By Curtis Rockwell/Sports Director

PASS CHRISTIAN — Harrison Central assistant coach Jacques Pucheu will be the new head coach at Pass Christian High.
Current Pirate head coach and Athletics Director Ricky Smith announced the move late Tuesday afternoon.
Puceu, a former standout player at West Harrison, will wrap up his tenure with the Red Rebels this week as the regular season comes to an end.
Smith, who is stepping down to become the new AD at Gulfport High, leads Pass Christian into the Class 4A South State playoffs later this week against Columbia. He will officially step down at the end of the current season before heading to Gulfport.

It’s the first prep head coaching job for Pucheu.
Smith leaves behind a solid tenure at The Pass. A 2000 graduate of George County High School, Smith is in the process of wrapping up a quarter of a decade as a baseball coach in South Mississippi, including 14 as a head coach after he previously served six seasons in that capacity at Bay High.
He is two wins away from 100 wins at Pass Christian, which finished as the third seed in Region 4-7A this season. He has guided the Pirates to the second round of the Class 4A South State playoffs five straight seasons, one of the most successful stretches in program history.

Pucheu is leaving a Harrison Central squad that has failed to make the state playoffs for the past three seasons. He is expected to begin his new job at the helm of the Pirates soon.

Meanwhile, Pass Christian heads to Columbia Friday to open the Class 4A South State playoffs at 7 p.m., against the Wildcats, who are the second seed in Region 7-4A. Then, the two teams meet in game two in the Pass on Saturday afternoon.

If a game three is needed in the series, it will be back in Columbia Monday night at 7 p.m. Pass Christian is 8-16 overall as it begins the postseason, which will be its final one under the direction of Smith.