HailState58

He won the SC in the Pine Belt.

Bray is leaving?

Jim Risen.

With the hiring of Michael King to Hancock, Greene County has its’ biggest shoes to fill since 2017. What will their strategy be? Will the Wildcats go with an experienced, proven winner fresh to the community? Or, will they hire young talent who understands the expectations of the Leakesville faithful? Will they look to hire a defensive or an offensive leader? Give me your thoughts. This should get interesting.

Seriously? This is an anonymous message board.

Well, I tried to post it and someone took it down soon after I did. He absolutely did nothing illegal. Let’s just say that what happened was very much averse to the current politics in this state. Message me if you’d like to know more.

Lollar is a very good coach and by all accounts, a very likable guy. But if the reason I’ve heard why he was let go at Hancock is true, he carries with him an indefensible red flag which will likely keep him from getting hired anywhere around here. It’s one of the more bizarre coaching stories I’ve heard in a long time.

An update on the situation: Heard today that there will be a hiring committee for the process. -and- No interviews will be held until after Christmas Break.

I'm not sure about the ability to bring in assistants, as that would largely have to do with the teaching spots they'd have available. Money is a factor right now at Moss Point, so I don't see the district so easily creating new positions for incoming assistant coaches. This is not the fault of the district, however, as state funding is turning over into a new organization called INSPIRE (formerly, MAEP). Moss Point, unfortunately, will be affected by this along with just a handful of other districts in the state. The district is projected to lose more than $1.5M in funding, whereas a district like Ocean Springs is projected to get over $10M the next few years. Moss Point and the other districts are being excluded from the new system for the first couple of years, and no one knows for sure why. The decision is being appealed. This goes much deeper than just hiring a new Head Football Coach.

The few I've heard personally are: Kris Thigpen (Terry) Kendall Lacy (current DC at Valdosta High School, Valdosta, GA) Stephen Rice (former HC, Richton High School) Each has had significant success in their careers, with Rice having done the most at Richton. Richton has been and still continues to be a very difficult job, and Rice has led them to seasons of 8-4, 9-4, 9-6 (1A South State Championship appearance, and the only in school history), and 6-6. Of the current candidates, his resume stands out the most. Also, throw a four-year tenure at Crystal Springs into the mix as well. This guy has no fear when it comes to hard gigs. Thigpen has done very well at Terry the past two seasons, but I've heard that he applies elsewhere each year mainly in an attempt to leverage himself for more solidity at Terry. It's seemingly a good place for him. Lacy is a younger guy who applied for the Quitman job before, but wasn't offered a favorable teaching position along with the HFC job that would have allowed him to be as successful. Therefore, he turned it down. However, and although he makes a great salary at Valdosta as the DC, he continues to be on the lookout for his first chance to lead a program. He seems like a high-energy, well-structured, ambitious candidate. He's originally from Wetumpka, Alabama.

This job isn't nearly as daunting as many would have you believe. Talent is still existent even the transfers to surrounding school districts, and Moss Point is almost always bound to pick up a few transfers each year as well. This was the case this past season, and those players (four, to be exact) are all underclassmen who will return and make solid contributions to the team as long as they continue to be a part of it. Make no mistake about it- there are strong names involved in this current search. Coach Bridges had a very difficult job this past season, but he did all that he could for the kids, the school, and the city that he loves. He is a good coach who cares greatly about Tiger athletics. Moss Point isn't light years away from having another shot at success, and this city doesn't deserve all of the negative talk that it has received for so long.

It might signal that, that is if you aren’t aware of how bad the employers in this state can be/still are. Before you cast judgement on those guys who move around looking for the right situation, consider the actual sociopaths they have to work for. Loyalty might sound good to you, but it’s practically meaningless to a guy trying to support a family while working in quite possibly the most volatile profession in America.

Ryan Higdon? State Championship?

I'm starting to think the same!

Not an expert on how any of that works, but unless there's a ghost on my computer here with me, it's only me. As mentioned, laughable.

Please do.

You think GCWildcatFan and I are the same person? We definitely aren't.

Taylorsville players are just going to up and transfer to Greene County and play? If you don't take my word for anything else, believe me that ain't happening.

Really? Tell me, where are they going to go? The kids I mean.

No, he didn’t. Gabe Hood was the defensive coordinator this past season, and in that same role called the defense.

I’d love to hear your source on this one, because it does not match up with mine, and mine is about as reliable as you can get.

You do realize that he, as the DC, helped lead Taylorsville to a South State Championship this past season, right? And to expound on your critique of his moving schools, that, in my opinion, is a completely unfair and ignorant method of measuring a prospective coach. There are a host of factors for a coach to move schools, up to and including: - Proximity - Pay - Politics - Bias - Not fitting in with culture - Refusal to engage in wrongdoing - Spouse’s satisfaction - Resources to do job - Administrative support - … and many others! I feel like the common coaching outsider has a very poor understanding of the day-to-day whole myriad of uncertainties these coaches have to deal with. And just to be clear, teachers deal with all of these same things too. But what drives me absolutely nuts more than any of these things I’ve listed is the idea that our educators, coaches and teachers alike, have to walk this superhuman line in spite of the factors, and the continual red tape that they keep getting mummified in. Maybe from the late 80’s to early 00’s, it was the educators. But now- and make zero mistake about it- it’s the system. You talk about Hood’s journey as though he worked at a bunch of well-structured, friendly, inviting places. But what you may not know is that he’s been at Wayne County, which, as any coach knows, no one will abuse your reputation worse than your own hometown (that’s good ol’, pretend-to-be-nice, stab-you-in-the-back Mississippi folk for you), Heidelberg (awful school district, e.g., the ‘Heidelberg Way’), Quitman, which by all accounts was a good stepping stone, but not a final destination by any means, and last but not least, the Jackson Public School District’s wayward son, Perry Central. -

As far as I know, he’s not a school employee. He’s one of those ‘anointed’ types who you aren’t supposed to criticize. I wish all of the non-shoplifting coaches of the world were afforded that same luxury.

Well I would hope it could change one day. Recent times have proven that significant changes can be made with a certain level of awareness. Why not Perry Central? This isn’t the United States Government we’re talking about here. It’s a bunch of mentally-ill self-centered people, some of which who can barely read and write.

Coach Hood is an outstanding coach who absolutely deserves a shot at this job. Knows defense, commands respect from young men, understands well how to deal with people, and knows a wide range of coaches personally, who they are, and what they do and don't do. He is a young, energetic, high-IQ guy, and would've put together something special at Perry Central just like Coach Craig Cluff was very much in the process of doing. Before Perry Central deep-dove into their little social experiment (which has only begun to crash and burn), Gabe had a jam-up staff in waiting, and a strong offensive and defensive game plan to go along with it. But, Perry Central, if anyone knows anything about what's going on there, is in the business these days of only rewarding a certain type of coach, and coaches Hood nor Cluff fit the criteria of what is wanted at PC now. Perry Central has basically allowed a small church in the Town of Beaumont to function as their unofficial consulting firm to the Department of Athletics, and not surprisingly all of their ideas have failed miserably. The pastor of that church was actually arrested in Picayune a while back for shoplifting. Maybe if Sweet Home MBC spent more time reviewing the Ten Commandments each week more than they daydream about which coach satisfies them psychologically, this could've been avoided. But, they don't. And what's worse than their actual perceptions (which aren't rooted in reality) are the people who would take them seriously.