Source: Southern Miss coach Hall to return

• Pete Thamel, ESPNNov 25, 2023, 08:00 AM ET

Southern Miss coach Will Hall will return for a fourth season as the school’s head coach, a source informed ESPN.Hall is 13-23 through three years, including 3-8 entering Saturday’s home game against Troy(9-2). Southern Miss won the Financing Tree Bowl last year and ended up the 2022 season at 7-6, the only winning season in Hall’s 3 seasons at the helm.Southern Miss officials have made the decision for Hall to return for the 2024 season jointly, a source informed ESPN, and the choice has actually been conveyed to Hall as part of continuous discussions about the program.Although there are some program modifications expected, Hall will return next year because of an administrative confidence in the culture he has constructed there and in the recruiting fights he’s been winning. “We don’t think that we are that far,”a source told ESPN.

“Even if the record isn’t where we desire it to be, we don’t think we are that far away from getting there.” There are indications of progress for the Golden Eagles, consisting of the promise of freshman quarterback

Ethan Crawford, the potential starter Saturday against Troy. Crawford, who is from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, has shown some early flashes for Southern Miss.The program also snapped a seven-game losing streak with back-to-back league wins earlier this month, topping Louisiana-Monroe and Louisiana in successive games. Recently, Southern Miss fell 41-20 at Mississippi State.Hall is an experienced head coach, as he had effective stints at West Alabama (2011-13)and West Georgia(2014-16), where he went a combined 56-20 as a head coach and had 4 combined postseason appearances.He came to Southern Miss after a successful 2019-20 stint as Tulane’s offensive planner. He’s a native of Amory, Mississippi, and played there for his daddy, Bobby Hall, a famous

high school coach in the state.