Getting to know you: Jon Mark Hall

Jon Mark Hall, USI's director of athletics and adjunct instructor in the Kinesiology and Sport Department, didn't grow up in a big family-but he's having a blast raising one with his wife, Patti. "It's been a lot of fun, for sure," he says about life with six kids. "It keeps us busy."

Their oldest son is now in law school; the youngest is a second grader. In between are seventh grade twins, a high school junior, and the Halls' lone daughter, a sophomore at USI. Though they can all pack into the family's eight-seat Chevy Traverse, a recent road trip involved renting a transit van large enough to carry one of USI's smaller athletic teams. "It's an adventure with them," he says.

When he's not guiding USI's 17 varsity athletics programs, Hall is supporting his kids at their many activities, and, in his rare spare moments, catching games on tv. "My wife will say she never gets the remote because all the boys and I just watch sports all the time," he jokes.

While he may be laid back, the former Murray State University tennis player and five-time GLVC Men's Tennis Coach of the Year (USI, 1997-2001) is also highly competitive. "Most people, unless they've played with me or coached with me, probably wouldn't see that all the time," he says. Still, Hall holds firmly to the idea that people-and the relationships he's built with them since becoming a Screaming Eagle in 1995-are more important than any trophy.

Let's find out why.

Have sports always been part of your life?

Yeah, they have. I grew up in Murray, Kentucky, and both my parents worked at Murray State University. Murray State athletics was what we did. You went to games. It was a community event. I remember, as a kid, coming to Evansville and staying downtown at the Executive Inn when the Murray State Men's Basketball team played UE at Roberts Stadium. It was part of what we did as a family, so I always felt like I wanted to be involved somehow.

I played tennis. That was my sport background. Murray State's tennis team was really good, and it was big in the community. And there was a young man named Mel Purcell; he was in and out of the Top 20 to 25 in the world in men's tennis. And for a small community like Murray, Kentucky, he was a big deal. He was playing Wimbledon, the French Open. You kind of latch onto that stuff.

I liked the individuality of [tennis], too. I was always a team guy. I love the team concept, but I also like that it's just you. So, there's nowhere else to look but yourself.

Do you still play?

Not much. In fact, really not at all, unless I'm taking the kids out here and there. I played when I first got here. I've always had some bad wrist injuries, and so it's hard for me to get going, over time. I've been telling folks-I turned 50 last year-I've got to start playing again and try to get into some of these "Over 50" tournaments and see if I can do alright in those.

Is there an ultimate sporting event you'd like to attend?

I'd love to go to Wimbledon. I really would love to hit all four of the tennis majors. I've been to the US Open, so I've knocked off the easiest one. [My wife] has been to the French Open, which I'm really jealous of. That would probably be the top of my list-not just for the event, but even visiting those places and soaking in the atmosphere. I mean, you can go in the US Open in New York City and you walk on those grounds-there's a buzz. There's electricity. It's pretty cool.

What was it like for you, as USI's director of athletics, to experience the Men's Basketball run last season and the support of fans?

It was incredible. There was one moment, it was on that Wednesday night. We were up, maybe there was a minute, 30 seconds left in the game, and you feel like, "We've got this." And you can take a deep breath, and you just see the crowd. At our [Division II] level, you don't get a ton of those experiences, so I really tried to soak it all in. Those guys worked their tails off. It was fun. It was a neat experience. I'll never forget that. Hopefully we can do it a few more times.

When you look at the big picture of USI, what is the ideal role of the University's athletic programs?

When you see what happened at the Ford Center [during the Men's Basketball Elite Eight run] with our students and our faculty and our staff and our alums, athletics can help build a sense of community, if folks will allow it to do that. But, especially at this level, I think most of us get into athletics because we see the great value of what it can do for a person, especially a college student- learning leadership skills, time management, discipline, all those types of things.

So, my hope would be that our student-athletes come here, and if they're already great at [those things], great, maybe we can enhance them in some way. But if not, maybe we can help them build some of those characteristics. We hope we can provide an experience for our 300 or so student-athletes that will help them become good citizens and help them become strong in their communities, wherever they decide to go.

Who is your role model? Why?

Steve Newton was the athletic director who hired me. He was the basketball coach at Murray State, and I developed a relationship with him and kept in touch when he got the AD job here. He brought me here.

If I get 10 minutes on the phone with him today, I'm locked in listening to what he says. He just has so much wisdom. I don't think I would be at USI without him, and I don't think I would be the athletic director if I wouldn't have worked for him and learned the ropes from him. So, he's definitely at the top of my list.

What are a few things Mr. Newton taught you?

I remember one of my first games here. I had some experience running events, but we had just won the National Championship here [in 1995]. Our basketball team was on top of the world, and everything was buzzing, and we had big crowds. I was a nervous wreck about the events, and one time [Mr. Newton] stopped me, and he just said, "Do we have a basketball back in the back? Are the three officials here yet? Is the visiting team here? Then we're going to have a game. You need to relax. This is all going to work out fine." That really put a calming effect on me.

The other thing that I'll always remember about him-and this is a really personal thing. [When Newton was coaching at Murray State], they were hosting the OVC Championships. It's a one-bid league. Whoever wins that conference championship's going to the NCAA Tournament, and that's a huge, huge deal. So, the game's over, Murray wins, people are rushing the court. I'm a student, I'm rushing the court. Mr. Newton grabs me. He said, "Man, your dad [who passed away] would be really proud of us."

In that moment, he taught me about family and community. From a coaching perspective, one of the biggest days of his career, and he's thinking about other people.

What are you most proud of during your time at USI?

When I was coaching tennis, I remember winning that first conference championship [in 2000] and the joy with that. We've been fortunate to win two baseball championships [2010 and 2014] and a softball championship [2018] and plenty of conference championships. Those things are super. They're awesome, and that's what you strive for. But when you get done with those things, you sit back and you just remember the moments along the way of how you got there and the people you met through it.

I've built a ton of relationships here. It's when you give Sue Kunkel [USI Women's Softball head coach] a big hug after you win the National Championship. The National Championship's awesome, but it's the relationship with her and knowing how hard they've worked to do that.

What do you still want to achieve?

Saying all that, I still want to win more championships. To me, it's about continuing to make progress, and I think we can point to a lot of things where you can say we're still making progress. There are coaches that have worked incredibly hard here for years, and you hope all of them can taste that national or conference championship success.

[A few] weeks ago somebody was asking about the Division I thing. Do you see us at Division I? I just said, "Look, let's keep making progress, and let's see where we are in two years, in five years, in 10 years. And if the time's right, the time's right."

Five Facts About Jon Mark Hall

• Hall is a morning person; his wife is a night owl.
• Several years ago, Hall gave up caffeine cold turkey to kick a Diet Coke habit and hasn't looked back.
• Though he doesn't get to watch them often, Hall is a big Atlanta Braves fan.
• If you catch him at a USI concession stand, you'll likely find Hall with a slice of pizza or Chick-fil-A.
• Hall retired from coaching USI's Men's Tennis team in 2001 with an impressive 123-47 record (.724), including four GLVC regular season titles and four GLVC Tournament championships.