Will Hall (born May 10, 1980) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach and former player. He is the head coach of

The University of Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

. Hall served as the head football coach at the

University of West Alabama The University of West Alabama (UWA) is a public university in Livingston, Alabama. Founded in 1835, the school began as a church-supported school for young women called Livingston Female Academy. The original Board of Trustees of Livingston Fe ...

from 2011 to 2013 and at the

University of West Georgia The University of West Georgia is a public university in Carrollton, Georgia. The university offers a satellite campus in Newnan, Georgia, select classes at its Douglasville Center, and off-campus Museum Studies classes at the Atlanta History Ce ...

2014 to 2016. He also served as offensive coordinator for the

University of Louisiana at Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and the s ...

in 2017. He grew up in Mississippi and attended the

University of North Alabama The University of North Alabama (UNA) is a public university in Florence, Alabama. It is the state's oldest public university. Occupying a campus in a residential section of Florence, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes ...

where he played

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

from 2002 to 2003. He won the

Harlon Hill Trophy The Harlon Hill Trophy is an award in American college football given to the individual selected as the most valuable player in NCAA Division II. The award is named for former University of North Alabama and National Football League player Harlo ...

in 2003. He began his coaching career in 2004 and held assistant coaching positions at

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

, Henderson State, Southwest Baptist, Arkansas-Monticello and West Alabama. Hall was promoted as West Alabama's head football coach on November 17, 2010, after the first retirement of Bobby Wallace. He served as head coach of the Tigers from 2011 to 2013 and compiled a record of and won a pair of

Gulf South Conference The Gulf South Conference (GSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the Southeastern United States. History Originally known as the Mid ...

(GSC) championships. In November 2013, Hall resigned his position at West Alabama and became the head coach at West Georgia. He served as head coach of the Wolves from 2014 to 2016 and compiled a record of , and in 2015 he won a share of the GSC championship. On January 18, 2017, he accepted the offensive coordinator position for the

Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns are the athletic teams of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The college has been competing athletically since 1901. The Ragin' Cajuns compete in NCAA Division I, fielding 16 varsity teams. Nickname The univ ...

Early years

A native of

Amory, Mississippi Amory is a city in Monroe County, Mississippi. The population was 7,316 at the 2010 census. Located in the northeastern part of the state near the Alabama border, it was founded in 1887 as a railroad town by the Kansas City, Memphis and Birmingh ...

, Hall graduated from Amory High School. Playing for his father Bobby Hall, Will led the 1998 Amory Panthers squad to the MHSAA Class 3A State Championship. After high school, he attended

Northwest Mississippi Community College Northwest Mississippi Community College is a public community college in Senatobia, Mississippi. It was founded in 1928. As of August 2008, Northwest's enrollment exceeds 7,100 students. There are approximately 3,000 students on the Senatobia ca ...

where he played quarterback for the Rangers for the 1999 and 2000 seasons. Both seasons at Northwest, Hall was named a

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

Football All-American. In 2000, he set a NJCAA record for total offense in a season with 4,075 total yards (93 rushing and 3,982 passing). Hall also set a NJCAA record when he threw nine touchdown passes in a 69–37 victory over

East Mississippi Community College East Mississippi Community College (EMCC), formerly East Mississippi Junior College, is a public community college in Scooba, Mississippi. EMCC serves and is supported by Clay, Kemper, Lauderdale, Lowndes, Noxubee and Oktibbeha counties in ...

in the 2000 season. After Northwest Mississippi, Hall attended the

where he lettered as

for the

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphic; adult ...

for the 2002 and 2003 seasons. Following the 2003 season he won the

as the top player in

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division II football. He won the award after leading the Lions to a 13–1 record en route to the semifinals of the NCAA Division II playoffs. For the season, Hall completed 71.8 percent of his passes in throwing for 3,531 yards and 30 touchdowns. He also rushed for 467 yards and five touchdowns. After participating in the 2004

Cactus Bowl The Guaranteed Rate Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that has been played in the state of Arizona since 1989. Played as the Copper Bowl from inception through 1996, it was known as the Insight.com Bowl from 1997 through 2001, then ...

