Football Adds Four More Staff Members
12/15/2020 2:07:00 PM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss football coach Will Hall announced Tuesday the additions of Austin Armstrong as defensive coordinator/inside linebackers coach, Mark Criner as outside linebackers coach, Brandon Lacy as defensive line coach and Chad Williams as cornerbacks coach.
Armstrong spent this past season as inside linebackers coach at Louisiana-Lafayette, where the Ragin' Cajuns were nationally ranked and the defense held three Top 5 defensive national rankings through the end of the regular season, including No. 2 in passes intercepted (15), No. 3 in defensive passing efficiency (96.27) and No. 4 in passing yards allowed per game (166.9), as well as a No. 31 ranking in total defense (347.8).
Armstrong returned to Lafayette after spending the 2019 season at Georgia where he worked as a defensive quality control coach, assisting head coach Kirby Smart's squad as they climbed as high as No. 3 in the national rankings. The Bulldogs finished the 2019 season with a 12-2 record and a win in the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.
"Austin is one of the sharpest guys to come through our program," said Smart of Armstrong. "Kids relate to him and love playing for him. I have no doubt that he will get USM back to playing great defense like they have in the past."
Armstrong also served as a defensive graduate assistant coach with the Ragin' Cajuns for the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Louisiana claimed its first of back-to-back Sun Belt Conference West Division championships in 2018, played in the Sun Belt's inaugural football championship game and earned a berth in the AutoNation Cure Bowl in Orlando, Florida.
Prior to his first stint with the Ragin' Cajuns, Armstrong was an assistant defensive line coach at West Georgia (Div. II) for the 2016 season.
Former Southeastern Louisiana head coach and current defensive coordinator Ron Roberts also had this to say about Armstrong.
"Austin is one of the next bright stars in this profession," said Roberts who worked with Armstrong at UL. "He will do an amazing job at USM."
Armstrong earned his Bachelor's degree from Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama, in 2014, after playing linebacker for the Hawks for four seasons.
Criner comes to Southern Miss after his last stop as linebackers and assistant special teams coach for the Seattle Dragons of the XFL in 2020.
Previous to that, Criner worked as a defensive analyst for Tulane in the fall of 2019, after serving as linebackers coach and special teams coordinator for the Atlanta Legends of the Alliance of American Football during the spring.
In 2018, Criner served as a defensive analyst for LSU, where the Tigers compiled a 10-3 record and finished No. 6 in the Associated Press poll.
Criner was the defensive coordinator at CSU-Pueblo in 2017 where they went 9-3 and captured a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championship. The team led the RMAC in total defense (270.3) and scoring defense (14.4).
In 2016, Criner worked as the linebackers coach and special teams coordinator at University of Rhode Island.
He has coached in three bowl games, which includes a win at the Humanitarian Bowl in 2009 with University of Idaho. While at University of Cincinnati, Criner's 2002 defense ranked 21st nationally in total defense, while the 2003 squad was 27th.
Prior to his season at URI, Criner was the linebackers coach at Lamar for the 2014 and 2015 seasons. He helped guide the Cardinals to an eight-win season, which was the most in program history since 1974. The linebackers helped the defense rank first in the Southland Conference in fumble recoveries (sixth nationally), second in fewest passing yards allowed and third in total defense, red zone defense, sacks and third down conversions.
Criner's longest stints came at Idaho from 2007-12 and Portland State University from 1993-99. At Idaho, he served as the assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. Under his tutelage, the Vandals ranked third in rushing defense in the Western Athletic Conference in 2009, which helped them to a bowl win against Bowling Green. He also helped Idaho move up the ranks nationally in pass efficiency defense, scoring defense and rush defense. At Portland State, Criner helped the team to three straight NCAA Division II Playoff appearances from 1993-95.
He has professional experience coaching the Las Vegas Outlaws (2000) of the XFL and additional collegiate experience at Utah State (1991-92), Cincinnati (2002-03), Middle Tennessee (2004-05), Minnesota (2006) and Eastern Michigan (2014).
Criner started his collegiate playing career at Iowa State University (1986) before transferring to Boise State University (1987-1990). He completed his bachelor's degree in physical education from Boise State in 1990.
His father, Jim Criner, won a Division I-AA national title at Boise State in 1980 and an NFL Europe World Bowl title with the Scottish Claymores in 1996.
Criner and his wife, Angie, have four children, Madison, Calin and twins Jackson and Brooklyn.
