Charlie Hall, the 16th head coach in the history of Southern Oregon University football, begins his sixth season 2022 with a 25-19 record and one Frontier Conference championship under his belt.
Hall's debut as a collegiate head coach was marked by the Raiders' perfect 10-0 run through the Frontier Conference, a trip to the NAIA Championship Series semifinal round, a postseason No. 4 ranking and a 12-1 overall record -- a seven-win turnaround compared to the 2016 campaign. He was voted the Frontier and NAIA Region 5 Coach of the Year.
Prior to its semifinal loss in overtime at Reinhardt (Ga.), SOU's 12-game winning streak was the longest in the school's single-season history. Only one other first-year Raider head coach, Al Simpson, had started his tenure with even two straight wins.
While continuing to post the offensive numbers SOU fans had grown accustomed to -- the Raiders ranked third in passing offense, 12th in total yards and produced the conference's offensive player of the year, Tanner Trosin -- Hall's biggest influence seemed to come on the defensive side of the ball. The Raiders ranked first nationally in sacks, takeaways and turnover margin, and they held every regular-season opponent under 30 points for the first time in 30 years.
In 2018, he guided the Raiders to a second-place finish in the Frontier with a 6-4 mark. After starting the season 4-0, they were ranked as high as No. 2 in the NAIA Top 25 poll.
Hall needed only to make a short trek down the street after a highly successful run at Ashland High, where he had been the head coach since 2005. The 60-year-old went 94-44 with the Grizzlies while winning four conference titles, appearing in the state quarterfinals six times, the state semifinals twice and the championship game once. After stints as an assistant at six universities, he was voted conference coach of the year four times.
Prior to his time at Ashland, he was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Northern Arizona University from 2001-05. His 2003 team led the Big Sky Conference in total offense on its way to a title, and he was subsequently named the NCAA Division 1AA Offensive Coordinator of the Year by American Football Monthly.
He played and was a student assistant at SOU until 1983. After that, he served as an assistant at University of Washington, University of Idaho and University of New Mexico. He returned to Ashland as the Raiders' offensive coordinator from 1996-97 under Jeff Olson, was offensive coordinator and receivers coach at University of North Texas from 1997-98, and was a defensive coordinator under Jim Nagel at Ashland High from 1998-2001.
Hall's wife, Jennifer, played volleyball at SOU from 1980-82 before graduating from University of Washington. His son, Nicholas, is a graduate of Pacific Lutheran University and is the current head baseball coach at Ashland High, and his daughter, Cassandra, is an alum of Linfield College and currently works as a registered nurse in Medford.