Two of the most successful Class 6A football programs in Mississippi will have new athletic directors and head football coaches next fall.
Madison Central AD/head football coach Anthony Hart is retiring and Brandon AD/head football coach Tyler Peterson won’t be returning.
“I am retiring. My wife teaches at Rosa Scott (Madison County School District’s ninth grade school) and she is retiring and my son is a senior at Madison Central,” Hart told Mississippi Scoreboard Wednesday. “Madison Central is great place and I’ve been blessed working here.”
“It was the school’s decision,” Peterson told Mississippi Scoreboard Wednesday. “We’ve won a lot of games here and impacted a lot of lives.”
Both Hart and Peterson will continue to be ADs until the school year is out.
Hart has a 195-62 career record, a 75.8 winning percentage, in 20 seasons as a head coach at West Lauderdale, Loyd Star, Franklin County, Lafayette County and Madison Central. He had a 48-18-1 record at Madison Central. The Jaguars finished 7-4 and lost at eventual Class 6A state runner-up Oxford 25-23 in the first round of the playoffs. Madison Central lost its four games by a total of 18 points. Hart’s successor is expected to have 13 returning starters, including three players who made the Priority One Bank/Mississippi All Metro Jackson teams. Senior-to-be tight end Blake Gunter made the first team and senior-to-be defensive lineman C.J. Barney and senior-to-be defensive back B.J. Washington made the second team.
Peterson has a 94-62 career record, a 60.2 winning percentage, in 12 seasons as a head coach at Noxapater, Kosciusko, Northwest Rankin and Brandon. He had a 55-26 record in six seasons at Brandon. The Bulldogs finished 5-6, Peterson’s only losing season. Peterson’s successor is expected to have 15 returning starters, including junior-to-be offensive lineman Luke Rogers, brother of former Brandon quarterback and Mississippi State freshman school record-setting quarterback Will Rogers. Luke Rogers made the Priority One Bank/Mississippi Scoreboard All Metro Jackson second team.
Madison Central won 56 and Brandon won 55 games in the past six seasons, the third and fourth most wins by a Class 6A team in Mississippi.