Lacy joins the Southern Miss staff after recently completing his first year at Richmond, where he worked with the Spider defensive line which ranked No. 1 in the CAA in pass defense, No. 2 in the CAA in sacks, and No. 4 in CAA in total defense. Along with producing two All Conference players, one preseason CAA defensive player of the year and a sophomore All-American.
Lacy joined the Spiders with an impressive defensive resume, bringing 18 years of NCAA coaching experience to Richmond. During his career he has coached ten different defensive linemen to All-America honors and had eight different players move on to careers in the National Football League.
Before his season at Richmond, Lacy coached ten seasons as a member of the Southeastern Louisiana football staff - three as the defensive line/ run game coordinator, six seasons as the Lions recruiting coordinator and three as the assistant head coach. At Southeastern, Lacy coached an All American, fourteen All-Southland Conference players, led Southeastern to national rankings in sacks, TFL's, turnovers, total defense, rush defense, scoring defense, and along with setting several first time achievements in SLU's school history.
Prior to Southeastern, Lacy served as co-defensive coordinator/run game coordinator in 2008 at Angelo State University, where he guided the Rams run defense to 2nd in the Lone Star Conference after finishing 12th the previous season. He had defensive linemen earn All-Lone Star honor in 2008.
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From 2006-07, Lacy helped coach the Rice Owls to a 7-6 record in 2006 and their first bowl appearance in 45 years.
Also, he tutored an All C-USA performer that finished 2nd in school history for sacks in a season. In 2007 Lacy coached two freshmen bookends that achieved freshman All-American and C-USA freshman honors.
Prior to Rice, Lacy spent a spring at Ferrum College as the defensive line coach/run game coordinator. Before arriving at Ferrum, Lacy spent one season at University of Tennessee at Martin where he served as the running backs coach and helped guide the Skyhawks to their first winning season in 12 years. Among his pupils was a 1,396 yard rusher and an All-Ohio Valley Conference performer.
In 2003, Lacy began his coaching career at FCS powerhouse Appalachian State working under legendary coach Jerry Moore. During his two seasons in Boone, Lacy helped the Mountaineers win two consecutive seasons while helping to mold some of the top players in school history that included four eventual Buck Buchanan award nominees. Of those players two set the school record for sacks, and one has the FCS record for most pass breakups and INT's in a career.
Lacy played defensive end at Kansas and earned a two-time Academic All Big 12 selection. His final three seasons at KU he played for coaches Terry Allen and Mark Mangino, while earning the Jayhawk Scholar Athlete Award and being named to the KU Honor Roll three times. Lacy earned a bachelor's degree in Economics at KU in 2003 and received graduate credit in Sports Psychology at Rice.
Lacy played his first two seasons at the University of Tennessee at Martin where he led the Skyhawks in sacks both seasons and was a four-time OVC Defensive Player of the Week and a six-time Skyhawk player of the week.
He was a four-sport athlete at Edmond Santa Fe high school playing football, basketball, baseball, and track. He was All District two years, named to the All Edmond team twice and Honorable Mention All-State in football, All-District one year in basketball and lettered in baseball and track.
Lacy and his wife, Jessica, are both from Edmond, Oklahoma and are the parents of three sons, Brandon, Jr., Julius, and Tre.
Williams returns to Southern Miss after spending the last three seasons at Central Arkansas, which included being the team's defensive coordinator the last two seasons. He also coached safeties and nickels for the school in 2018.
His previous coaching stops included Jacksonville State (2012), Middle Tennessee (2013-14), West Georgia (2014-15), Valdosta State (2015), West Alabama (2016) and Savannah State (2016-17).
Williams enjoyed the role of defensive coordinator during his time at both Valdosta State and Savannah State.
A former Southern Miss four-year letterwinner from 1998-2001, Williams played defensive back for the Golden Eagles, playing on a Conference USA championship team in 1999. In addition, he earned first-team all-league honors as a senior and was a second-team pick during this junior campaign.
During his playing tenure, Williams was a member of squads that played in the 1998 Humanitarian Bowl, the 1999 Liberty Bowl and the 2000 GMAC Mobile Bowl.
He went on to play professionally with the Baltimore Ravens (2002-06), the San Francisco 49ers (2006-07) and the Kansas City Chiefs (2007). Williams saw action in 79 NFL games and posted 160 tackles, nine interceptions (3 for touchdowns) and seven sacks.