, Hall signed a contract to play for the

Tupelo FireAnts Tupelo , genus ''Nyssa'' , is a small genus of deciduous trees with alternate, simple leaves. It is sometimes included in the subfamily Nyssoideae of the dogwood family, Cornaceae, but is placed by other authorities in the family Nyssaceae. In ...

of the

National Indoor Football League The National Indoor Football League (NIFL) was a professional indoor football league in the United States. For their first six years, the league had teams in markets not covered by either the Arena Football League or its developmental league, ...

for the 2004 season. Playing once again for his father, who was the head coach for the team, during the fourteen game season he passed for 2,046 yards and 44 touchdowns. Hall also rushed for 422 yards and thirteen touchdowns.

Coaching career

Assistant coaching career

Hall started his coaching career as the

quarterbacks coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, assistant coach, and the offensive and defensive coordinators. Common ...

Presbyterian College Presbyterian College (PC) is a private Presbyterian liberal arts college in Clinton, South Carolina. History Presbyterian College was founded in 1880 by the William Plumer Jacobs. He had served as the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Cl ...

in 2004. From Presbyterian he went to

Henderson State University Henderson State University (HSU) is a public university in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Founded in 1890 as Arkadelphia Methodist College, it is Arkansas's only member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. Henderson has an undergraduate enrol ...

for spring 2005,

Southwest Baptist University Southwest Baptist University (SBU) is a private Baptist university in Bolivar, Missouri. It is affiliated with the Missouri Baptist Convention, which is part of the Southern Baptist Convention. In 2019, it had a total enrollment of 3,280 stude ...

for fall 2005 and 2006 and the

University of Arkansas at Monticello The University of Arkansas at Monticello (UAM) is a public university in Monticello, Arkansas with Colleges of Technology in Crossett and McGehee. UAM is part of the University of Arkansas System and offers master's degrees, baccalaureate degrees ...

for 2007. In December 2007 Hall was hired to serve as

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

at the

Under his leadership, the Tigers' offense saw significant improvement, and by 2010 led the

in pass efficiency with a 155.8 rating. During his tenure West Alabama had consecutive winning seasons for the first time since 1991–92 and to the NCAA second round of the 2009 Division II playoffs.

Head coaching career

On November 17, 2010, Hall was promoted from his position of offensive coordinator to head coach effective January 1, 2011, to replace the retiring Bobby Wallace. In his first season as head coach, Hall led the Tigers to an 8–3 regular season, but lost in the first round of the 2011 Division II playoffs to his alma mater

North Alabama North Alabama is a region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Several geographic definitions for the area exist, with all descriptions including the nine counties of Alabama's Tennessee Valley region. The North Alabama Industrial Development Associ ...

. For his efforts, Hall was named the 2011 Gulf South Conference Co-Coach of the Year and was given a contract extension through the 2014 season. In 2012, Hall led the Tigers to an overall record of nine wins and two losses, to the second round of the NCAA Division II playoffs and to the first outright Gulf South championship in the history of the program. In 2013, he led his team to back to back Gulf South conference champion. In 2013, Hall led the Tigers to a share of the GSC conference championship with

. On November 22, 2013, Hall was officially introduced as the new head coach for the West Georgia

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...

. In his first season with the Wolves, Hall led West Georgia to the Division II championship semifinals where they lost to eventual national champions CSU–Pueblo and finished the season with a record of . He went on in 2015 to with share of GSC title (with North Alabama) and lose to the eventual national champion Northwest Missouri State. After he compiled an overall record of 31 wins and nine losses with the Wolves, Hall resigned his position with West Georgia and took the position of

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

. At Louisiana he was reunited with

Mark Hudspeth Mark Douglas Hudspeth (born November 10, 1968) is an American football coach and former player who was most recently the head football coach at Austin Peay State University in 2019. Hudspeth served as the head football coach at University of No ...

who was his head coach when he played quarterback at North Alabama.

University of Southern Mississippi

On December 2, 2020, Hall was officially named the head coach of the

Southern Miss The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a public research university with its main campus located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bachelor's, ma ...

Golden Eagles The golden eagle (''Aquila chrysaetos'') is a bird of prey living in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. They are one of the best-known birds of ...

Head coaching record

References

External links

Southern Miss profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Will 1980 births Living people American football quarterbacks Arkansas–Monticello Boll Weevils football coaches Henderson State Reddies football coaches Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football coaches North Alabama Lions football players Northwest Mississippi Rangers football players Presbyterian Blue Hose football coaches Southern Miss Golden Eagles football coaches Southwest Baptist Bearcats football coaches Tulane Green Wave football coaches Tupelo FireAnts players West Alabama Tigers football coaches West Georgia Wolves football coaches Amory High School alumni People from Amory, Mississippi Coaches of American football from Mississippi Players of American football from Mississippi