RAYMOND — With the once proud Hinds Community College football program withering away down to the depths in the Mississippi Association of Junior and Community College’s lower rungs, former Eagles coach Gene Murphy felt something needed to be done.

So after a six-year hiatus, Murphy, the school’s athletic director, has added an old hat as the head football coach to his duties. Murphy began his new campaign with the Eagles Wednesday as the team started its first set of practices on the Raymond campus.

Hinds has endured losing seasons in three out of the last four years, including last year’s 1-8 debacle that led to the resignation of J. Mike Smith.

Murphy said Tuesday, as the players began reporting in, that being able to guide young athletes is a special deal, but added it comes at a high personal cost.

“To be able again, to influence kids’ lives is a really special thing, but I think what caused me to step away from it is I got burned out of it. Hopefully, that won’t happen this time,” Murphy said.

The Eagles’ boss had an ultra-successful stint as the program’s leader. In 19 seasons, he compiled an outstanding 133-45-1 record and won six state championships. Four of his state and Region 23 title teams finished ranked in the top five in the nation.

A big reason why Murphy was so successful was his ability to secure big league talent. From 1987 and through 2000, Murphy’s teams produced 32 junior college All-Americans. The list includes several who went on to star in the National Football League such as Tracy Minnifield. John Copeland, Zack Crockett, Mark Smith, Michael Myers, Grady Jackson, Fred Taylor and Fred Smoot.

“Many people have felt the football program had fallen and it’s my desire to get it back on track,” Murphy said. “The thing is, there are now, a lot of good programs out there.”

Gulf Coast and Pearl River have been the two steady powers over the last five years and Murphy knows why.

“Everybody has been trying to find that good out of state player — that difference maker. Only time will tell whether you have accomplished that, but looking at the other programs, they’ve done it. You have to find that really good fit but the problem is you have fewer players to choose from,” Murphy said.

“The market for those players is so much tighter now.”

The first step for Murphy was to lock down his territory. He signed 24 players from not only his three county area of Warren, Hinds and Rankin counties, but also snatched a few away from Wayne County. Locally, he inked Les Lemons, Malcolm Butler and Trey Prentiss from Vicksburg High School and then added Cordell Valentine and Danny Bunch from Warren Central.

“We’re about three weeks away from me telling you what I’ve got. We’re really young in a lot of areas. On paper, we’re competitive, but at this point, everybody’s competitive on paper,” Murphy said.

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com