(This is a column of opinion by SouthMiss6 Sports Director Curtis Rockwell)

GULFPORT — Catching up on some prep football coaching and construction notes on this South State championship Black Friday:
There are several interesting scenarios that surround Friday night’s Class 7A South State championship game at historic Milner Stadium in addition to the contest itself.
First off, will it be the final high school game ever for the home-standing Admirals in this venue that they’ve called home for the past 77 years?
Well, some say it is and some say it ain’t. But here’s what GHS Athletics Director Matt Walters had to say earlier in the week;
“God’s plans are the only ones that really matter, but we’ve opened the bids, they have been approved by the board and construction begins soon with the intent to play our season on campus next year.”
In my opinion, I highly doubt that happens, and that’s why I myself have been extremely cautious so far this season in saying that it will definitely be the last season Gulfport takes the field at Milner this season.

But, if indeed it is, then what a season the Admirals have put together to send the old girl out with. A nine-game win streak, a 10-2 record, their first region title in six years and hosting their first South State championship game in 34 years.
And, just ass the stadium situation looms on one side of the field Friday night, the head coaching situation does as well on the opposite sidelines.
Brandon is under the direction of interim head coach Eugene Clinton, who is 4-0 at the helm of the Bulldogs after replacing Lance Pogue who was let go mid-season. Clinton is the third head coach at BHS in the past 10 months or so, after Sam Williams left for Mobile (Ala.) UMS -Wright after guiding the Bulldogs to three state championship games in the past four years.

At first, it was thought all across the board in all circles that Clinton’s appointment was just temporary in order to keep things from falling totally apart when the Bulldogs started the season 3-5. However, each week, he has been making his case to be the permanent Bulldog leader moving forward into next year. Those four straight wins include ending the regular season with a pair to get Brandon back into the state playoffs as well as two consecutive road upsets over higher-seeded opponents the past two weeks in Ocean Springs and Oak Grove in the Class 7A South State playoffs to push the Bulldogs back into their fifth straight South State championship game and sixth in the past seven years.

So, a decision on Clinton’s future at BHS could hinge on the outcome of Friday’s showdown with Gulfport. And, the decision by the administration at BHS could also be felt as far down south as U.S. Highway 90 as well.
And that’s because both Gulfport head coach Blake Pennock and Ocean Springs head coach Jake Bramlett have been mentioned numerous times as possibly in the mix for the Brandon post if it comes open. In addition, Pass Christian head coach Jeff Stockstill, who just paced his Pirates to their best season in program history, has surfaced as a prime candidate for openings at larger schools across the Gulf Coast and state-wide as well.
Pascagoula head coach Lewis Sims is expected to make his resignation official on Monday. And, on the other end of the Gulf Coast, St. Stanislaus is already looking for its next head coach.
So, will the outcome of Friday night’s contest at Milner Stadium ripple into the off-season and possibly open up other jobs in the “Southern Six”?
I’m not really sure at this point. But what I do know is that we will definitely know the outcome of any coaching changes before we know whether the course of construction will result in a new home for the Admirals by next August or not.
(This is a column of opinion by SouthMiss6 Sports Director Curtis Rockwell)