As I stood inside the Trent Lott Center during Blake Anderson’s introductory press conference Monday, it was hard not to think about where we had all been exactly one year earlier — standing in the same building for Charles Huff’s introduction.
In just one year, Southern Miss found itself back in a familiar position, introducing a new head football coach and attempting to steady the program once again.
Athletic director Jeremy McClain even acknowledged the quick turnaround in his opening remarks.
“We are happy to be together — admittedly quicker than we thought,” McClain said.
There has been more negative reaction to this hire than I expected. So instead of reacting emotionally, this column is about why I believe Anderson is the right hire for Southern Miss right now — and why timing matters more than ever in college football.
Before diving into numbers or résumés, it’s important to understand this wasn’t a philosophical hire. It was a practical one.
Southern Miss is losing more than 30 seniors. Transfer attrition is unavoidable. The transfer portal is looming whether the program likes it or not. And with the new single-window portal rule, there is no spring safety net anymore for a new head coach.
This is not the moment for a first-time head coach learning on the fly.
McClain put it plainly during the press conference.
“We had a guy in the building that had been through these wars,” McClain said. “Especially when you’re trying to handle a large roster turnover, there’s no learning on the job to be had.”
That sentence explains the hire better than any résumé bullet point.
This job, at this moment, is less about drawing up plays — that will come next August — and more about preventing loss: preventing roster erosion, preventing panic, and preventing the slow bleed that can undo a season’s worth of progress in a matter of weeks.
Let’s be honest. If Southern Miss had fumbled this hire and invested in a coach with a solid résumé but no familiarity with the program, the region or the fan base, the results could have been disastrous.
Anderson has lived this reality before — multiple times.
He has taken over programs in transition. He has rebuilt rosters under pressure. He has navigated mass attrition and emerged with conference championships in leagues that look a lot like the Sun Belt does today: similar resources, similar pressures and very little margin for error.
Anderson didn’t sugarcoat the challenge ahead.
“We signed a handful of guys in December, but not nearly enough to even cover the seniors that are graduating,” Anderson said. “With Coach Huff leaving, we’re going to have more attrition. That’s just the nature of college football.”
He also made his approach clear.
“I don’t want to panic and make hasty decisions and take guys that don’t fit us,” Anderson said. “That’s the best way I know to ruin a locker room.”
Anderson makes the most sense if the goal is to continue what Huff started. The counterargument, of course, is that Anderson is now staring at the possibility of replacing more than 50 players in a single cycle — and hitting on nearly all of them.
That reality is magnified by the new single transfer portal window.
“It just makes it tougher,” Anderson said. “We’re all going to start with a very short calendar.”
That likely means a heavier emphasis on high school recruiting than the nine players currently signed in the 2026 class, combined with targeted portal additions.
And that’s the crux of why Anderson is the right hire right now.
Rebuilding a roster from scratch is hard enough. Doing it with a brand-new head coach who has no recruiting history at Southern Miss, no relationships in the building and no feel for the fan base might be close to impossible.
But Southern Miss isn’t rebuilding from scratch — and that’s the key distinction.
The program is hiring from within, attempting to preserve the core principles Huff established while turning the keys over to a coach with a similar fire but a deeper head-coaching résumé.
Winning the Sun Belt Conference championship is the baseline expectation at Southern Miss. Anderson has already done that twice at Arkansas State and once at Utah State.
That experience matters over the next three or four months — a stretch that may define the program more than any single Saturday in the fall.
Oh yeah — and there’s a bowl game next week, too.
College Football Playoff First-Round Picks
For the next few weeks, I’ll be giving my picks for each round of the College Football Playoff.
#12 James Madison at #5 Oregon
It’s cool that James Madison is in the playoff, but the stay will be short-lived. Oregon’s offensive line is one of the best in the country when healthy, and the Ducks’ defensive front should feast on JMU’s offensive line. There’s just too much talent on Oregon’s side and not much hope for JMU in this one. It feels like one of those games where JMU maybe scores first, and then it turns into an avalanche for the more talented team. Pick: Oregon 48, James Madison 10
#9 Alabama at #8 Oklahoma
In my opinion, neither of these teams has much business being in the playoff. This feels like the matchup for the casual fan who wants to see one of them get run off the field in the Rose Bowl by Curt Cignetti. Alabama is not a great football team, but it at least has an offense. Oklahoma simply refuses to score points. I’m expecting a low-scoring game where Ty Simpson makes just enough plays to get Alabama into field-goal range late. Pick: Alabama 16, Oklahoma 13
#11 Tulane at #6 Ole Miss
I’ve said all season that Ole Miss is a fraud, and of course the Rebels get rewarded with a quarterfinal berth as the No. 6 seed. I still don’t understand how they weren’t slotted seventh given their strength of schedule, but here we are. This game has a chance to be interesting. If a Group of Five team is going to pull an upset, it usually looks like this — a confident underdog facing a team dealing with internal uncertainty. Still, Ole Miss has more talent and is playing at home, which should carry the day. Pick: Ole Miss 35, Tulane 20
#10 Miami at #7 Texas A&M
This should be a banger, which makes it disappointing that it’s a noon kickoff. Texas A&M has faltered since starting the season 10-0 and didn’t look sharp against Texas or South Carolina. Miami, before losing to Louisville, was viewed as one of the most talented teams in the country. That version of Miami, now with a second life, is dangerous. But can Miami go on the road and win a game like this? I don’t think so. A&M squeaks by and punches its ticket to the Cotton Bowl in its backyard. Pick: Texas A&M 24, Miami 21
Tune in next week for my early quarterfinal picks.
