By Billy Watkins
It was a whirlwind Monday for Lance Pogue, the new head football coach at Brandon High School.
First, he had to tell his players at Columbia High that he was leaving,
“That was tough, looking them in the eyes and letting them know I was going to coach somewhere else,” Pogue said. “I got real attached to those players. Those kids are tough. They remind me of a smaller South Panola.
“And I also told them they’ll have a friend for as long as I live. I told every kid that I’d be there for them if they ever need help as long as I’m still kicking.”
He took Columbia to the 2024 4A playoffs — his only season there — and lost to eventual state champion Poplarville in a second-round heartbreaker, 21-20.
In 24 years of coaching, the 55-year-old Pogue has an overall record of 246-71 (78 percent). He won five state titles and one national championship in 10 seasons at South Panola. In addition to Columbia and South Panola, he’s also coached at Winona, Eupora, Jackson Academy and Heritage Academy.
Few jobs would have lured him away from Columbia, but Pogue was intrigued when officials at Brandon called.
“Of course, I’ve followed them all my life, them being one of the metro Jackson teams,” said Pogue, who grew up in Eupora. “When I was at South Panola, we played Brandon in the state championship game in 2012. They had a guy named Gardner Minshew at quarterback and we had a guy named Darrell Henderson at running back. Both became NFL players.
“We managed to beat them (31-23) but I knew that night that Brandon was about to explode and become one of the top programs in Mississippi. And they’ve done that the past 12 years.”
Pogue said Sam Williams, who resigned after four seasons to take a head coaching job in Alabama, “left the program in great shape.”
“And I also want to credit Brad Peterson for the success of the program when he coached there a few years ago. He sorta showed Brandon something that maybe they didn’t realize they had,” Pogue said.
Brandon has been to four state title games — the most recent in 2024 against Tupelo —but hasn’t been able to win a championship. Did the chance to lead Brandon to its first state title affect his decision?
“Maybe a little bit. I think doing something for the first time is always attractive,” he said. “But I’ve always made it about the kids. They’ve been so close, gotten right there to the final game. It would be great to help them win a title and give the players and the school memories of a lifetime.”
Coaching at Jackson Academy gave him a “comfort zone” moving to Brandon.
“I’ve made a lot of friends at JA and the surrounding area,” Pogue said. “You can stand in the middle of the metro area, throw a frisbee and hit one of the local towns. I like that.”
Pogue said he would immediately begin planning for spring practice.
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