For the second time in less than a year, Vicksburg High School is searching for a new head football coach.

Lorenzo Breland, who spent only one season in the job, will not be retained for another year, Vicksburg Warren School District athletic director Preston Nailor said.

The decision was made in December, Nailor said, and the job opening was posted on the Mississippi High School Activities Association’s web site on Tuesday.

Nailor said he and Johnson made the decision together to change coaches.

“It has to do with stability and changing the culture. I spoke with Ms. Johnson and she wants a certain coach. It had nothing to do with wins and losses. I was very proud of what Coach Breland did,” Nailor said. “He did a great job in the circumstances that were given to him. The culture had to change, and she was very adamant that things had to change.”

The move is the latest twist in a tumultuous year for Vicksburg’s football program. Former coach Marcus Rogers resigned in April following his arrest for a DUI. His former assistant Breland led the team through spring practice and was offered the job in May, but not formally approved by the school board until late July.

On the field, the Gators lost their first five games before winning five of their next six to finish 5-7. They lost 21-6 to Olive Branch in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs, in a game marred by a large fight in the final minute.

Breland said he was still trying to get some clarification on the reasons for his dismissal, but was obviously disappointed that it happened.

“When you put the kids and families through that and try to get it headed in the right direction, and have the carpet pulled out from under you, that’s a tough pill to swallow for anybody,” Breland said. “Never in a million years did I think that after everything we went through in April, that we’d be here in December. At least let me get a year under my belt.”

Breland had been on the VHS staff for three seasons, but this year was the first time he had ever been a head coach. His contract runs through the end of the school year, and it was unclear if he would finish it out as a teacher. The spring semester begins Monday. He said he will try to help the team’s seniors during the college recruiting process that culminates with national signing day on Feb. 7.

The biggest disappointment, he said, has been the idea that he was being let go for things that went beyond what happened on the football field.

“I came to work every day and tried to get better every day, and to build productive members of society,” Breland said. “It’s a lot of uncertainty with what’s going on. I’ve always done it for the kids and the love of the game. I guess the powers that be see something different.”

From 1978 to 2011, Vicksburg High had four head football coaches. Breland’s successor will be its fourth in six years. Nailor said he won’t return to the office from the holiday break until later this week and the search process will begin in earnest then. He wasn’t sure how many applications had been received so far.

Nailor did, however, say that the emphasis will be on finding a coach that can build up more than just the high school team.

“Anybody that’s a strong leader, a disciplinarian, if they don’t already have a love for Vicksburg High School and they want to build a program, this is a place to be. (Basketball coaches) Troy Stewart and Kelvin Carter, and Josh Morgan over at Warren Central have done a very good job with that, and we want to do the same thing for this program,” Nailor said. “We want to make sure Vicksburg has a program, seventh through 12th grade, so they can lay down guidelines they can follow all the way through, and understand what the school and administration is wanting for this program for years and years to come.”