Kenyon Ross is returning to McAdams, a school where he won a state championship, as athletic director and boy basketball coach. He will also be lead teacher (assistant principal) and will teach drivers education.
The Attala County School Board approved the recommendation of superintendent Kyle Hammond to hire Ross. He returns to McAdams after one year as girls coach at Northwest Rankin, a 6A school.
Ross said it was an opportunity to “come back home” and be near his daughter, a kindergartener at Long Creek Elementary School. He originally applied for the assistant principal position. “After I interviewed, they told me a basketball position might come open and would I be willing to do it. I was like ‘whatever is best for the school.’”
Ross has coached state championship teams at three different schools. He won a girls gold ball at McAdams in 2009, a boys title at Durant in 2011 and a girls title at Louisville in 2019.
Hammond was an assistant superintendent of the Louisville Municipal School District during the four years (2015-2019) that Ross was athletic director, girls basketball coach, and assistant principal.
“I was really excited when he applied,” Hammond said. “I think he is going to do a fabulous job for us at McAdams because I have seen first hand the job he does. He’s phenomenal as a basketball coach, he’s phenomenal in the assistant principal role, and he does a fabulous job in the athletic director position. He’s well respected across the state.”
Hammond credits Ross role as assistant principal in helping to improve Louisville academics. “He helped turn the school around from a D ranking, to a C ranking, then a B ranking.”
Ross is a Holmes County native who graduated from J.J. McClain High School in 1993. He received a degree in mass communications from Mississippi Valley State University in 1998, where he played basketball for legendary coach Lafayette Stribling. Ross averaged 10.7 points during his college career, including 16.3 as a senior. His sophomore year, the Delta Devils won the SWAC regular season and tournament championship and played in the NCAA tournament.
Ross said playing for Stribling was fun and an education. “It helped me tremendously in learning the game of basketball and the understanding of being a man. He taught us life lessons.”
Following graduation, Ross played professional basketball in Chile for nine months before returning to Mississippi to begin his coaching career at McClain Junior High School. He spent seven years at Williams-Sullivan in Holmes County coaching football, basketball and track. “You name it, I coached it.”
The next two years were at McAdams where he won the girls 1A state championship in 2009 and coached the boys team that reached the state semifinals. Since then, he has coached at Durant, Louisville and Northwest Rankin.
McClain, Williams-Sullivan, Durant and S.V. Marshall were subsequently consolidated to form Holmes County Central.
Along the way, Ross received a masters degree in physical education and athletic administration from the University of West Alabama and a specialist degree in education leadership from Arkansas State.
Leaving schools and the players he has coached can be difficult, Ross said. He left a veteran championship team at Louisville and a young team at Northwest Rankin.
“When you get that bond and familiarity with the kids, that makes it hard. At the end of the day, there are going to be a lot of emotions involved.”
