[01/19/02]Mike Eaton figured he couldn’t beat Jeff Terrill, so he hired him.

Eaton, vice president of Itawamba Community College, headed up the four-man search committee that honed in on Terrill as the Indians’ new head coach and lured him away from Hinds.

And now, with new rules allowing more liberal recruiting in the juco ranks, Itawamba folks are hoping Terrill can lure more high-caliber players to Fulton.

“He’s one of the best recruiters around,” said ICC athletic director Tommy Morton, who is also an assistant coach. “He has contacts in every district.”

The chance to win championships in an environment that seems built for success convinced Terrill to go to Itawamba.

“I wanted to be a head coach,” said Terrill, a 44-year-old Macon native who helped win five state championships in his eight years as Gene Murphy’s defensive coordinator at HCC. “It was just so hard to find a place you feel like you can have success and where you would want to raise a family.”

ICC’s district includes perennial powerhouses Tupelo, Shannon and Amory, as well as Pontotoc, Houston and Itawamba AHS.

But the district hasn’t been strong lately, Morton said. ICC’s record has reflected that.

Jay Miller’s squad finished 3-6 last year, his second losing record in nine seasons. He won three North Division championships, including one in 2000 when the Indians finished 6-5. Hinds beat the Indians in the playoffs en route to the state championship that year.

Whether Miller was fired or resigned was unclear. Morton said it was “a mutual agreement.”

Either way, Terrill’s goal is the same: to win championships.

“The program has been down,” he said. “We won’t be challenging for a state championship next year. It’s going to take time.”

He said there are plenty of things that should attract players to ICC, which won its last state championship in 1990.

“They have a beautiful campus and the facilities are top-notch,” he said. “We’ve just got to get the players in here to win.”

Terrill said his role will change as a recruiter.

“Now, I will be in the position of closing the deal,” he said. “We’ve got to get the players in here to win, and we have to establish a new attitude. We’ll try to mimic Hinds in a lot of ways.”

He’ll need to do it quick. He’ll face Hinds in his second game.

“That’s going to be tough,” he said. “I wouldn’t have gotten this opportunity without Hinds, Coach Murphy and Dr. (Clyde) Muse.”

Murphy said Terrill’s recruiting ability should make ICC a contender real soon.

“He’s a straight-shooter (with recruits) and he does an excellent job with his defensive schemes,” said Murphy, who like Terrill and Miller, is a native of Noxubee County. “We’re going to miss him.”

Terrill said it was tough leaving.

“We all cried for about an hour,” he said. “I’d see someone else, and we’d start reminiscing, and we’d start crying again.”

Terrill met his new players this week and went to work trying to get some more.

“He hit the ground running,” Eaton said.

Starting this year, two-year schools can pick up players from across the state. Each school can “protect” 22 players in its district. The rest are fair game. Coaches can still pick up seven out-of-state players.

“That probably played a big part in the decision” to hire Terrill, Morton said, adding that it’s difficult to foresee the good and bad aspects of the new rules. “There’s no proven plan yet. It’s going to be good for the kids. We (coaches) may not be as good of buddies as we’ve been in the past.”

Morton was familiar with Terrill’s X-and-O ability before he went to ICC. As the Indians’ offensive coordinator, he matched wits with Terrill a number of times. More often than not, he came up short.

The two also have some history dating back before their juco days. In 1991, Terrill’s Kosciusko Whippets beat Pontotoc in Morton’s last high school game.

“I’m glad we’re on the same side now,” Morton said.

Since 1993, Terrill recruited and coached more than a dozen All-Americans.

Twelve of his players have gone on to play in the NFL, including ex-Vicksburg High stars Mark Smith and Michael Myers. Two of his linemen, Andrew Williams and Jerome McDougle, were starters for the national champion Miami Hurricanes this season.

The Eagles were 76-19 during Terrill’s tenure. He was 44-15 in seven seasons (1986-92) at Kosciusko High. Before that, he spent six seasons as defensive coordinator at East Mississippi and he spent a season each at Woodland Hills and Rebul academies.

Terrill said he will get an apartment for the rest of this year, then move his family to Tupelo over the summer. He and his wife Jan have three children Jay, 19, Jennifer, 15, and Jessica, 11.

“Tupelo was the closest thing to what we’ve been used to,” said Terrill, who lived in Clinton and was a Sunday school teacher at First Baptist Church.

“Life changes,” he said. “I just felt, in my heart, that all parties would be better off with a change … We had a great run.”