By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

BAY ST. LOUIS — In what has been an historic off-season of prep football coaching openings in the “Southern Six”, one spot seems filled while yet another one has come open

Bay High has found its new head coach in Katlan French. French just completed one year as the defensive coordinator at Gulfport High after serving six years as the head coach at Biloxi from 2018-2023.

SouthMiss6 Sports was the first to report the mutual interest between the administration at Bay High and French in the job almost two weeks ago.

Meanwhile, on Monday, according to reports Long Beach head coach Jacob Massey has stepped down after just three seasons on the job.

Massey went just 4-29 in those three years, but he did stop the school record 29-game losing streak last season after he lost his first 14 games at the helm of the Bearcats.

Long Beach was 2-9 last year.

Massey came to the Coast after serving one season as the Petal offensive coordinator under his longtime boss Aaron Glenn. Glenn took over as the top man with the Panthers after six seasons as head coach at Amory, all with Massey as his offensive coordinator.

Meanwhile, French replaces Jeremy Turcotte at Bay High.

Turcotte stepped down after five seasons at the helm of the Tigers, his alma mater, after going 20-31.

He guided the Tigers to four state playoff appearances in his five seasons in charge, including last year. Bay High ended its season with a 49-7 loss on the road to Forest in the opening round of the Class 4A South State playoffs, and Turcotte immediately announced his resignation a few days later.

“It’s just time for a change. When you know you know,” Turcotte said then. “Bay High is home. I played here; I was blessed to begin my coaching career here; and I was blessed to receive the opportunity to be head coach here for the last five years. It has truly been a dream come true. I cannot thank all the players and coaches enough. It’s just time for a change.”

In 2023, 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.

French then helped Gulfport earn a berth in the Class 7A South State playoffs last year calling the shots for the Admiral defense. Gulfport was upset at home in the first round of the playoffs 20-17 by Petal.

Biloxi made the playoffs four out of the six seasons under French’s tutelage, including four of his last 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 its last three trips in 2020, 2022 and 2023.

The Indians finished 6-6 overall in his final season and wound up third in Region 4-7A after finishing in the third spot as well in Region 4-6A the year before.

Ironically enough, last season, the new Biloxi head coach Jamey Dubose who replaced French then went 5-5 last year during regular season play and finished third in Region4-7A. The Indians finished up at 5-6 overall after losing to, you guessed it, Oak Grove, on the road in the opening round of the state playoffs 34-20.