Donny Fuller, the successful girls basketball coach at Warren Central High School who accounted for 377 wins over 23 seasons, has accepted the head coaching job at Gulfport High School, he said Thursday afternoon. The move will not become official until the Gulfport school board OKs the deal, usually a formality.

Fuller, a Vicksburg native who graduated from Warren Central in 1975, did two tours with the Lady Vikes, the first from 1981 to 86 and the second from 1992 to 2009.

He told his team at a Thursday afternoon meeting at the school.

“Let’s put it this way,” Fuller said, “the coach cried and the players cried. It was tough on both of us.”

Fuller graduated from Ole Miss before returning to his hometown in 1981. Five years later, he became as assistant coach on Van Chancellor’s women’s basketball staff at Ole Miss. He moved back to the high school ranks in 1992.

His teams have won seven district championships and made the playoffs 12 times. He only suffered two losing seasons, but one of them ended with a district tournament championship.

He ends his Warren Central career with a 377-202 record.

There is no word on when a search for Warren Central’s next girls coach will begin.