1991

\\'EEK OF rea coac e exit ; maybe The coaching profession can be brutal. ..-------------, much of a factor the inability to con– SPORTS with Marty Stamper

trol their players played, well only their respective school presidents and board members know for sure. A major administrative blunder didn' t help Kilpatrick any. The school got the state board to approve EC getting 10 players from Tuscaloosa (Ala.) County and not having to count them against their out-()f-state total. Only the money for those scholarships never materializ– ed. Tuscaloosa Central was the 6A state runnerup in Alabama this fall, so you see what talent level we're talking about ... if everybody was really serious about winning. And if the Tuscaloosa money wasn't coming, the powers that be at EC should have told the state folks and had that stricken from the records. Few opposing coaches knew EC didn't get what was ap– proved. EC could forget slipping past anybody now. its first black head coach and whether the $36,()()()-38,000 plus hous– ing would lure him away from USM is uncertain. Former EC assistant a nd current Pearl River head coach Willie Coats would be another good choice. Maybe even former EC assistant and current Clinton High head coach David Bradberry. Or Forest native Larry Henderson, who is head coach at Murphy High m Mobile. His high school teams have been on national television. Former EC head coach Ken Pouncey tS available after losing the :'\ewton County Superintendent of Education race. Or there are JUCO assistants like Mississippi Delta's Jay Miller and Hinds' J Mike Smith who might be ready to step up. With another year like this past year, Billy Brewer and Jeff Bower might even be available. They might even be wise to beat the rush to the hiring line. Heck, why not give Jackie Sher– rill a real challenge?

Make sure you enjoy the wins, because there won't ever be enough. In the immediate area alone, Philadelphia's David Oakes, East C raJ's A.J. Kilpatrick, and Umon's Morgan Scribner have turn– ed m their resignations recently. J ohnny Fulce is retiring at Acker– man. It must be something about Hghway 15. All have had their moments at arious times even though some's y years came at other schools me went to losing programs and 1ed to create a miracle. Awin here, win there would be great .. at least for u while. But once you start winning then folks expect you to win them all Oakes stepped down last \\-ee!t after going 42-17 in five ea- ns at Philadelphia. The last •wo Tornado teams went 23-3.When you ftnd out how many teams in ~l15~1pp1

team next fall to go to a school at St. Martin that just went 1-9. Usually people change jobs for reasons like: better pay; larger budget, better working conditions ; less hours or responsibilities ; better fringe benefits ; less friction with fellO\\' workers, management, etc. Your guess is as good as mine. _ Kilpatrick knew he was in for a rough time in getting his contract renewed after 10 years in Decatur. An·; consideration of that would de– perid a lot on this year's record. Who knows? Even that might not have been enough. Two of the Warriors' games this fall were halted because of full-scale brawlS The game a t J ones was not resumed. JCJC's E lmer Higgin– m -go =-the axe as well. How vitational Saturday night. He posted some mighty good records on the reservation and might like to come out of retirement. And there's Kilpatrick who was a standout per– former in football and basketball at PHS in the la te 1940s. At EC? The school's job an– nouncement says preference will be given to persons with a Master's Degree, with college-level coaching experience, and with college-level recruitment experience. That would seem to eliminate Neshoba Cen– tral's Chuck Friend, Louisville's Bobby Hall, Newton County's Larry Harms, a nd Forest's J ack French. Hall might have even been able to bring Clarion-Ledger Player of the Year Lawrence Sangster. Keep in mind that of EC's last four coach hirings, all had college ex– perience. USM inside linebackers' coach Freeman Horton might be a good choice. He's from the district (Lake), was an assistant a t EC from 1980-83, and has the four-year school connection Whet!,er EC is read_ for U.\

Maybe it was like at East )fississippi where no new out-()f– state scholarships were provided this year They'll say it was due to it 's the curse of Highway 15

The thing now is to find replacements. At Philadelphia? There are two assistants, Steve Boyd and Herschel Smith, that should be given consideration if they want to move up. Former Choctaw Central APPEAR head coach Larry Robinson, who retired last year as an assistant at CART Union, was at the Philadelphia ln- 1\lORTvr'l 1Kl tiU .\ I: I'\ESHOBA DEMOCR-:-A=r- -. NEWTON RECORD CLARION - LEDGE=R---

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