Tradition resonates with Anthony King.
When he looks back on his athletic career, King has fond memories of when he wore the navy and gold of Motley High School. He also recalls the lessons he learned from coaches like Felix Wicks and Bobby Berry.
Now King will get a chance to follow in the footsteps of those men and help the next generation of Panthers build new legacies.
On Friday, the Lowndes County School Board approved King to be the new football coach at West Lowndes High School, effective July 1.
King, a former All-State wide receiver at Motley High, which became West Lowndes High in 1990, takes over for Berry, who retired as coach after more than 40 years in high school athletics. He will work as a Computer Aided Instruction/Tutor Assessment Coordinator at West Lowndes High.
“It feels good to go home,” said King, who lives minutes from the school. “It is an A-1 blessing. A lot of the kids at the school I went to school with their parents. It is a blessing for me all around.”
King takes the job after spending one season as an assistant football coach at Noxubee County High. Prior to that, he spent two seasons as head coach at East Oktibbeha County High, where the Titans went 1-9 in 2008 and 4-7 in 2009.
King, who played for Wicks and Berry (defensive coordinator his final year at Motley High in 1987-88), hopes to build on the foundation Berry established and to help the Panthers evolve into a perennial contender as they move from Class 2A to 1A this season.
King also worked as baseball coach at EOCHS before leaving the school to go to Noxubee County, where he assisted head football coach Tyrone Shorter.
“I feel I have grown a lot and gotten great experience from East Oktibbeha and Noxubee County,” King said. “It was going to be my third year at East Oktibbeha and I know we had a team in place and had set the foundation to have a team going deep into the playoffs.
“It was a tough decision to leave East Oktibbeha because I know we were heading in the right direction, but when I had an opportunity to coach and to work at Noxubee with coach Shorter, it”s as the old saying goes, ”If you want to be a champion you have to hang around with champions.” Coach Shorter is a champion, and Noxubee County is definitely a championship program. Coach Shorter is a natural-born coach, and he has great assistant coaches. Coach (James) Patterson is a great coordinator, and I enjoyed working with the assistant coaches and I learned a lot. I hope we can have the same type of chemistry at West Lowndes that I had at Noxubee County. If we can do that we will be all right. It was pretty much like a family and we jelled together, which helped turn 2010 into a good experience.”
King said he interviewed for the job as West Lowndes football coach “a while back.” Berry”s retirement became public knowledge in March, and King admits the timing of his hiring will make it tough for him to make a lot of changes for this year. Practice for the 2011 season starts Aug. 1.
Lowndes County Schools Superintendent Mike Halford said Friday that West Lowndes High School Cliff Reynolds directed the search for the school”s new head football coach. Reynolds couldn”t be reached Friday for comment.
King said the work of West Lowndes High assistant football coaches Todd Stanley, a veteran offensive coordinator, and Eddie Chapman and their familiarity with the players in the program will make the coaching transition smoother.
King also feels his growth as a coach will enable him to play a bigger role. He served as offensive coordinator at EOCHS and then worked with the defense at Noxubee County, which he feels has made him a “complete coach.”
Local coaches applauded the hiring of King and feel he will be a perfect fit at the school.
Randy Brooks, who served as an assistant coach/defensive coordinator under King in his two years at EOCHS, said King will bring an added dimension that will help him have success.
“I think West Lowndes has got a good, young coach who is very capable and will do great things for that program,” Brooks said. “It doesn”t hurt that he is one of their own.”
Brooks, a veteran coach who has coached multiple boys and girls teams in different sports, said King”s ties to the community are important because he has relationships with the parents of the players and people in the community know him, which will allow him bring the program together.
“The kids (at EOCHS) could tell he cared about them,” Brooks said. “He can be tough on them and show he cares about them at the same time. That is one of the good characteristics of a good coach. By no means are they getting a pushover. They are getting a guy who knows how to win and can prepare his team to win.”
West Oktibbeha football coach Adam Lowrey coached against King for two seasons. He said King is a “fierce competitor” who was building a program at EOCHS.
“He loves to win and works real hard with the guys,” Lowrey said. “He takes the time with them and is a real genuine guy. He is more than a coach. He is a good role model for the kids.”
Lowrey credits King for being able to adjust to situations, too. He said King started with a spread offense at EOCHS and entering his second year found the team wasn”t throwing as well, so he transitioned to a form of the Wing-T, a misdirection, overload offense, and had high-scoring success.
“He”s going to do a good job with them,” Lowrey said. “He”s young and energetic. I believe him being from that area that the boys will take to him really well. I believe coach Berry knew him real well and that the transition should be smooth. They want to win there, and I believe he will do really well with them.”
King played football, basketball, and baseball at Motley High. He graduated in 1988 and moved on to Jackson State, where he played baseball for four years. He then had a chance to play professional baseball in the Chicago Cubs organization before he went into teaching and coaching.
Coming from Motley High, King welcomes the challenge of following Wicks and Berry. He said he wanted the job when he learned Berry was retiring, and thanks everyone in Noxubee County and Lowndes County for giving him opportunities, supporting him, and helping him get the job.
“I used to wear the (Motley High) colors as a ballplayer, so those colors mean a lot to me,” King said. “It just meant a lot for me to go home and to be at my alma mater.
“I am a very blessed man. In a short time I have done a lot of coaching and a lot of learning. It is all going to pay dividends. It is good to get to go back home and really set a solid foundation and really build something special and to be there a long time.”
Berry had a 62-76 record in 13 years as football coach at West Lowndes High. He also served as athletic director for eight to 10 years and track and field and powerlifting coach at the school.
Berry replaced Wicks as football coach for the 1998 season. He guided the team back to the playoffs in 2001, when the Panthers finished 7-4. They also won seven games in 2003, a high water mark for Berry”s teams at the school.
West Lowndes started 5-0 in 2006 but had to forfeit those victories due to an ineligible player. The team finished 4-7 that season.
The Panthers went 6-5 in 2010 and lost in the first round of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 2A North State playoffs. The season capped a four-year run in which the Panthers finished at or above .500 each year.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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