By CURTIS ROCKWELL

BILOXI — After six years as the head football coach at Biloxi High, Katlan French recently stepped down from his post.
French, in an exclusive interview with SouthMiss6.com Sports on Tuesday, spoke for the first time officially about the split.
“We have agreed to part ways,” French said. “They kind of wanted to go in a different direction and after some thought we agreed that it was for the best for both of us. I’ve enjoyed my time here but it’s time to put things in God’s hands and move on to the next chapter.”
French and his Indians qualified for the postseason in their first season in the expanded Class 7A, before falling to eventual state champion and perennial state power Oak Grove in the first round of the Class 7A South State playoffs 55-13 on the road.
Biloxi made the playoffs four out of the six seasons under French’s tutelage, including four of the past five seasons. He finished his time with the Indians with an overall winning mark at 34-31, but BHS went 0-4 in the postseason including losing to OGHS on the road in the last three trips in 2020, 2022 and 2023.
The Indians finished 6-6 overall last season and wound up third in Region 4-7A after finishing in the third spot as well in Region 4-6A the year before.
“We’ve done a lot of good things over the past six years, unfortunately we ended up having to face one of if not the best team in the state in the playoffs several times over the past few years,” French said. “But I feel like we definitely left the program in better shape than we took over.”

French is tied for the longest-tenured Indian head coach with John Williams during the playoff era which began in 1981. The next BHS head football coach will be the 11th one in the past 42 years since the legendary Joe Sabbatini retired after the 1982 season.
“Truthfully, Biloxi just has a history of not keeping football coaches very long,” French added. “I was fortunate to be here six seasons, and my staff and I feel like we moved things in the right direction. There’s no hard feelings, Biloxi will always be a special place to me.”
French finishes as the second-winningest coach (behind Williams) in the past 42 years since Sabbatini retired. Biloxi has just a pair of playoff wins over the past 22 seasons, 17-14 over Wayne County in 2001 and most recently 31-6 over Hattiesburg 10 years later in 2011. The Indians are 0-7 in the postseason in the 12 years since.
French came to Biloxi as an assistant under then-new head coach Bobby Hall in 2015, and served in that role for three seasons before taking over for Hall entering the 2018 campaign.
Biloxi was coming off its second 3-8 season in two out of three years under Hall when French took the reigns. He leaves as the sixth winningest all-time coach in the over 100-year history of the Biloxi High football program.
The top spot with the Indians was the first head coaching job on the prep level for the 36-year-old French. He is the son of Jack French, a legend in Mississippi High School circles that coached at six different high schools including winning three state championships at Forest High in the 1990’s.
“I feel like I’m a head coach, and I believe I will be one again someday soon,” the younger French concluded. “Whether its next year or in a year or so, I’ll be ready for the next challenge whatever that may be.”

Biloxi is expected to have a new head coach in place before the end of the year.