Luke and Hall have ties that bind, but they're on different sides Saturday
Will Hall remembers the first time he met Matt Luke.
Luke, for his part, doesn’t remember the first time he met Hall.
Since then, however, Hall’s and Luke’s paths have crossed at several times in their lives and a strong friendship has blossomed.
Hall and Luke will be on different sidelines Saturday when Louisiana-Lafayette and Ole Miss meet at 11 a.m. at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Hall is the Cajuns’ offensive coordinator. Luke, of course, is Ole Miss’ interim head coach.
Hall’s first encounter with Luke came in Montgomery, Ala., in 1995. Hall’s dad, legendary high school coach Bobby Hall, was the offensive coordinator for Team Mississippi. Luke, a Gulfport product, was the team’s center. Mississippi won, 38-9.
“I was a young kid at the time,” Will Hall said. “I was there all week and I got to meet Matt.”
“I remember his dad being the offensive coordinator and coaching us, and I think we won, 38-9, and really got after them pretty good, so it was a pretty good experience all the way around,” Luke said.
Luke went on to Ole Miss, where he had a stellar career as a four-year starter. Hall, just four years younger than Luke, led Amory High School to the Class 3A state title in 1998 and then was a junior college All-American at Northwest Mississippi Community College.
"When I went to Northwest Mississippi Community College, Matt had just gotten hired out of school at Ole Miss as the O-line coach for Joe Pannunzio at Murray State,” Hall said. “He came and signed me out of Northwest. I was probably one of the first guys Matt ever recruited. We’ve got a close relationship from there and we’ve just always stayed in touch. We’ve really just developed a friendship over time and I think there’s a lot of mutual respect there. I really think he’s doing a great job in what’s not the easiest situation to be in.”
“He was one of my first signees ever as a college coach. Northwest won the national championship that year and that was my first year at Murray. We signed about five games from Northwest. I kind of lived there for my first recruiting class.”
Hall ended up at North Alabama, where he won the Harlon Hill Trophy, Division II’s equivalent of the Heisman. Hall’s coaching career included stints at Presbyterian, Henderson State, Southwest Baptist, Arkansas-Monticello and West Alabama before he became the head coach at West Alabama in 2011. He was there three years before becoming the head coach at West Georgia for three seasons. Hall joined the Louisiana-Lafayette staff as offensive coordinator in December.
“I have a lot of respect for what he’s been able to accomplish — the Division II Heisman, obviously becoming a young head coach,” Luke said. “I’ve followed him everywhere he’s been. I’ve always followed his career and I have a lot of respect for him and his family.”
That respect is mutual. Hall has followed Ole Miss from afar this season, noticing how hard his friend’s team has played for him despite difficult circumstances.
“I think it’s incredible, especially when you look at them coming back and winning that game at Kentucky last week,” Hall said. "To me, that was an unbelievable coaching job. When you look at the losses they’ve had to endure, especially the way they lost to Arkansas the week before, to be able to rally the troops in the situation he’s in and get them to come back on the road at Kentucky and win that game like that, I just think it speaks volumes for what he’s doing.”
Of course, Hall won’t be in a mood to see good things happen to Luke and the Rebels on Saturday. The Cajuns are 4-4 and need to win two of their final games to get bowl eligible. That’s what’s on Hall’s mind as he prepares for yet another trip to Oxford, this time hoping to defeat the team he grew up cheering for.
“I did grow up an Ole Miss fan,” Hall said. "I married an Ole Miss girl. I grew up going to the Grove and all those things but man, when you get into the business and it’s such a volatile, hard profession, ultimately what matters is what you do with the kids and their lives. To the fans and the people that sign your check, that really doesn’t matter a whole lot. All that matters is winning, and it makes you almost numb to all those things like growing up an Ole Miss fan and all that.
“I do think a lot of Matt Luke and Phil Longo. They’re friends of mine and I have a lot of respect for what they’re doing. Maybe it’ll be a little bit nostalgic going in there Saturday but we’ve got to continue getting this thing back going like it should be. That’s probably all I’ll be thinking about, to be honest with you.”