find somebody with real upside as a coach looking to use them as a stepping stone in the current environment.

[Todd4State]

Back to the USM front, I find it laughable some of their fans think they're going to get Brendan Marrion, OC at UNLV, to come be their HC. That's right up there with folks thinking Bob Stoops was going to come be our HC. They're going to have to get lucky or find a MS guy who wants to see a MS team succeed. They have no money and very little fan support. Their only hope is that the Duff brothers decide they want to help out USM. I would call Matt Luke if I was them. He's from Gulfport. He recruited at a decent level at OM and wasn't bad as a HC. Hell he was 15-21 with ZERO defense and very little outside of AJ and DK on offense. The other thing about Matt is that he can put together a staff because he's done it before. I really believe their only hope is someone like that. I mean MAYBE Joe Judge would do it. I doubt it though. Will Hall was kind of the perfect storm for them. A MS kid who always wanted to lead a MS program.

Unfortunately for them Hall just wasn't a good head coach. I could see them getting Luke but he was burned out a couple of years ago so no idea if he would want it or not.

Best case scenario for them would be Bama firing Kane Womack as a scapegoat for this year and having him fall in their lap.

[Coach34]

It leaked but depending on who you believe, it leaked when they thought it was a done deal. Mullen leaked too when it was a done deal I think but it was happening so fast at that point that I think he was basically headed to the airport before it leaked.

I'm not saying it was perfect, but wayyyy better than any recent search I've paid attention to. It may be that agents are less trustworthy now because a lot of leaks and fake leaks seem to come from agents trying to leverage an offer into more money with their current school. Not sure what you can do about that. Maybe if SEC ADs had an agreement to name and shame agents that leaked it would help. But at the end of the day, no AD is going to claim that they are skipping on what might be the best candidate because they can't trust the agent.

No doubt Byrne did a great job with the search and as SVS said- he was pissed that it leaked (and sent to me to put out there). Only a very small few knew about Mullen until he had agreed to be the guy. Byrne crawled some ass after Peterson. It wasnt an agent but our own guys telling boosters what was going on. It actually probably worked out better for us that Peterson didnt take it. I dont think he would have done as well as Mullen did. Mullen focusing on making us a developmental program really was the way for us to progress as a program. That strategy is no longer available in today's college football world. It's bad enough on us- but damn near death for the Nasty Bunch's of the world

[StarkVegasSteve]

Unfortunately for them Hall just wasn't a good head coach. I could see them getting Luke but he was burned out a couple of years ago so no idea if he would want it or not.

Best case scenario for them would be Bama firing Kane Womack as a scapegoat for this year and having him fall in their lap.

Kane is obviously best case scenario but I don't think Kane is their problem. Now they may fire him to save face on DeBoer for another year. DeBoer is the problem and it's nothing that he's doing bad unfortunately. I think Saban ran as tight of a ship as you can run and now DeBoer has come in and tried to change the culture and the players just aren't as disciplined. I think DeBoer was just a complete 180 from Saban, and any coach would have been, but I think DeBoer is a little like Bobby Collins when he took over at SMU, oddly enough coming from USM. I think DeBoer got on a train that he thought was going 90 mph and it was going 900 mph.

They are going to have be patient with him to be able to get his type of QB into the program and I don't think they will be. I mean this is a program that went through 2 coaches to replace Bryant and 4 coaches(3 that actually coached a game) to replace Stallings. Saban won more than both of them. I said the day he was hired that DeBoer would last 2 seasons, and it's not because I think he's a bad coach. It takes a special kind of person to be in that pressure cooker 24-7/365. I think they'll go back to the NFL to get the next HC. My money would be on DeMeco Ryans, Dan Campbell, or going to get someone like a Mike Vrabel.

[memsu06]

USM used to have a pretty decent football team back in the Jeff Bower days. It was a very stupid decision on their part to fire him. He'd taken them to something like 10 straight bowl games.

I remember back in the BCS days they played #4 Cal so close it cost Cal from getting placed in the championship game.

Wasn't their motto "Anybody, Anywhere, Anytime" something like that.

Not sure how they handle the new world of college football though.

[Mjoelner34]

It was buttoned up tight until it got through the cracks that we were meeting with Chris Peterson. Once that happened, Byrne shut everything down and everyone out.

There was another name during that search too and if I remember correctly, he was above Mullen. I think in order it was Peterson (word leaked then shut down) then Kevin Wilson (OC at Oklahoma who turned his nose up at us) and finally Mullen.

[Coach34]

Wilson told us to get ****ed. And his career tanked. Haaaahaaaaaaaaaaa

[Offshore Dawg]

Several posters on this site stated we should pursue Hall when our HC job came open. Its laughable we have some of the fans we do.

