Will Hall Joins Mark Hudspeth at Louisiana-Lafayette as Offensive Coordinator

LAFAYETTE, La. (WCBI/ULL Athletics) – Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns football coach Mark Hudspeth announced on Wednesday that former University of West Georgia head coach Will Hall will join the staff as offensive coordinator for the 2017 season.

The hiring of Hall, a native of Amory, Miss., is subject to approval from the University of Louisiana Board of Supervisors.

Hudspeth also shuffled his current staff, announcing that Jorge Munoz will move to wide receivers coach, Michael Desormeaux will move to running backs, Marquase Lovings will move to defensive ends and Levorn Harbin moving to defensive tackles.

Hall, who spent the past three seasons as head coach at West Georgia, lead the Wolves to a 31-9 record, the first Gulf South Conference title since 2000 and a pair of NCAA Division II semifinal appearances. His first two seasons at UWG produced a pair of 12-win seasons before finishing 7-4 in 2016.

Prior to taking the job at UWG, Hall was head coach for three seasons at Gulf South Conference rival West Alabama where he posted a 25-11 record and led the Tigers to a pair of playoff appearances. Prior to his ascension to the head coaching position at UWA, Hall was the Tigers’ offensive coordinator for three years, where his teams helped rewrite the school record books.

Hall enjoyed successful stints on the coaching staff at Arkansas-Monticello, Southwest Baptist, Henderson State, and Presbyterian. Hall’s achievements in the coaching profession are a carryover from his career on the playing field at GSC rival North Alabama, where he played for Hudspeth.

“We are excited about Will joining our staff,” Hudspeth said. “Will’s experience as a head coach, offense coordinator, and play caller will be a great addition to our program. He has always had very successful innovative offenses that have helped him become a successful head coach.

“He also has the strongest recruiting ties of any coach in the country in the state of Mississippi, which is one of our top secondary recruiting areas outside of Louisiana.”

Munoz, who spent the 2016 season as the Ragin’ Cajuns offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, moves back to receivers coach where he served from 2011-15.

His work with the Ragin’ Cajuns wide receivers from 2011-15 was exemplary. Despite not having the team’s top receiver – Jamal Robinson – in the lineup for much of the 2014 season due to injury, four players stepped up and caught 30 or more passes each.

With Robinson back in the lineup for the 2015 season, four Cajuns caught 30 or more passes on the season, with Robinson grabbing 54 passes and earning first-team All-Sun Belt Conference honors.

“Jorge has been an outstanding and important part of our program’s success in the past six years,” Hudspeth said. “He is an outstanding recruiter and coach, and his success of developing wide receivers like Jamal Robinson, Darryl Surgent, Harry Peoples and Javone Lawson is widely documented.”

Desormeaux, who served as receivers coach in 2016, will enter his second year on the Ragin’ Cajuns staff after a successful three-year stint as head coach at Lafayette’s Ascension Episcopal School.

In his first season with the Ragin’ Cajuns, Desormeaux helped in the development of Al Riles, who earned first-team All-Sun Belt Conference honors, along with young receivers Kennan Barnes, Ja’Marcus Bradley and Michael Jacquet.

During his career at UL, Desormeaux passed for 3,893 yards and 23 TDs while rushing for 2,843 yards and 16 TDs. He was named All-Sun Belt Conference three times as an all-purpose specialist before being named the SBC’s Offensive Player of the Year after throwing for 1,876 yards while rushing for 1,035 yards.

“It will be an easy transition for Mike to move to running back coach,” Hudspeth said. “As a quarterback, you spend your entire career working with the running backs, so this will be a great fit for him. He continues to do a great job for our program.”

Lovings, who joined the Ragin’ Cajuns staff in 2011, mentored running backs Elijah McGuire and Alonzo Harris – two of the top running backs in school history.

Prior to joining the Ragin’ Cajuns, Lovings spent four seasons at Mississippi State (2007-10), first as a defensive quality control coach before taking over as defensive graduate assistant for his final two seasons. The Bulldogs had several standout defensive linemen during Lovings’ four years, including Titus Brown and Fletcher Cox. Brown went on to play with the Cleveland Browns from 2008-12, and Cox went on to become the 12th pick by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2012 NFL Draft.

“Marquase was originally brought here six years ago to be the defensive line coach,” Hudspeth said. “He was a part of the defensive staff at Mississippi State under (former defensive coordinator) Manny Diaz and was always on the defensive side until he came here and coached the running backs.

“He has done a great job in coaching our running backs, but this will be a great move for both him and our defense. These moves will allow us to serve our players better while keeping staff continuity.”

Harbin joined the staff in 2015 after two seasons at Auburn and made an immediate impact where he was instrumental in the development of All-Sun Belt Conference performer Chris Prater.

Before his tenure at Auburn, Harbin spent seven seasons at Tuskegee University where he served as defensive line coach, special teams coordinator and recruiting coordinator from 2006-12. He helped the Golden Tigers to a pair of conference championships, beginning with a 10-2 record in 2006 before a perfect 12-0 mark in 2007.

“The defensive line was one of the most improved positions this past year,” said Hudspeth, “and with an area that has a large number of players, moving Coach Harbin inside will allow him to focus his efforts on a smaller group of players.”