Two months before season, Vicksburg still without head football coach
Published 9:39 am Friday, June 30, 2017
With only five weeks left until the start of football practice, the Vicksburg High School Gators remain without a head coach.
The Vicksburg Warren School Board of Trustees held their regular meeting Thursday evening, and a decision to fill the vacancy was not on the agenda.
The position has been vacant since Marcus Rogers resigned April 27, two days after he was arrested for DUI after he wrecked a Dodge Charger leased to the school district.
In early May, Vicksburg Warren School District athletic director Preston Nailor and incoming VHS principal Angela Johnson made the recommendation that current Vicksburg assistant coach Lorenzo Breland be promoted to the position of head coach.
Since then, no additional recommendation has been made and the board has not taken any action on filling the position.
The board will not meet again until July 20, unless a special meeting is called.
Breland served as the team’s interim head coach during spring practice, but Nailor said the coaches are running the summer program as a staff with no particular coach in charge.
“They are getting the job done,” he said. “They are doing it as a whole team until we can get somebody approved.”
The team has participated in 7-on-7 tournaments throughout the summer, and Nailor said from what he has seen, the lack of a head coach has not had a negative impact on the team.
“They look perfectly fine to me,” Nailor said. “They are playing well. The team’s sprits are up. I’ve been down there a couple times every week and the team is still running in the direction it was left off of.”
Mississippi high school football teams are allowed to officially begin practicing Aug. 8.
The Gators’ will play their first game of the season Aug. 18 against Oxford in the Red Carpet Bowl. The Red Carpet Bowl will be played at Warren Central this year.