By Robert Wilson
One of Eugene Clinton’s best highlights as a college football player was when the Mississippi State defensive back returned an interception in the fourth quarter to help the Bulldogs beat Ole Miss in the 1999 Egg Bowl.
Clinton received possibly his biggest highlight of his high school coaching career Tuesday when he was promoted from a defensive back coach to interim head coach at Brandon High.
Lance Pogue – one of the winningest high school football coaches in Mississippi history – resigned Tuesday in his first season at Brandon.
The Rankin County School District issued a statement Tuesday that Pogue has resigned as athletic director and head football coach.
Clinton takes over at Brandon, which has a 3-4 record heading into Friday night’s MHSAA Class 7A, Region 3 game at Oak Grove.
The former Provine High and MSU defensive back has been at Brandon for the past 10 seasons as an assistant coach. He was an assistant coach at Provine for eight seasons before coming to Brandon.
Clinton was on the Brandon coach’s show with Brandon’s play by play voice Jake Wimberly Tuesday night at Pancho’s Mexican Grill in Brandon.
“Coach Pogue is a great individual,” Clinton said on the show. “I hate the situation happened the way it did, but we are going to keep pushing as Brandon Bulldogs. Keep pushing forward and keep doing the things we know best to do.”
Clinton’s big play in the Egg Bowl came with the game tied at 20-20 with 20 seconds to play in the fourth quarter when he intercepted a tipped pass and returned it to the Ole Miss 27-yard line, setting up Scott Westerfield’s game-winning 44-yard field goal for a 23-20 Bulldogs victory at Starkville..
Clinton played on the MSU team that won the SEC Western Division and played Tennessee in the 1998 SEC Championship Game, the only time MSU have reached the title game.
He learned discipline playing for Provine coach Willie Collins and playing for MSU coach Jackie Sherrill, and playing in the SEC.
“I am a hard working man,” Clinton said on the show. “I come from a background that believes in hard work, that believes in dedication and believes in doing the right thing. I believe that we, as Brandon Bulldogs, can continue to push and fight, we are going to be alright. Playing in the SEC made me disciplined, made me structured, made me understand everything is not always going to go your way. You’ve got to be able to put things to the side, and go on to the next play. I think that’s what I’m installing into my young men.
“We learned from Coach Collins and (assistant) Coach (Leon) Sherrod a form of discipline because we didn’t have much. We lifted weights outside. We didn’t have a field house. We practiced on dirt fields. You take that everywhere you go. You get a hard-nosed, gritty mentality, that fight, fight, fight through everything mentality. You keep pushing.”
Brandon had high expectations after being the MHSAA Class 7A runner-up three of the past four seasons under Sam Williams, who left Brandon to become head coach at UMS Wright Prep, a private school in Mobile, Ala.
Brandon had the most players of any school on the Performance Therapy/Mississippi Scoreboard Preseason Metro Jackson Elite 11 Team going into this season.
Senior defensive back and Colorado commitment Preston Ashley (rated as the No. 10 ranked player in Mississippi and No. 20 ranked safety in the country in the Class of 2026 by 247 Sports), senior offensive tackle and Jackson State commitment Ayden Newell (a 6-foot-4, 310-pounder who is rated as the No. 38 player in Mississippi and the No. 83 inside offensive lineman in the country in the Class of 2026 by 247 Sports), junior running back Tyson Robinson (rated the No. 4 running back and the No. 42 player in the country in the Class of 2027 by 247 Sports) and junior quarterback Sladen Shack (who threw for 2,586 yards and 24 TDs last season as a sophomore) gave Brandon a strong nucleus.
But key injuries, a difficult schedule and the adjustment to a coaching change has resulted in a losing record.
Pogue has had a successful career. He had a 246-71 record, a 78 percent winning percentage (one of the best in Mississippi history for coaches with 200 career wins) in 24 seasons, including a 126-17 record (88.1 percent winning percentage, five state titles and one national championship in 10 seasons at South Panola, going into this season.
Pogue came to Brandon after one year at Columbia High where he led the Wildcats to an 8-4 record and lost to eventual MHSAA Class 4A state champion Poplarville 21-20 in the first round of the state playoffs.
“I recommended Eugene to be the interim coach,” Pogue told Mississippi Scoreboard Thursday. “Eugene is an outstanding coach that deserves an opportunity to be a head coach. Eugene and I have a great relationship full of trust. I wish the absolute best and I know he will do well. There’s an outstanding group of young men and coaches there that deserve a chance to have success without a cloud of poisonous negativity from within. Eugene is the right guy for it under those circumstances. He played for the legendary Willie Collins at Provine High School and the legendary Joe Lee Dunn at Mississippi State and another Mississippi legend Melvin Smith as his defensive back coach at MSU. I’m a top of the line Eugene Clinton fan and I will always support and help him in any way.”
Clinton hopes he can led Brandon to finish the regular season strong, and finish second in the region and get a home game in the first round of the playoffs.
“I think once everyone gets their energy and excitement back, I think we will be alright,” Clinton said on the show. “We still have a chance to finish second (in the region). I want people to understand that. If we can win the last three games we will finish second. We will have a home game in the playoffs. Even if we lose one game, we can finish third and go down south and win and then play a home game.”