Williams graduated from Southern Miss in 2009 with a bachelor's of science degree in coaching and sport administration and currently is working toward a master's of science in sport management from Middle Tennessee State.
Armstrong spent this past season as inside linebackers coach at Louisiana-Lafayette, where the Ragin' Cajuns were nationally ranked and the defense held three Top 5 defensive national rankings through the end of the regular season, including No. 2 in passes intercepted (15), No. 3 in defensive passing efficiency (96.27) and No. 4 in passing yards allowed per game (166.9), as well as a No. 31 ranking in total defense (347.8).
Armstrong returned to Lafayette after spending the 2019 season at Georgia where he worked as a defensive quality control coach, assisting head coach Kirby Smart's squad as they climbed as high as No. 3 in the national rankings. The Bulldogs finished the 2019 season with a 12-2 record and a win in the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.
"Austin is one of the sharpest guys to come through our program," said Smart of Armstrong. "Kids relate to him and love playing for him. I have no doubt that he will get USM back to playing great defense like they have in the past."
Armstrong also served as a defensive graduate assistant coach with the Ragin' Cajuns for the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Louisiana claimed its first of back-to-back Sun Belt Conference West Division championships in 2018, played in the Sun Belt's inaugural football championship game and earned a berth in the AutoNation Cure Bowl in Orlando, Florida.
Prior to his first stint with the Ragin' Cajuns, Armstrong was an assistant defensive line coach at West Georgia (Div. II) for the 2016 season.
Former Southeastern Louisiana head coach and current defensive coordinator Ron Roberts also had this to say about Armstrong.
"Austin is one of the next bright stars in this profession," said Roberts who worked with Armstrong at UL. "He will do an amazing job at USM."
Armstrong earned his Bachelor's degree from Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama, in 2014, after playing linebacker for the Hawks for four seasons.
Criner comes to Southern Miss after his last stop as linebackers and assistant special teams coach for the Seattle Dragons of the XFL in 2020.
Previous to that, Criner worked as a defensive analyst for Tulane in the fall of 2019, after serving as linebackers coach and special teams coordinator for the Atlanta Legends of the Alliance of American Football during the spring.
In 2018, Criner served as a defensive analyst for LSU, where the Tigers compiled a 10-3 record and finished No. 6 in the Associated Press poll.
Criner was the defensive coordinator at CSU-Pueblo in 2017 where they went 9-3 and captured a Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championship. The team led the RMAC in total defense (270.3) and scoring defense (14.4).
In 2016, Criner worked as the linebackers coach and special teams coordinator at University of Rhode Island.
He has coached in three bowl games, which includes a win at the Humanitarian Bowl in 2009 with University of Idaho. While at University of Cincinnati, Criner's 2002 defense ranked 21st nationally in total defense, while the 2003 squad was 27th.
Prior to his season at URI, Criner was the linebackers coach at Lamar for the 2014 and 2015 seasons. He helped guide the Cardinals to an eight-win season, which was the most in program history since 1974. The linebackers helped the defense rank first in the Southland Conference in fumble recoveries (sixth nationally), second in fewest passing yards allowed and third in total defense, red zone defense, sacks and third down conversions.
Criner's longest stints came at Idaho from 2007-12 and Portland State University from 1993-99. At Idaho, he served as the assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. Under his tutelage, the Vandals ranked third in rushing defense in the Western Athletic Conference in 2009, which helped them to a bowl win against Bowling Green. He also helped Idaho move up the ranks nationally in pass efficiency defense, scoring defense and rush defense. At Portland State, Criner helped the team to three straight NCAA Division II Playoff appearances from 1993-95.
He has professional experience coaching the Las Vegas Outlaws (2000) of the XFL and additional collegiate experience at Utah State (1991-92), Cincinnati (2002-03), Middle Tennessee (2004-05), Minnesota (2006) and Eastern Michigan (2014).
Criner started his collegiate playing career at Iowa State University (1986) before transferring to Boise State University (1987-1990). He completed his bachelor's degree in physical education from Boise State in 1990.
His father, Jim Criner, won a Division I-AA national title at Boise State in 1980 and an NFL Europe World Bowl title with the Scottish Claymores in 1996.
Criner and his wife, Angie, have four children, Madison, Calin and twins Jackson and Brooklyn.