Can't fix stupid !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Pancho]

Will will land somewhere as an OC eventually. It'll all depend on whether he chooses to relocate his family to another state or not.

[Todd4State]

Will will land somewhere as an OC eventually. It'll all depend on whether he chooses to relocate his family to another state or not.

Yeah. Maybe Ole Miss's next coach will make him the OC. You never know.

[CaptainObvious]

USM used to have a pretty decent football team back in the Jeff Bower days. It was a very stupid decision on their part to fire him. He'd taken them to something like 10 straight bowl games.

I remember back in the BCS days they played #4 Cal so close it cost Cal from getting placed in the championship game.

Wasn't their motto "Anybody, Anywhere, Anytime" something like that.

Not sure how they handle the new world of college football though.

It was Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime! Except Mississippi State. After the 1990 game, State admin said no more playing USM in Hattiesburg. USM wouldn't agree, so the series was canceled. But State agreed to play AT Troy and AT UAB and AT La Tech, so the buzzards claimed State was scared to play them. After State agreed to play AT UMass, the embarrassment reached a new high!

I hope State never agrees to play at Tech or Troy or UMass, or UConn. But with the new stadium in Birmingham and that being a fertile recruiting ground, playing UAB there makes sense.

And of course State is such a low level SEC Football program, we open 2025 in Hattiesburg and 2027 IN Troy! How ridiculous! And State plays AT USM in 2030! Wow! Is our administration already preparing to move down to the Sunbelt?😳😳😳

[RockyDog]

It was Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime! Except Mississippi State. After the 1990 game, State admin said no more playing USM in Hattiesburg. USM wouldn't agree, so the series was canceled. But State agreed to play AT Troy and AT UAB and AT La Tech, so the buzzards claimed State was scared to play them. After State agreed to play AT UMass, the embarrassment reached a new high!

I hope State never agrees to play at Tech or Troy or UMass, or UConn. But with the new stadium in Birmingham and that being a fertile recruiting ground, playing UAB there makes sense.

And of course State is such a low level SEC Football program, we open 2025 in Hattiesburg and 2027 IN Troy! How ridiculous! And State plays AT USM in 2030! Wow! Is our administration already preparing to move down to the Sunbelt?������

Missouri just played at UMass THIS year. How embarrassing!!! Good grief.

It’s gonna happen more and more. We paid for Toledo to come in and kick our ass. Smaller programs like us in the P4 have to do it. Ole Miss played at Tulane last year as did K State this season. Duke played at MTSU. Virginia played at Coastal, and Arizona State played at Texas State.

[Todd4State]

It was Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime! Except Mississippi State. After the 1990 game, State admin said no more playing USM in Hattiesburg. USM wouldn't agree, so the series was canceled. But State agreed to play AT Troy and AT UAB and AT La Tech, so the buzzards claimed State was scared to play them. After State agreed to play AT UMass, the embarrassment reached a new high!

I hope State never agrees to play at Tech or Troy or UMass, or UConn. But with the new stadium in Birmingham and that being a fertile recruiting ground, playing UAB there makes sense.

And of course State is such a low level SEC Football program, we open 2025 in Hattiesburg and 2027 IN Troy! How ridiculous! And State plays AT USM in 2030! Wow! Is our administration already preparing to move down to the Sunbelt?������

Rick Cleveland was the President of MSU won't play USM because they're afraid to lose. Then 2014 happened and we won 49-0 and it should have been worse if it wasn't for some turnovers on our part.

But yeah- I used to say Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime! (Except Starkville). I think one big issue in the series was USM played Alabama every year in Tuscaloosa or Birmingham for years. And this wasn't Nick Saban Alabama. This was Mike DuBose Alabama. If they were OK playing in Tuscaloosa every year why on Earth would MSU go play them in Hattiesburg? USM also has a history of price gouging MSU fans (and MSU and Ole Miss fans in baseball). It's obvious why but it's still shitty when they do it because they tend to go overboard with it.

Byrne had scheduled that game at Troy and I think Stricklin did UMass which we played at Gilette Stadium making it cool and very different from playing at USM and at the same time Byrne re-newed the USM series with Keenum kind of pushing it to happen. UAB to me is on par with USM except for the fact that it's in Birmingham which makes it more palatable.

I don't mind playing USM in football but at the same time it should be a once every 4-6 years thing and not an every year thing like we did up until 1990.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Rick Cleveland was the President of MSU won't play USM because they're afraid to lose. Then 2014 happened and we won 49-0 and it should have been worse if it wasn't for some turnovers on our part.

