VIRGINIA BEACH, VA (WTKR) — Salem is once again starting a football season with bang, jumping out to a 3-0 record.
The path to get there, however, includes a head coach the SunDevils didn't begin the season with.
Mark Hall III was settling into his new role on Salem's staff as the defensive coordinator when Marcus Johnson-Williams gave him some news two games into the season.
"He had the opportunity to become the athletic director at Denbigh High School," Hall said. "It was a surprise to everyone."
Hall, who made the move to Salem in January from the staff at his alma mater, Green Run, now had a chance to do something he could not predict eight months prior.
"I had the opportunity to interview to for the interim head coach. They interviewed three or four candidates, I got down to the final group and they ended up going with me," he said.
"I was talking to Darnell Whitehead, the defensive coordinator at Green Run. He said, 'If you wouldn't have made that jump, you wouldn't have had this opportunity.'"
"It was definitely a relief," sophomore defensive end Ari Watford said. "Instead of somebody new coming in, it was someone who already has been on the staff and been on the team for months."
Hall's father, Mark, is the head boys basketball coach at Cape Henry, so he's learned a thing or two about how to lead the charge.
"The relationship building with your players and just making sure that you care about them outside of football, because it's bigger than just football," the interim SunDevil coach said. "You want to teach them how to be young men and young adults."
He was quick to set the tone with his team.
"I mean, he's a younger coach so we thought he was going to be like our big brother, but it ain't working," senior linebacker Ahmarri Williams said. "He's going for none of that."
His players responded to that tough love by getting him his first win as head coach last Friday against Tallwood.
"It seemed like he'd been head coach for a while, he was calm and under composure," quarterback Jason Williams said. "It was a very important win for him."
"I was a little bit nervous," Hall admitted, "but once kickoff began and I was accustomed, it was like second nature."
The midseason change is not just Hall's first chance to be a high school head coach, but also his opportunity to be like the mentors that he had growing up.
"It's crazy just to think about, I never thought I would be a head coach at Virginia Beach Public Schools. Just coming back and giving back to my community, it's just a blessing," Hall said.
Salem hosts Frank Cox on Friday night, looking to improve to 4-0.
