Oregon State’s interim coach making impact

In between Oregon State going punch for punch with Stanford on Thursday and Cory Hall making a whirlwind recruiting tour through the Los Angeles area Friday, his players started a petition to turn his interim headcoach tag into a full-time gig.

The petition, which says, “We feel that he is best suited to lead us in all areas: physically, meantally (sic), and spiritually,” met its goal of 1,000 online signatures in less than a day and is now close to 1,500.

It’s a confusing time in Corvallis, where Gary Andersen suddenly bolted midseason. Hall injected life into the decrepit program during the past three weeks, and no one knows exactly what team is going to show up to play Cal on Saturday.

Hall admitted as much during his weekly news conference Monday, when it took him about six minutes to try to decipher the significance of the team’s petition.

“It’s a tough spot to be in,” he said. “You form a bond, which started last year with these players. Now, we are where we are, with an uncertain future. You see a team that has started to believe in themselves, most importantly. They’ve found whatever the pieces that connect them with the enjoyment and fulfillment that this game brings, and you realize that yourself and your staff are a part of that. You understand where they’re coming from, but being a business man and being a part of this industry for so long, you understand that it’s still a business. …

“I connect with the feeling that these players have embraced the fact that they are winners, and they know that they can win. … They believe now. It’s not that they’re starting to believe. They’re fully invested, and that’s what makes me feel good.”

Oregon State went 7-23 under Andersen, including 1-5 to start this season. The outcomes haven’t been better under Hall, but the Beavers have played with more passion and have lost two games by a combined four points.

Hall didn’t know about the petition until a neighbor told him shortly after he landed in Oregon on Saturday morning. He was so tired that he didn’t really process it and instead tried to watch the day’s Pac-12 games before falling asleep.

It started to hit him when the phone calls and text messages piled up, including contacts from Oregon State alumni he had not met.

“You can’t explain how I’m sitting here, in front of you, today, because it’s bigger than a lot of things that are seen by the naked eye,” Hall said.

Hall knows he can be polarizing and is admittedly learning on the job.

He was playing at Fresno State less than 20 years ago and retired as an NFL defensive back in 2004. Just six years ago, he was an assistant coach at Fresno’s Clovis North High, and three years ago, he was a graduate assistant at Wisconsin.

There’s no doubt that Hall has galvanized his players. Oregon State opened the season 1-5, with the lone win coming against FCS-opponent Portland State, and was outscored by an average of 25.7 points per game. Under Hall, the Beavers have lost by two points per game and have boosted their weekly rushing total by nearly 80 yards.

Hall is so animated on the sideline that he approaches being deemed a clown, and there’s a lot of improvement needed in becoming the voice of the program.

Asked about the significance of being one of two black head coaches in Thursday's prime-time game (Stanford’s David Shaw) and one of two black head coaches in the state of Oregon (Willie Taggart at Oregon), Hall said: “This is war. I’m commander in chief. CEO. That’s all I see.”

Asked about this week’s game plan, Hall said: “To me, it’s not rocket science. We have to strike fear in the hearts of opponents, but we have to make them understand that it’s not fake. It’s real. … That’s exactly how we’re going to game plan, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.”

He says those kinds of things, and it clearly works for the players.

Hall rallies his players and does honorable things, like keeping his defensive backs coach’s office, instead of moving into the corner spot.

“No matter what happens, there is something special going on at Oregon State, and there’s no one who can tell me different,” he said.