But yeah- I used to say Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime! (Except Starkville). I think one big issue in the series was USM played Alabama every year in Tuscaloosa or Birmingham for years. And this wasn't Nick Saban Alabama. This was Mike DuBose Alabama. If they were OK playing in Tuscaloosa every year why on Earth would MSU go play them in Hattiesburg? USM also has a history of price gouging MSU fans (and MSU and Ole Miss fans in baseball). It's obvious why but it's still shitty when they do it because they tend to go overboard with it.

Byrne had scheduled that game at Troy and I think Stricklin did UMass which we played at Gilette Stadium making it cool and very different from playing at USM and at the same time Byrne re-newed the USM series with Keenum kind of pushing it to happen. UAB to me is on par with USM except for the fact that it's in Birmingham which makes it more palatable.

I don't mind playing USM in football but at the same time it should be a once every 4-6 years thing and not an every year thing like we did up until 1990.

We had to play at UMASS because Tulane cancelled their game with us to take a bigger paycheck from Oklahoma. So we had to scramble and had to agree to go play UMASS. Stricklin was the one who renewed the USM thing and we had to agree to play there ONCE(2015) and after they made us play at 9 PM we said we'd never go there again. But of course, Cohen gave them a home game against us as his parting gift to Mississippi State. I had no idea we had to travel to Troy til just now. So that's another nice gift Cohen left us with.

[Johnson85]

We had to play at UMASS because Tulane cancelled their game with us to take a bigger paycheck from Oklahoma. So we had to scramble and had to agree to go play UMASS. Stricklin was the one who renewed the USM thing and we had to agree to play there ONCE(2015) and after they made us play at 9 PM we said we'd never go there again. But of course, Cohen gave them a home game against us as his parting gift to Mississippi State. I had no idea we had to travel to Troy til just now. So that's another nice gift Cohen left us with.

Yea, we've had some mucking forons doing scheduling. The UMAss thing was a result of us doing a deal where we got the last home game with TUlane and the buyout was too small.

I've got no problem doing 2 for 1's with G4 schools in nearby recruiting areas in decent places. I think that's just something we have to live with. I would say USA, UAB, Memphis, Tulane and USM are obvious candidates. Houston would be another good one although I guess for now the Big 12 counts as not G4. ULL is ok but ideally would not be playing them in Lafayette. Maybe a home and home with their "home" being the superdome would be ok, especially since Tulane is not playing there anymore.

Playing at a place like Troy should require the AD to explain why we ended up in that situation and couldn't manage a 2 for 1 somewhere decent.

[Johnson85]

USM used to have a pretty decent football team back in the Jeff Bower days. It was a very stupid decision on their part to fire him. He'd taken them to something like 10 straight bowl games.

I remember back in the BCS days they played #4 Cal so close it cost Cal from getting placed in the championship game.

Wasn't their motto "Anybody, Anywhere, Anytime" something like that.

Not sure how they handle the new world of college football though.

It was even more stupid than it seemed at the time. I can't remember their exact tie-ins, but they basically needed to go undefeated to go to a bowl game b etter than the ones they were getting into with 7 wins. It was either New Orleans, Memphis, and maybe Shreveport. When Fedora won 10 games, they were still going to the same bowl and they worked a deal for them to go to the freaking Hawaii bowl, which a lot of the players bitched about because it was too expensive for family to go to. Can't remember what allowed them to do that, whether it was the bowls agreeing to ignore tie-ins or what, but basically they needed to be the best G5 team in the nation and in the top 16 to upgrade their bowl beyond what Bowers was taking them to.

[Johnson85]

Wilson told us to get ****ed. And his career tanked. Haaaahaaaaaaaaaaa

Surely Wilson wasn't so dumb that he actually turned us down to wait for Indiana?

I completely get the idea of being a coordinator for a blueblood until you get the opportunity to be head coach at a school that's relatively easy to win at. Worked pretty great for Kirby. But what in the hell are you doing if you pass down any job and then go to Indiana?

[StarkVegasSteve]

Surely Wilson wasn't so dumb that he actually turned us down to wait for Indiana?

I completely get the idea of being a coordinator for a blueblood until you get the opportunity to be head coach at a school that's relatively easy to win at. Worked pretty great for Kirby. But what in the hell are you doing if you pass down any job and then go to Indiana?

Oh it wasn't that he wanted the Indiana job. He thought he was too good for little ole Mississippi State. He didn't get the Indiana job until 2011. He just thought his star was brighter than it was.

[Coach34]

Oh it wasn't that he wanted the Indiana job. He thought he was too good for little ole Mississippi State. He didn't get the Indiana job until 2011. He just thought his star was brighter than it was.

