Present and former Charleston High School head football coaches will roam the sidelines of two prominent all-star football games in coming weeks.
First up is the 2024 Mississippi/Alabama All-Star Football Game, to be played Saturday, Dec. 14, at noon, at Hancock Whitney Stadium on the campus of the University of South Alabama in Mobile.
Tony Vance, presently the head coach at Class 6A Hattiesburg High School, is head coach for the Mississippi team of all-star athletes in the MS/AL game. Vance, a native of Tippo, served as head football coach at his alma mater, Charleston High, for five seasons from 2008-2012, leading the Tigers to the program's first-ever state championship in 2011. (It is noteworthy that Vance's son, Deuce, the all-star quarterback at Hattiesburg High, is on the Mississippi roster.)
Vance has selected present CHS head coach LaDon Taylor to serve as the defensive line coach of the Mississippi team in the 2024 MS/AL game. Taylor served as a defensive assistant under Vance during his coaching years in Charleston and has served as CHS head coach since 2020.
"It's a big-time honor," Taylor said of his selection. "I told Tony I didn't know if I was worthy of that, because the MS/AL game is a big-time game. Everybody coaching on the staff is head coaches. There are some really big-time coaches on that staff, so I feel like the odd man."
Vance also named Dillon Mitchell, head coach at Choctaw County, to be an assistant coach in the MS/AL game. Mitchell is the son of former CHS head coach Jamie Mitchell (2000-2001), under whom Vance served as wide receivers coach both in Charleston and at Olive Branch. (UPDATE: Dillon Mitchell's Choctaw County team defeated Noxubee County 34-27 in the Class 3A final Thursday evening to win the program's first state championship.)
This is Vance's fourth time to serve as a Mississippi coach in the MS/AL game. In 2014, Vance was picked by Mississippi team head coach Jamie Mitchell, who at the time was head coach at Starkville High School, to serve as wide receivers coach. In 2018, Vance was offensive coordinator, and in 2023 he was the all-star team's scout coach.
Ironically, Jamie Mitchell, now in his fourth season as head coach for the Hilcrest High School Patriots in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is the offensive line coach of the Alabama state team in this year's MS/AL game.
That means Jamie Mitchell and Dillon Mitchell, father and son, will be in the unique position of lining up as coaches for opposing teams.
"I remember when me, Tony [Vance] and Coach Mitchell were coaching here together and Dillon was playing, and now we're all going to be coaching in an all-star game," noted Taylor.
The 2024 Bernard Blackwell Classic North/South All-Star Football Game, scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 21 at Milner Stadium on the campus of Gulfport High School in Gulfport, will feature yet another coach with Charleston High School ties.
Former Charleston High School head football coach Perry Liles (2002-2007) will be head coach of the North Mississippi team of all-stars. Liles is presently the head coach at Ripley High School. In 2005, Liles became the first Charleston coach to take the Tigers to a football state championship game. Tony Vance was a defensive assistant coach on that CHS squad.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Jamie Mitchell would be head coach of the Alabama team in the 2024 MS/AL game.
