Alcorn State’s head football coach Jay Hopson is moving down south. In a tweet by Bill McGillis, Southern Miss’ Athletic Director, he announced Hopson signed on to lead the Southern Miss Golden Eagles.
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Following Hopson’s hiring as Southern Miss’ coach, Alcorn State is tasked with finding the coach who can keep pushing the program’s momentum forward.
As Alcorn State’s head coach, he held a 32-17 record across four seasons. In his last two, he lead the Braves to back-to-back SWAC Championships.
Hopson has twice served as an assistant at USM – the first as defensive backs coach from 2001-03 and from 2005-07 as defensive coordinator under then-head coach Jeff Bower. After his first stop at Southern Miss, Hopson returned to his alma mater, Ole Miss – where he played safety from 1988-91 – for one season before rejoining the Golden Eagles.
Hopson, 47, will be introduced to fans and and media in a Monday afternoon press conference in Hattiesburg.
“It has been pretty insane, hectic”, said Hopson. “I’ll have the chance to talk to him real soon”.
He replaces Todd Monken, who last weekend accepted an National Football League job with the Buccaneers to become the team’s offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach under Dirk Koetter. The Eagles went 9-5 in 2015 with trips to the Conference USA title game and the Heart of Dallas Bowl.
The defense lost some experienced players, but will return linebacker Darien Anderson, defensive back Eric Foster and defensive end Stacey Garner.
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Southern Miss is set to open the 2016 season at Kentucky on September 3.
