[6/16/04]Randy Wright never wanted to be a head football coach.

He was perfectly happy to stay on the other side of Porters Chapel Academy’s athletic fields, competing for state baseball championships every spring while helping out as an assistant football coach in the fall.

Fate intervened, however, when PCA football coach Bubba Mims died last month. Now Wright, an assistant at PCA since 1995, will find himself taking the reins of its football program next season.

Wright was named PCA’s interim coach at the school’s monthly board meeting on Tuesday. He will serve in that position for all of the 2004 season, but the search for a permanent coach will continue, headmaster Gwen Reiber said.

She added that hiring Wright, the longest-tenured coach at PCA in any sport, made sense from an emotional and competitive standpoint.

“He is a talented coach. He has a track record here, we know he’s good, and he has a rapport with the students,” Reiber said. “Nobody was really enthusiastic about changing (coaches) right now. Utilizing Randy Wright in that position filled our emotional needs as well as our football needs.”

Wright said he was OK with the temporary arrangement, and would be happy to step aside when the right coach is found.

“I’m in this position for as long as they need me to be in this position,” Wright said. “When Mrs. Reiber makes the decision that she wants somebody else to be the coach, I’m gladly going to step down and be an assistant again and do the things I’ve been doing for the last 10 years.”

Wright has filled in at PCA before.

When Jim Sizemore retired just hours before a game in 2000, Wright stepped in and coached the team through a 42-28 loss to Briarfield. He never sought a higher position in the program, however, and happily returned to his assistant role the following week when Mims was hired.

All of that changed after Mims’ death on May 16. Wright offered to coach the team next season, if it would help the school and the players through the difficult transition period.

“Everybody involved wanted to make the best decision for Porters Chapel, and for the kids involved,” Wright said. “That’s my sole motivation for doing this, is to help ease the kids into the transition. I want us to continue heading in the direction we were heading in.”

Reiber looked outside the program for a suitable candidate, but the timing of Mims’ death made the search difficult. It was late in the school year, when many coaches have signed contracts already for next year, and Mims also served in several other positions at PCA. That meant Reiber was looking for not one, but two or three coaches.

After a rushed interview process failed to produce the right candidate, Reiber took Wright up on the offer and recommended him to the school’s board of directors.

“We wanted to take some time making these decisions, and because of the timing of Bubba’s death we just did not feel we had the time to do the search we wanted to do,” Reiber said.

Although the search for a new head coach will resume next year, PCA was able to fill several other jobs.

Anson Walker, a former Millsaps football player and graduate assistant at Delta State, was hired as an assistant football coach. He will also coach the junior varsity football team, the powerlifting team, and either the boys or girls track team. He also will serve as an assistant athletic director, with Reiber continuing as interim athletic director. Mims had been the school’s AD, as well as the powerlifting and golf coach.

James DeLaughter, an Ole Miss graduate, also was hired. He’ll coach the other track team, as well as golf, and will be an assistant football coach. Neither Walker nor DeLaughter have coached football on the high school level, but Reiber was impressed with their football background and knowledge.

“We feel that Mr. Walker and Mr. DeLaughter are going to be strong additions to the football staff,” Reiber said.

Walker and DeLaughter join a team that appears primed for a big season. The Eagles finished 4-6 last year, but lost four games by a combined total of 18 points and just missed the playoffs thanks to a pair of close conference losses.

PCA moves into a new, weaker conference this season, and will see the first part of a talented junior high class ascend to the varsity level. Wright coached them to a perfect season in 2002, when the first-string defense didn’t allow a point. In fact, the only points any team scored against those junior Eagles came when Humphreys returned a fumble against the second-string offense.

Reuniting Wright and the players from that team will not only make for an easier season emotionally, Wright said, but also on the field.

“I think that’s extremely important,” he said. “These kids have all played for me in junior high football and in baseball, and they all know how to handle things.

“I think that’s going to make the transition much easier.”