Scotty Walden’s audition at Southern Miss went so well, he landed a head coaching position — just not the one most assumed he might land.

If you’ve already forgotten the drama that unfolded earlier in Hattiesburg this fall, former Southern Miss head coach Jay Hopson stepped down from his post with the school following the Golden Eagles’ loss to South Alabama during the season opener during college football’s Week 0 weekend.

Walden stepped in as the program’s interim coach, but later tested positive for COVID, leaving Southern Miss to turn to Tim Billings to serve as the interim, interim head coach for the Golden Eagles. Now it turns out Walden’s time at Southern Miss is over as he’s accepted the head coaching position at Austin Peay and has immediately left the Eagles to take over the Austin Peay program.

This news was first reported by Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports and has since been reported by multiple outlets.

After taking over the Southern Miss program as an interim coach, Walden was the youngest head coach in FBS at the age of 30.

Austin Peay’s program had an opening after Mark Hudspeth abruptedly left the program after just one 11-win season with the school. Hudspeth announced his decision in an infamous news dump during the Fourth of July weekend.

Austin Peay went 0-3 this season before their season ended due to a lack of remaining opponents on the schedule due to COVID.