By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Editor

MOSS POINT — For the first time in at least eighty years, the football program at Moss Point High School will have a third head coach in as many seasons.
Current Tiger head baseball coach Julius Bridges was named as the interim head football coach earlier this week by the School Board. Bridges has been an assistant on the football team under the past two head coaches for the last six seasons.
His only prior head coaching experience on the gridiron was serving as the ninth grade head coach for the Tigers for the last three seasons.

“I am incredibly honored and excited to take on the role of head football coach,” Bridges said, Friday afternoon. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to work with a talented group of players and staff. I’m looking forward to bringing my coaching style, enthusiasm, and dedication to the team to help us achieve success together.”
This was the social media release upon Bridges’ hiring earlier this week by school officials:
“With his dedication and leadership, Coach Bridges has played a pivotal role in our Moss Point Tigers winning the Region 8 4A-District Championship for three consecutive years!
As a proud alumnus from the Class of 2008, Coach Bridges knows what it means to wear the blue and white with pride. His passion for the game and our community is unmatched, and we can’t wait to see the amazing things he’ll achieve with our team this season! Coach Bridges embodies the spirit of our community. He says, “Overcome adversity,” a mantra that will undoubtedly inspire our team to reach new heights!
Join us in congratulating Coach Bridges on his well-deserved promotion! Let’s rally behind him and our Tigers for an unforgettable season! Let’s give Coach Bridges a huge Tiger welcome and get ready for an incredible year of football!”

Bridges replaces John Feaster at the helm of the Tigers, who unceremoniously left town after one sub-par season. Feaster went 2-7 in his lone season on Dantzler Street, and did nothing to help restore the once proud Tiger football tradition.
In fact, Moss Point didn’t even make the playoffs under Feaster last season. snapping an 11-year postseason streak for the Tigers.
Feaster came to Moss Point after spending seven seasons as the head coach at Stone High, where the Tomcats went 39-34 during that span.
The move marks the first time in at least 80 years that the once mighty Moss Point football dynasty will have its third straight head coach in many seasons. TheTigers did have three different head coaches from 2012-2014, but those were under different circumstances.

However, it won’t be the first time that a man with no prior head coaching experience has taken charge of the Tigers.
The legendary Billy Wayne Miller became head coach in 1971 with previous stops at Pearl River Central and Stone and spent the next 20 years at the helm of the Tigers including winning a state championship in 1983. He compiled a 118-89-3 overall mark in his two decades.

In 1991, Miller’s longtime defensive coordinator Jerry Alexander took over after Miller’s sudden death from a heart attack. With no prior head coaching experience on the prep level, in 17 seasons Alexander continued to build upon the successful groundwork that Miller had laid as he guided the Tiger program to heights never before seen on Dantzler Street recording a 167-55 record and he led MPHS to four state championships in his first 10 seasons.
The Tigers captured the Class 5A state in 1991, 1996, 1997 and 2000. Moss point returned to the state finals in 2001, but fell. That marked the last time Moss Point has made it to the state championship game, as the Tigers haven’t won a South State title in the past 22 seasons under seven different head coaches.
But, Moss Point has still been a perennial playoff contender over the past two decades only missing the postseason three times in those 22 seasons including last season under Feaster.