Two Charleston High School athletic head coaches have been named Mississippi Association of Coaches “2024 Coaches of the Year.”
It is the first time in school history that two different Charleston coaches have received the honor during the same year.
The MAC honors, recognizing outstanding coaching in 22 sanctioned sports, were announced June 13. One statewide winner was named in each sport, spanning all six public school classifications.
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Jeff Hollingsworth was named MAC Coach of the Year in girls’ track after the CHS Lady Tigers won the Class 2A state track and field championship for a second consecutive season.
LaDon Taylor was selected MAC Coach of the Year in football after leading the Charleston Tigers to a Class 2A state championship, the school's second state title in the sport. The team finished the season 13-2 overall.
All MAC Coaches of the Year will be honored during a July 11 ceremony at the Sheraton Refuge in Flowood.
While Taylor is a first-time MAC Coach of the Year honoree, it is Hollingsworth's fourth such honor.
Hollingsworth previously was a 2011 and 2012 MAC Coach of the Year designate in girls’ powerlifting after he guided the CHS lady lifters to their second and third of four consecutive state titles in the sport. He also was named the 2012 MAC Coach of the Year in girls' track, when the Lady Tigers won the program's first state championship of the modern era in the sport. It is rare to be named Coach of the Year, during the same year, in more than one sport.
Northwest Rankin was the only other school to have two coaches named a MAC Coach of the Year for the 2023-24 school year.
Former CHS coach Perry Liles, now at Ripley, was named MAC Coach of the Year in boys' powerlifting.
Former CHS head football coach Tony Vance, now at Hattiesburg, is the president of the Mississippi Association of Coaches.
