#1 Winona’s Tompkins retires:
After 11 years serving as the head coach of the Winona High football program, Joey Tompkins announced following the season concluded that it would be his last to roam the sidelines at Tiger Stadium.
Tompkins joined the Winona High football program in 2014, compiling an overall record of 102-39. He led the Tigers to the MHSAA Class 3A state title in 2023 as they went 15-0, beating Noxubee County in the championship game in Oxford.
“I’ve had a lot of good times and some good kids over the years. We’ve built this program into one of the most respectable in Class 3A,” said Tompkins. “I have a son who is a junior this year at Winona, and my daughter is a sophomore at Ole Miss. Like I said, it’s just time for me to step away.”
Tompkins has only coached at four schools during his tenure. He started as a student teacher/coach at Weir High School while he was finishing up at Mississippi State University. He was there for six years, serving the last four as defensive coordinator.
He then joined Trey Allman at J.Z. George for one season as defensive coordinator. Tompkins moved on to Eupora High School for five years, and he left there and returned to J.Z. George as head coach of the Jaguars in 2012-2013.
#2 Lockhart winds up a Bulldog:
Winona High School’s Tyler Lockhart created quite the stir in early December during the early signing period.
He announced on National Signing Day that he was going to sign with Ole Miss after being committed to Mississippi State since the summer. However, his family had other plans. His mother didn’t sign the papers for him to go to Oxford but did sign for him to be in Starkville.
Once it became official, the senior linebacker will now be on the team with his older brother, TJ Lockhart, and one of his best friends in high school — Fred Clark — who is also a linebacker for the Bulldogs.
Lockhart finished his senior campaign at Winona with 94 total tackles (42 solos, 52 assists), five sacks, three forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. In his junior season, he was named the MHSAA Class 3A Defensive Player of the Year as the Tigers went 15-0 in winning the state championship. He had 104 tackles (52 solos, 52 assists), 10 sacks, 29 tackles for loss and four forced fumbles in 2023.
#3 Coaching changes at Winona Christian:
Things seemed to be going well at Winona Christian with the football program. Coach Ken Chandler had helped turn the Stars around after they went 3-8 in 2021 and 4-7 in 2022. Then in 2023, the Stars went 7-6 and won a first-round playoff game under Chandler. But in February, Winona Christian abruptly relieved Chandler and head baseball coach Derrik Boland of their duties after an alleged altercation between the two coaches at the school.
Assistant baseball coach Greg Watkins took over the baseball program for the season while assistant football coach Ashley Kuhn was eventually named head coach of the football program.
#4 Bo Milton fired, Tommy Acy hired at Carroll:
The 2024 season was nothing short of a nightmare for Carroll Academy football coach Bo Milton. The disaster started in the pre-season scrimmage at Tri-County Academy when quarterback Collin Hurts suffered a season-ending knee injury. The Rebels then lost the first four games of the season, including a heartbreaking 26-21 loss to Class 5A Starkville Academy. After a 27-0 win over Manchester Academy, the Rebels didn’t win again, despite playing rival Winona Christian to a 13-12 loss. The Rebels finished the season 1-9 and Milton was relieved of his duties after 10 years with the school. Milton took over a winless football program in 2015 and after an 1-9 season in 2015, the Rebels went 7-4 the next season and had their best stretch from 2018 to 2020 that culminated in a Class 3A state championship appearance in which they lost to Greenville Christian. Milton was 60-53 in his 10 years at Carroll. Carroll didn’t have to look far for its next head coach as they tapped Central Holmes coach and former defensive coordinator Tommy Acy as the next head coach.
#5 Winona Christian football season turnaround:
After coming to the school as an offensive coordinator after serving as the head coach at Grenada for year, Ashley Kuhn found himself as the head coach at Winona Christian after former coach Ken Chandler was let go. The Stars had a turnaround season that included plenty of blowouts. The Stars went 9-3 on the season in a season that only featured two close games, a 14-13 loss to Marshall and a 13-12 win over Carroll Academy. The Stars made the second round of the Class 3A playoffs where they lost 36-7 to No. 1 seed Riverfield. The loss wrapped up a nine-win season that saw the Stars run the clock on eight opponents.
