Another high school football coaching job has come open in South Mississippi
The number of high school football coach job openings in South Mississippi has increased to four.
Long Beach head coach Philip Pigott resigned after two years on the job, the school’s athletic director, Russ Badeaux, confirmed to the Sun Herald on Wednesday.
Badeaux declined to discuss the circumstances surrounding Pigott’s resignation.
“We’ll move forward looking for the best candidates to replace Coach Pigott,” Badeaux said. “We’re just looking for someone who will be involved in the community and do the best they can for our students.”
Pigott praised his former players in a statement he released to the Sun Herald.
“My family and this staff want all of the players to know how much each of them means to us and we wish them all the best in the future,” he said. “We will always be there for them. You never stop being someone’s coach. A coach’s impact should never be measured by wins and losses. We believe we had great success in our investment into impacting the lives of these student-athletes here at Long Beach. I’m so grateful to have led this program and we are excited for what the future holds.”
Pigott, who worked previously as the defensive coordinator at Petal and played running back at LSU, finished 4-18 in two seasons as the Bearcats’ head coach.
Long Beach’s lone victory this year was a 57-49 win over West Harrison on Sept. 6. The Bearcats finished the season on an eight-game losing streak, struggling on both sides of the ball.
The Bearcats’ chances of competing in Region 4-5A took a significant hit ahead of the 2019 season when senior quarterback Cade Crosby transferred to Gulfport, where he helped lead the Admirals to a 10-3 record. He threw for 2,376 yards and 27 touchdowns at Gulfport a year after throwing for 2,167 yards and 23 TDs at Long Beach.
The three other job openings are:
▪ Picayune — Dodd Lee announced plans to retire before the season.
▪ Ocean Springs — Ryan Ross resigned last month.
▪ East Central — Seth Smith stepped down to become the head coach at Pearl River Community College.
This story was originally published December 11, 2019 at 3:37 PM.
