Jay Hopson

James Walter Hopson (born October 13, 1968) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach at the University of Southern Mississippi. Previously, he was head coach at Alcorn State University and an assistant coach at Tulane, Delta State, LSU, Florida, Marshall, Southern Miss, Ole Miss, Michigan, and Memphis. Notably, Hopson was the first white head football coach in the history of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, an organization made up entirely of historically black colleges and universities. Hopson played college football at the University of Mississippi. He earned four letters as a defensive back at Ole Miss from 1988–91, playing free safety for one season before moving to strong safety for his final three years. He was a four-time Academic All-SEC honor roll selection and was named to the Verizon District VI Academic All-America team as a senior in 1991.