Renderings of the planned M.M. Roberts Stadium reconstruction.
New M.M. Roberts Stadium under construction with the original East Side Dormitory underneath. The area pictured is now the south entrance of the Eagle Walk.In the time between, Mississippi Southern College made a name for itself on the gridiron under Coach Thad “Pie” Vann. From 1949-1968, Vann’s group claimed two College Division National Championships in 1958 and 1962 and amassed a 139-59-2 record in his 20-year tenure, elevating the program to the highest levels of college football and making the Black & Gold known throughout the country.
Since Vann’s retirement in 1968, the Golden Eagles have followed his winning precedent, posting a 343-291-5 overall record, a 54.1 percent winning percentage, raising the program’s cumulative record to 614-453-27.
The Golden Eagles are a whopping 300-100-3 at home since 1932 – a 74.8 percent clip. In that 86-season span, Southern Miss has enjoyed 32 undefeated seasons and 10 10-game win streaks.
Eight conference titles and 27 bowl appearances have either been won and celebrated at M.M. Roberts Stadium/Carlisle-Faulkner Field and 54 Golden Eagles have been named to All-America teams. Bower, Collier, Cook and Dixon; Favre, Guy, McElroy, Nix and Pepper; Phillips, Thomas, Vann and Winder. Few names have been enshrined in the Southern Miss Legends Club but many are the memories made at The Rock.

M.M. Roberts Stadium at Faulkner Field hosts a capacity crowd against Jackson State on Oct. 31, 1987
Saturdays at The Rock mean something different to us all. Almost every Golden Eagle fan’s favorite memory involves M.M. Roberts Stadium/Carlisle-Faulkner Field. Family, friends, tailgates and football unite all members of the Black & Gold, present, past and future.
Artificial Flavoring – Same Great Taste
In 2004, one of Southern Miss’ most generous supporters, Gene Carlisle, a 1964 Southern Miss alumnus pledged the vast majority of a $500,000 sum to install the program’s first artificial playing surface.
The 2004 edition of Faulkner Field, now renamed Carlisle-Faulkner Field.
Faulkner Field became Carlisle-Faulkner Field in Carlisle’s honor for the 2004 season. The new Momentum Turf by Sportexe served the Golden Eagles through the 2012 season. Southern Miss claimed the Conference USA title and an undefeated record in 2011 on the turf. While the new surface began with great success, no one disagreed that something needed to change following the 2012 season.
However, on Feb. 10, 2013, an EF4 multiple-vortex wedge tornado devastated Southern Miss, Hattiesburg and the Pine Belt as a whole. Outside of levelling multiple buildings in the area, the storm left such a large amount of debris on the surface that Southern Miss found itself in need of a turf replacement.
New Beginnings
Over the summer of 2013, Hellas Sports Construction installed a new Matrix Turf surface, the second artificial surface in the program’s history.
Now that the field had been rebuilt, new head football coach Todd Monken began the rebuild of the team that would use it. The surface’s first season did not feature a Golden Eagle win, in fact, Southern Miss would not claim its first win on the new field until the 2014 season’s home-opener against Alcorn State.
After two seasons, new Carlisle-Faulkner field owned a 2-9 record, but 2015 would more than double the turf’s wins.
The season may not have begun with a win over rival Mississippi State, but the stadium-record 36,641 spectators ushered in a new era of Southern Miss football. The 2015 squad finished 9-5 and returned to postseason play for the first time since 2011.
Good times rolled through The Rock through 2019 as Southern Miss posted a 21-8 record at home. However, the success of the mid-to-late 2010s did not last.
Southern Miss returned to the doldrums in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, finishing with three wins in back-to-back seasons from 2020-2021. The Golden Eagles managed to win three games in 11 tries at The Rock in this span, including a 37-0 romp over Grambling for Will Hall‘s first home victory at Southern Miss in the 2021 home-opener.
As Southern Miss opened its 2022 season, a new conference logo graced the surface of the field for the first time since 1995. Coach Hall and company have made their presence known in the new Sun Belt Conference.
The final season Carlisle-Faulkner Field No. 2 saw Southern Miss return to and win a bowl game for the first time since 2016. As with year’s past, the replacement of Carlisle-Faulkner Field’s surface precedes a change in Golden Eagle football.
A New Dawn
With new turf laid down at M.M. Roberts Stadium this summer, a new day of Southern Miss football is dawning for the Golden Eagles. Coach Hall’s group returns key players and the 2023 campaign looks to be one of the most exciting in Southern Miss football’s long and storied past.

M.M. Roberts Stadium at Carlisle-Faulkner Field receives a new playing surface ahead of the 2023 season.
The 2023 season begins on Saturday, Sept. 2, at The Rock against Alcorn State. Tickets for the 2023 football season are availab