Singer: Hall is making his case as a candidate
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Even after Oregon State played inspired football and nearly knocked off Colorado a couple weeks ago, I didn't think Cory Hall should be considered for the head coaching job.
Don't get me wrong - I think coach Hall is a tremendous recruiter, great cornerbacks coach, and his personality is obviously infectious. When I met Hall a month ago, I was blown away by his genuineness and passion, which I see on full display now as the spotlight is on him as Oregon State's head coach.
But let's face it, just four years ago he was a high school head coach. He's never been a college coordinator. Should he really be considered for the Oregon State head coach opening?
Again, I didn't think he should be coming into Thursday night, but now I'm a believer.
Should Scott Barnes hand Hall the job right now? No, absolutely not. But Cory Hall needs to be in the discussion as the Beavers' next head coach.
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Hall is inspiring these players to do things that Gary Andersen simply wasn't able to do. Guys like Omar Hicks-Onu and Landry Payne, who hadn't seen much of the field on defense this season, played big time football games on Thursday night.
Bright Ugwoegbu, who has struggled to live up to his high expectations placed on him pre-season, played a solid game, recording eight tackles and rushing the passer well.
Offensively, Oregon State has been much more versatile in their pre-snap movements and formations. How much does Hall have to do with that? I don't know. Since he's so humble, he won't take any credit for it.
But the Beavers handed the rock to Ryan Nall 19 times on Saturday and 24 times against Colorado. I have to believe that Hall had something to do with getting Oregon State back to their bread-and-butter of running the football.
To recap: I don't know exactly what Hall is doing, but he's rallying this team from a dumpster fire to a legitimate team in the Pac-12, which is what we expected coming into the season.
It didn't just take a head coaching change for Oregon State to reach that point. OSU needed the right man to lead the team, and that is Cory Hall.
Is Hall the best candidate for Oregon State? Probably not. And the Beavers will probably hire a coach from another school. But after what I've seen the past couple of weeks from Oregon State compared to the product I saw under Andersen, Hall needs to get a fair look as Oregon State's next head football coach.
And one thing I'm certain we can all agree on - Hall should definitely be retained by the next staff.
