By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

Pearl River Central is looking for a new head football coach for the second straight season.

Reports Wednesday surfaced that Jacob Webb is leaving the helm of the Blue Devil program to return to the state of Alabama after just one season in Carriere.

Webb came to PRC after a lengthy career in the Alabama prep football ranks. Webb went winless at 0-9 in his lone season in Carriere. 

He has been hired at Morgan Academy in Selma, Ala., as its new head football coach and athletic director Morgan headmaster Dr. Bryan Oliver announced on Friday.

“It was evident from the interview process that Coach Webb shared a vision for the program that was consistent with our mission statement at Morgan,” Oliver said.  He said Webb has a clear plan to develop Morgan Academy players and move the program to new heights.

Webb started his new job on Monday.

“I am excited about the leadership that Coach Webb will bring to Morgan Academy. He is a man of strong character that will teach our boys more than just football,” Oliver said. 

The next head football coach will be the sixth in 16 seasons, and only one of those previous mentors left the school with a winning record. Webb replaced Jacob Owen, who went 13-38 during five seasons leading the Blue Devils.

Pearl River Central has gone 0-9, 1-9 and 2-7 on the football field in the past three seasons.

Webb came to Carriere from Jackson Academy in Jackson, Ala., where he served as head football coach, head baseball coach and Athletics Director for several seasons.

Webb had been at Jackson Academy for seven seasons and had 14 years of coaching experience in Alabama before heading across the state line. He led JA to back-to-back Alabama Independent School Association state title appearances in football at one point.

“I wasn’t looking for a coaching job in Mississippi at all,” Webb said, upon his hiring at PRC. “The job just kind of came to me. I toured the school and was offered the position.”

PRC hasn’t qualified for the state football playoffs in nine years, since it completed a postseason run of four out of five years including playing for the Class 5A South State championship in back to back years in 2011 and 2012 under head coach Eric Collins. That 2015 season also marked the last time the Blue Devils had a winning record.

Now, the administration at PRC has the two biggest head coaching positions in the school to fill. The head baseball coach spot is also open after the season ended for PRC on the diamond Wednesday night.

Jarred Rogers had been serving as the interim head coach for the Blue Devils after veteran PRC head coach Neil Walther recently submitted his resignation to the PRC School Board and it was accepted officially bringing an end to his 17-year tenure at the helm of the Blue Devils.

Walther was the most successful head coach in any sport, by far, at Pearl River Central High School. He was suspended from his duties as a coach and a teacher after a game in Hattiesburg on April 10th.

No details surrounding his suspension or ensuing resignation were released by the school officials and both parties declined comment on the situation.

Walther led the Blue Devils to the Class 5A state title in 2017, which still stands as the only state championship in a team sport in school history. The Blue Devils knocked off Oxford in three games in the title series.

In fact, PRC had qualified for the playoffs just three times in the history of the school before Walther arrived in Carriere. He has over 500 total wins as a head coach in 26 years. He came to South Mississippi after serving as a head coach in two other stops one at Springs Valley High in French Lick, Ind., and also at Newburg High in Newburg, Missouri.

And now, the future of that program, just like the football program, is up in the air as well.