This

[CaptainObvious]

Yea, we've had some mucking forons doing scheduling. The UMAss thing was a result of us doing a deal where we got the last home game with TUlane and the buyout was too small.

I've got no problem doing 2 for 1's with G4 schools in nearby recruiting areas in decent places. I think that's just something we have to live with. I would say USA, UAB, Memphis, Tulane and USM are obvious candidates. Houston would be another good one although I guess for now the Big 12 counts as not G4. ULL is ok but ideally would not be playing them in Lafayette. Maybe a home and home with their "home" being the superdome would be ok, especially since Tulane is not playing there anymore.

Playing at a place like Troy should require the AD to explain why we ended up in that situation and couldn't manage a 2 for 1 somewhere decent.

The difference is Troy is a somewhat relevant football program compared to USM right now. Heck, Louisiana-Monroe is more relevant right now than USM. But State ain't playing at Monroe. As far as recruiting, playing in Hattiesburg doesn't help recruiting one bit. We already recruit that area. Now playing at Tulane makes sense. Recruiting sense. Playing at Troy. Nope. Playing at Army-West Point or Annapolis would be fine.

[StarkVegasSteve]

The difference is Troy is a somewhat relevant football program compared to USM right now. Heck, Louisiana-Monroe is more relevant right now than USM. But State ain't playing at Monroe. As far as recruiting, playing in Hattiesburg doesn't help recruiting one bit. We already recruit that area. Now playing at Tulane makes sense. Recruiting sense. Playing at Troy. Nope. Playing at Army-West Point or Annapolis would be fine.

Or go play Georgia State. Atlanta is a massive recruiting ground and you'd get to play in Atlanta.

[CaptainObvious]

Or go play Georgia State. Atlanta is a massive recruiting ground and you'd get to play in Atlanta.

Or Rice & Houston in Houston for recruiting and South Alabama in Mobile for recruiting. We do pretty well in lower Alabama and the western Florida panhandle. But Jonesboro, Ar. Is a hard NO!

[StarkVegasSteve]

Or Rice & Houston in Houston for recruiting and South Alabama in Mobile for recruiting. We do pretty well in lower Alabama and the western Florida panhandle. But Jonesboro, Ar. Is a hard NO!

Well Houston is P5 now but Rice could work. We just have to stop with the only playing MS schools. It goes back to my thoughts on we need to be recruiting OOS students at a similar clip as OM.

[Saltydog]

Unfortunately for them Hall just wasn't a good head coach. I could see them getting Luke but he was burned out a couple of years ago so no idea if he would want it or not.

Best case scenario for them would be Bama firing Kane Womack as a scapegoat for this year and having him fall in their lap.

Not sure I completely agree with this statement. His w/l's at Buzzard U were very bad but he had been a successful HC at every other stop he's made. I'm not sure in this day and age that anyone is going to win at USM. At least nobody has done it since Bower with the exception of Monken but all of that was pre NIL. Love him or hate him (or Bobby either one) but he's going to an excellent OC for someone. He'll land on his feet pretty quickly. Let's see what the next guy does in Hattiesburg. I'm guessing it won't be much different.

[Todd4State]

Not sure I completely agree with this statement. His w/l's at Buzzard U were very bad but he had been a successful HC at every other stop he's made. I'm not sure in this day and age that anyone is going to win at USM. At least nobody has done it since Bower with the exception of Monken but all of that was pre NIL. Love him or hate him (or Bobby either one) but he's going to an excellent OC for someone. He'll land on his feet pretty quickly. Let's see what the next guy does in Hattiesburg. I'm guessing it won't be much different.

I think Hall would be great at a place like Delta State. I think he would be an OK OC for someone. I think that's his ceiling.

[CaptainObvious]

Is Danny Boy talking to USM?

They do have a target!

[Todd4State]

Is Danny Boy talking to USM?

They do have a target!

I heard that they may be interested in Bill Clark. Which would be a really good hire.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I heard that they may be interested in Bill Clark. Which would be a really good hire.

From everything I have been told it will come down to Derrick Nix, Pat Surtain, and Matt Luke. Derrick Nix is the overwhelming favorite. They'll take a swing at Brennan Marrion because they have to and will probably take a swing at a couple of other big time assts but that group will be what the settle on. Clark is done coaching, at least at this level of it.

[Pancho]

luke has plenty money and would do it simply to move back to the state of MS

[Bothrops]

Is Danny Boy talking to USM?

They do have a target!

I really don't see any path to success at USM going forward. Path to mediocrity may be possible.