COLUMBUS — Heritage Academy announced May 6 that Eupora native Lance Pogue has been hired as football coach, replacing Sean Harrison.
Harrison, who coached the Patriots for six seasons and has been the Columbus school’s principal and athletic director, became Heritage’s head of school last month.
Pogue resigned his position at Jackson Academy in April after five years, three as defensive coordinator and two as head coach. His teams went 18-8 and reached the MAIS Class 6A championship game in 2020, the first time the Raiders reached that game since 2013. JA also ended a 12-year losing streak to Jackson Prep in the 6A semifinals that season.
Jackson Academy had other turnover this spring, as two assistant football coaches and the boys basketball coach previously had announced they were leaving. Pogue served as the school’s interim athletic director this year.
Pogue is best known for 10 seasons at South Panola, where his teams went 126-17 and won five MHSAA Class 6A titles. Overall, Pogue has a 228-65 record in 24 seasons as a head coach.
The coach’s recognition goes beyond Mississippi. In 2010, he was named the national coach of the year by USA Today and Russell Athletic after the Tigers went 15-0, and in 2011 he was the head coach of the East team which won the Army All-American Game.
A member of the Holmes Community College Sports Hall of Fame, Pogue is a graduate of Eupora High School and Delta State University. He spent one year as head coach at Winona High School in 1993, served as an assistant coach at Madison Central and Mississippi Delta Community College, and then went 81-32 in nine years at Eupora, where the Eagles went 8-13 during his first two seasons before reeling off six consecutive 10-win seasons.
Pogue is walking into a winning tradition at Heritage. Harrison’s teams went 63-13, including 25-1 in district play and 12-4 in the playoffs. The Patriots won two MAIS titles under Harrison, including a 14-0 season in 2019.
Heritage went 12-1 last fall, winning the MAIS Class 5A title. The Patriots will open at home on Aug. 19 against Lamar.
