By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

GULFPORT — Almost 10 years to the day after winning its last state basketball championship and ninth overall, the Gulfport boys basketball program today sits at a major crossroads.
The once perennial state power is coming off of its worst season on the hardwood in at least 90 years. And the right hire as the next man up in the coaching seat for the Admirals is a critical one for the future of the once vaunted and feared program.
Gulfport finished with a paltry 9-21 overall record that wrapped up several weeks ago on a Saturday night on the road in Meridian with a 64-41 loss to the eventual Class 7A state champion Wildcats.
Two days later, first-year head coach Steve Hesser was gone. He stepped down almost immediately after the season ended, and he leaves the once-proud Admiral program after recording the least amount of wins and the most amount of losses in a single season in at least nine decades.
While the Admirals were able to qualify for the first-ever Class 7A South State playoffs thanks to a win to open the Region 4-7A Tournament, Gulfport followed that up with three straight losses to end the season.

The Admirals, at one point during January, lost seven consecutive games. It was the first such streak for GHS in over 40 years. This past season also marked just the second time in the past 30 years that the Admirals lost three games each to longtime rivals Biloxi and Harrison Central in the same season.
Hesser replaced Owen Miller, who moved on to take on the job as men’s coach at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College after 12 seasons at Gulfport. Miller averaged more than 20 wins a season as coach of the Admirals, including winning the Class 6A state championship in 2014 the last one to date.
“Regardless of how good or bad everyone else is, Gulfport has always carried the banner for Coast basketball through the years.” veteran Gulf Coast sports writer Creg Stephenson said. “For them to have gone this long without winning a state title is really kind of shocking.”
Obviously, the Hesser hire will go down in infamy with Gulfport’s fans and supporters. And that makes the next hire by far the biggest of Athletics Director Matt Walters’ two years on the job.
And many followers of the program feel that it’s time for the Admirals to hire the first minority, more specifically an African-American, for that role in school history.

The first name fitting that category that surfaced when the job came open was that of current Pascagoula head coach Lorenzo Wright. Wright just led the Panthers to an historic 29-2 season and a spot in the Class 6A Overall Final Four in Jackson.
Wright guided PHS to a school record 29 game winning streak this season. He is a former Gulfport standout player Gulfport player and just finished his eighth season at the helm of the Panthers, and has right at 12 years of experience as a head coach on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Wright came to PHS after a three-year stint at D’Iberville, where he led the Warriors for three good years. When he graduated from Gulfport High he went on to play collegiately at Nicholls State. Before coming to D’Iberville he was the head coach at Patterson (La.) High and he also served as an assistant coach at both his alma mater as well as Harrison Central High.
In addition to Wright, yet another former Admiral standout is right up the road in Lyman.
Veteran head coach Boo Hardy just wrapped up his 16th season leading Harrison Central. The Red Rebels went 23-9 this season winning the Region 4-7A title in the process before falling in the opening round of the Class 7A South State Playoffs.
He is one of the most winning prep boys basketball coaches in South Mississippi, with over 300 wins to his credit at both HCHS ad Long Beach. He began his head coaching career with the Bearcats in 2004, after serving as an assistant coach for his alma mater for five seasons.
Also, Eric Vianney has led Picayune to back-to-back 20-win seasons and had his Maroon Tide in the Class 5A state championship game two years ago. That ended a streak of three straight appearances in Jackson for Picayune.

The Maroon Tide has won at least 20 games in three of the past four seasons and went 19-8 in 2022. However, Vianney is a former Picayune standout player who might be comfortable coaching his alma mater.
Outside of the “Southern Six”, Meridian, which just won its second state title in eight seasons, is led by a man with ties to South Mississippi in head coach Ron Norman.
Norman coached Pascagoula to three straight trips to Jackson from 2014-2016 before departing for Meridian, and he led the Wildcats to a state title in his first season at MHS in 2017 as well as this year.
Raymond head coach Tony Tadlock’s name has also surfaced in some circles following the search. Tadlock just guided the Rangers to back-to-back Class 4A state championship appearances including winning the title Saturday.
Anthony Carlisle just finished his fifth season as the head coach at Yazoo City and has developed the Indians into a Class 5A power. His team just lost to Canton in the state championship game over the weekend, and the Chiefs finished 28-6 last season and went 30-5 two seasons ago and beat Raymond in the Class 4A state championship game.
Carlisle raised some eyebrows in prep basketball circles in South Mississippi a little less than a decade ago when he brought his Class 3A Velma Jackson team into Gulfport and captured the prestigious Admiral Hardwood Club Holiday Classic with wins over Pascagoula, Laurel and the host Admirals in the title tilt.