MACON — The picture still hasn’t found a home.
Looking at himself and James Patterson showing off their state championship rings, Tyrone Shorter scans his office and sees Patterson in other images reaping the rewards of the Noxubee County High School football program’s success. The more Shorter thinks about it, the picture, which is on propped up on the wall next to his desk, probably doesn’t belong in his office and should be hung up in the Tigers’ weight training room so everyone who enters the team’s field house can remember a man who played such a vital role in building the program’s tradition.
“Coach Patterson was here way before I even got here,” Shorter said. “When I got here in 1998, he embraced me and just took me in.”
Patterson died March 18 after a battle with cancer. He was 61. Patterson coached at Noxubee County High for 37 years and had an association with Shorter for 18 years. He served as a coach for the seventh- and eighth-grade middle school teams, worked with the junior varsity and varsity teams, and was offensive coordinator in each of Shorter’s first seven seasons as head coach.
This season, Patterson’s death is just one of several shakeups to a Noxubee County High football staff that has been known for its continuity. Shorter also has had to replace offensive line coach Michael Ashford, who left to become head football coach at Lanier High in Jackson, Heyward Ashford, Michael’s father, who was the Tigers’ defensive line coach. The additions of John Salas (co-offensive coordinator/offensive line coach), Michael Johnson (wide receivers coach, a former Noxubee County Tiger), Tyler Jackson (defensive line coach, a former coach at Virginia University of Lynchburg), and Javancy Jones (linebackers coach) have solidified a staff and given Shorter confidence the Tigers will be able to stay on their championship course.
“God has blessed me to bring in some good guys,” Shorter said. “God has blessed me with a group of men that have high character and high football IQ.”
Patterson was one of those men, too. Shorter said he was surprised to receive the picture at the school’s athletic banquet in May.
“We developed a really, really good friendship,” Shorter said of his bond with Patterson. “As well as a colleague, he was a great friend of mine. Every time I made a decision about doing anything, I always got his advice. For him not to be here and for us to be getting ready to start another season, it is strange, difficult, and different.”
Shorter had black, circular helmet stickers with white letters CP on his desk. He said the Tigers would wear those stickers on their helmets to honor the memory of Patterson. Shorter also said he and the school were considering doing other things to remember Patterson, like possibly putting his name on the field.
“He is a legend,” Shorter said. “He was here when it was as low as it can be and as high as it can be, so he has been through all of the adversity and the good times and all of the rivalries. You could talk to him about everything. That is one of the things I am going to miss the most.”
Noxubee County High’s journey back to the state title game officially will begin Monday, when Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) member schools can begin football practice. Noxubee County will play Callaway at 5 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 12, at the New Hope Fall Jamboree at Mississippi State’s Davis Wade Stadium. It will play host to Starkville at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug 18, in its season opener.
Last season, Noxubee County’s run at a third-straight MHSAA Class 4A State title ended with a 29-20 loss to Pontotoc in the North State semifinals. The Tigers (9-5) had their most losses in a season since the 2006 campaign.
This season, Shorter said opponents will see a “different” offense from the Tigers. He said he has kept a lot of the things Patterson did, but he is confident that assistant coach Teddy Young and Salas, who worked at Leake Central, Vicksburg, and other places, will work well together as co-offensive coordinators. The return of juniors Maliek Stallings and Kyziah Pruitt should bolster an offense that showed the trademark Noxubee County quick-strike ability but lacked consistency.
Defensively, Shorter will continue to work as coordinator of a unit that long has been known for its speed and athleticism. This season, Shorter feels the Tigers will be bigger at key spots — defensive end, linebacker — thanks to some personnel changes and growth in the offseason thanks to conditioning and weight training. He said the maturation and changes should provide a lift for a defense and a team that had trouble finishing. That’s why the word “finish” has been a constant since the end of the 2016 season.
Finishing and Patterson will be on the mind of the Tigers’ all season. Shorter hopes the Tigers will be able to turn the disappointments from last season into accomplishments this season.
“I know his spirit is still here,” Shorter said of Patterson. “The kids still talk about him. We’re going to dedicate this season to coach Patterson.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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