Lacy joins the Southern Miss staff after recently completing his first year at Richmond, where he worked with the Spider defensive line which ranked No. 1 in the CAA in pass defense, No. 2 in the CAA in sacks, and No. 4 in CAA in total defense. Along with producing two All Conference players, one preseason CAA defensive player of the year and a sophomore All-American.
Lacy joined the Spiders with an impressive defensive resume, bringing 18 years of NCAA coaching experience to Richmond. During his career he has coached ten different defensive linemen to All-America honors and had eight different players move on to careers in the National Football League.
Before his season at Richmond, Lacy coached ten seasons as a member of the Southeastern Louisiana football staff - three as the defensive line/ run game coordinator, six seasons as the Lions recruiting coordinator and three as the assistant head coach. At Southeastern, Lacy coached an All American, fourteen All-Southland Conference players, led Southeastern to national rankings in sacks, TFL's, turnovers, total defense, rush defense, scoring defense, and along with setting several first time achievements in SLU's school history.
Prior to Southeastern, Lacy served as co-defensive coordinator/run game coordinator in 2008 at Angelo State University, where he guided the Rams run defense to 2nd in the Lone Star Conference after finishing 12th the previous season. He had defensive linemen earn All-Lone Star honor in 2008.
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From 2006-07, Lacy helped coach the Rice Owls to a 7-6 record in 2006 and their first bowl appearance in 45 years.
Also, he tutored an All C-USA performer that finished 2nd in school history for sacks in a season. In 2007 Lacy coached two freshmen bookends that achieved freshman All-American and C-USA freshman honors.
Prior to Rice, Lacy spent a spring at Ferrum College as the defensive line coach/run game coordinator. Before arriving at Ferrum, Lacy spent one season at University of Tennessee at Martin where he served as the running backs coach and helped guide the Skyhawks to their first winning season in 12 years. Among his pupils was a 1,396 yard rusher and an All-Ohio Valley Conference performer.
In 2003, Lacy began his coaching career at FCS powerhouse Appalachian State working under legendary coach Jerry Moore. During his two seasons in Boone, Lacy helped the Mountaineers win two consecutive seasons while helping to mold some of the top players in school history that included four eventual Buck Buchanan award nominees. Of those players two set the school record for sacks, and one has the FCS record for most pass breakups and INT's in a career.
Lacy played defensive end at Kansas and earned a two-time Academic All Big 12 selection. His final three seasons at KU he played for coaches Terry Allen and Mark Mangino, while earning the Jayhawk Scholar Athlete Award and being named to the KU Honor Roll three times. Lacy earned a bachelor's degree in Economics at KU in 2003 and received graduate credit in Sports Psychology at Rice.
Lacy played his first two seasons at the University of Tennessee at Martin where he led the Skyhawks in sacks both seasons and was a four-time OVC Defensive Player of the Week and a six-time Skyhawk player of the week.
He was a four-sport athlete at Edmond Santa Fe high school playing football, basketball, baseball, and track. He was All District two years, named to the All Edmond team twice and Honorable Mention All-State in football, All-District one year in basketball and lettered in baseball and track.
Lacy and his wife, Jessica, are both from Edmond, Oklahoma and are the parents of three sons, Brandon, Jr., Julius, and Tre.
Williams returns to Southern Miss after spending the last three seasons at Central Arkansas, which included being the team's defensive coordinator the last two seasons. He also coached safeties and nickels for the school in 2018.
His previous coaching stops included Jacksonville State (2012), Middle Tennessee (2013-14), West Georgia (2014-15), Valdosta State (2015), West Alabama (2016) and Savannah State (2016-17).
Williams enjoyed the role of defensive coordinator during his time at both Valdosta State and Savannah State.
A former Southern Miss four-year letterwinner from 1998-2001, Williams played defensive back for the Golden Eagles, playing on a Conference USA championship team in 1999. In addition, he earned first-team all-league honors as a senior and was a second-team pick during this junior campaign.
During his playing tenure, Williams was a member of squads that played in the 1998 Humanitarian Bowl, the 1999 Liberty Bowl and the 2000 GMAC Mobile Bowl.
He went on to play professionally with the Baltimore Ravens (2002-06), the San Francisco 49ers (2006-07) and the Kansas City Chiefs (2007). Williams saw action in 79 NFL games and posted 160 tackles, nine interceptions (3 for touchdowns) and seven sacks.
Williams graduated from Southern Miss in 2009 with a bachelor's of science degree in coaching and sport administration and currently is working toward a master's of science in sport management from Middle Tennessee State.
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