HATTIESBURG — They called it a press conference, but in reality it was more of a pep rally.

As members of the school’s band played him into the room filled with posters adorned with his face and accomplishments, cheerleaders cheered, and the school mascot Seymour fired up the crowd of about 300 students and alumni, Jay Hopson was formally introduced as the new head football coach at Southern Miss on Monday afternoon.

The Vicksburg native took the stage at USM’s Trent Lott Center and began what he, school officials and fans believe will be the start of a long and happy relationship.

“It’s truly the biggest honor of my life to be here, and I hope I can do you proud,” Hopson told the crowd. “I grew up in Mississippi. I’m from here. I remember the Bobby Collins days. I remember Coach (Jim) Carmody, I remember Curley Hallman and certainly I remember (Jeff) Bower. I want to do what I can to make sure we enjoy that longevity of success that we’ve had.”

Hopson has been in coaching for 24 years, including the last four as head coach at Alcorn State and six years in a pair of previous stints as an assistant at Southern Miss. He worked as Bower’s defensive backs coach from 2001-03, and as defensive coordinator from 2005-07, and gave a shout out to his old boss, who was sitting in the second row Monday.

Hopson also thanked Alcorn’s administration. Alcorn was his first head coaching position, and his success there — 32 wins and two Southwestern Athletic Conference championships in four seasons — helped put him on USM’s radar.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t first say how much I appreciate Dr. Rankins and Derek Horne and those guys for the opportunity they gave me with Alcorn State University,” Hopson said, referrring to Alcorn president Alfred Rankins, Jr., and athletic director Horne.

While he was appreciative of what Alcorn gave him, Hopson called being the head coach at Southern Miss “a dream job” and didn’t hesitate to take it when the opportunity presented itself.

Six days and a half-dozen interviews after Todd Monken stepped down as USM’s coach to go to the NFL, athletic director Bill McGillis offered the job to Hopson. It was a quick negotiation.

“There was no negotiation. Literally. It was, ‘Would you like to be our head football coach? Yes I would.’ We shook hands. I said here’s the deal, he said great. We sent the terms of the deal to his attorney, gave him time to review it, and I was on an airplane within 30 minutes coming back to Hattiesburg,” McGillis said. “I don’t even know if Jay looked down at the numbers.”

Hopson signed a four-year contract on Saturday that will run through the 2019 season. It includes a $500,000 annual salary — he was paid $150,000 on his initial contract at Alcorn and got an extension before the 2014 season for which the terms were not available — and a number of incentives that can boost that total significantly.

If Southern Miss makes a New Year’s Six bowl, Hopson will receive a $100,000 bonus. He can also receive an extra $22,500 for winning the Conference USA championship, $150,000 for participating in a College Football Playoff game, and $35,000 for finishing in the top 25 of the College Football Playoff rankings.

There is a $2 million buyout that Hopson must pay if he leaves for another job before the end of the 2018 season. The four-year contract is the longest allowed by state law.

“I wanted to get creative. I wanted to give the opportunity for compensation that was commensurate with great performance, not good performance. That’s the way we structured that contract, and I think it’s the way to go,” McGillis said.

McGillis added that Hopson had been on his radar as a head coaching candidate for several years. He visited Hopson in Alcorn’s locker room after the Braves nearly upset Southern Miss in 2014, and was impressed enough to move him to the top of the list when he started compiling a database of potential replacements for the seemingly inevitable day when Monken’s success led him to leave for greener pastures.

“I didn’t know if it was going to be this year, next year or five years from now, but I was going to be ready to go. The first time I updated that database as the AD at Southern Miss, I had Jay Hopson at the top of that database,” McGillis said. “His work at Alcorn State had my attention from day one. He was a target from the get-go, but we needed to spend a lot of time together talking about the future of our program.”

Hopson’s introduction came less than 48 hours before national signing day on Wednesday. He said Southern Miss has 11 recruits committed, and he’ll honor those. On Thursday he’ll begin assembling his staff, deciding whether to retain or replace the assistant coaches that are currently in place.

“I’m hiring, I’m not firing. I have to hire, basically, nine full-time coaches to be on the field. I’m going to be in the hiring phase, but I’m going to talk to a number of candidates,” Hopson said.

After that, Hopson will get to work in earnest on a job he’s coveted for a long, long time.

Hopson was a coaching journeyman for the first 20 years of his career. He worked his way up the ranks, from serving in graduate assistant positions at Tulane, LSU and Florida, to coaching defensive backs at Delta State, Marshall, Ole Miss, Southern Miss and Southern Miss again.

He was the defensive coordinator at Southern Miss and Memphis and coached linebackers at Michigan. Along the way he survived two battles with cancer and the usual ups and downs of the coaching profession.

“I’ve been part of teams that won 15 games, 14 games, 13 games, 12 games …,” he said with a laugh, going all the way down the list to one game. “I’ve been part of championship teams and ones that you’re afraid to come out of the tunnel with. It’s amazing the journey of coaching, and sometimes in that journey you learn more from the losses than you do the wins. That’s one thing I always try to communicate to my players and my team. It’s a life journey, and it’s a beautiful game because it correlates so much to life. That’s kind of who Jay Hopson is as a football coach.”

Now, he’s back where he’s always felt at home — and where he wants to stay.

“The journey was long and hard, but to get back here was always my dream. In building this program, I want to build it the right way,” Hopson said. “I want to continue this road. I have a goal as the head coach at Southern Miss to build a consistent program. I want to be a consistent winner year in and year out. That’s something I want to address as soon as we get out of here after this press conference. It all starts with recruiting right now.”