A day after we shared Austin Armstrong was leaving Will Hall's staff to join Nick Saban's staff in Tuscaloosa, Southern Miss is promoting to fill the vacancy.
Hall plans to promote safeties coach Dan O'Brien to fill the defensive coordinator job.
Ross Dellenger initially reported the promotion, and sources tell FootballScoop the same.
O'Brien has worked under Nick Saban, Bill Belichick and Kirby Smart in his young career.
He arrived on staff in 2021 after spending two seasons on staff at Georgia under Smart in a defensive quality control role.
Prior to that he was part of Navy's defensive staff where he worked with the defensive backfield, and specifically the safeties his last two seasons in Annapolis. He also coached the defensive backs at Elon (FCS - NC) for three seasons.
His time under Saban came working as a defensive graduate assistant and defensive analyst, where he spent four seasons learning under Saban while Kirby Smart was also on staff.
In 2005, O'Brien spent one season as a scouting assistant intern with the Patriots and Belichick before embarking on his on-field journey as an assistant.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.