Southern Miss fires football coach Will Hall amid disappointing 4th season

Southern Miss has fired football coach Will Hall, school officials announced Sunday.

Hall was 14-30 in four seasons with the Golden Eagles, including 1-6 this year. Assistant head coach Reed Stringer will serve as interim coach for the remainder of the season.

“We are grateful to Will and his family for their dedication to Southern Miss over the past four years,” Southern Miss athletics director Jeremy McClain said. “Will poured his heart and soul into this program and into shaping these young men. Unfortunately, the results on the field didn’t align with our shared goals and expectations.”

The 44-year-old Hall grew up in Mississippi and was a star quarterback at North Alabama, where he won the Harlon Hill Trophy as the Division II player of the year in 2003. He had success as a head coach at West Alabama and West Georgia on the D2 level and was a highly regarded offensive coordinator at Louisiana and Tulane before being hired by Southern Miss prior to the 2021 season.

Hall’s second team finished 7-6 and won the Lending Tree Bowl, but slipped to 3-9 in 2023. The Golden Eagles beat only FCS Southeastern Louisiana this season, and lost every other game by double digits.

“Our immediate focus is twofold: first, supporting our student-athletes throughout the remainder of the season, and second, conducting a comprehensive national search to identify the next leader for Southern Miss football,” McClain said. “This is a proud program with an outstanding history and a premier job in college football. We will find the next leader to usher us into a new era of championship success.”

Hall was the second FBS head coach fired Sunday, after East Carolina let go sixth-year coach Mike Houston. There had been no in-season FBS coaching changes prior to Sunday, though Utah State fired Blake Anderson for off-field reasons in July and Fresno State’s Jeff Tedford retired later that same month amid health concerns.

Southern Miss travels to James Madison on Saturday.