The Mississippi Excellence in Coaching Fellowship is an innovative coaching fellowship program that selects twenty-five high school and middle school coaches from the state of Mississippi to become future leaders for athletics. The twenty-five coaches were recognized by the committee to best represent the state and the opportunities that will benefit athletes around the state.

It is hosted by the University of Mississippi School of Education, paired with the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) and the Mississippi Association of Coaches (MAC).

Two coaches from Oxford High School were selected. Issac Boose is the defensive line coach for Oxford football and is the head coach for both powerlifting teams. Chris Patton is the cross country coach and he is also one of the track and field coaches for the Chargers.

Cross country and track coach Chris Patton explains what this program is, the year-long process, and how it helps better coaches around the state in Mississippi.

“It’s a program that has twenty-five coaches selected to participate in. It’s a ten month program. We met in Clinton five or six times in a ten month period. We do zoom classes four times or five times in the ten month period for about an hour and a half,” Patton said. “It’s just a way that you can get twenty-five coaches to come together and get some ideas about how we can better our programs and our communities. This is a professional development to become a better coach.”

Patton also touches on what it means to him on being selected knowing that only twenty-five coaches in the state that are selected to participate in this program.

“It means a lot since there were only twenty-five people that were selected out of every single coach and every single sport in the state. It means a lot to get a chance to learn some ideas from different coaches and better ourselves as coaches,” Patton said. “Getting to talk with some other coaches from different other sports is just good to know. You never know in the future when I may need them or they might need me.”

Patton mentions what he enjoys doing and why he is honored to be selected to participate in this program.

“I love the children, love the program, love the sport, cared about growing as a person and as a coach, and cared about growing athletes,” Patton said. “I love my kids and I love what I’m doing.”

Powerlifting and defensive line coach Issac Boose touches on how much this program means to him and how he feels about being chosen to represent this program.

“First of all, it’s a blessing to be selected. It’s a humbling thing but it means a lot that someone can think that highly of you,” Boose said. “It means a lot that somebody notices all the hard work and all the determination that you put into everything that you do. It’s a great feeling.”

Boose also talks about how this program can better help him advance his players on and off the field and weight room.

“I’ve already learned so much and I am obviously not done learning yet,” Boose said. “There are so many things that I can do to help develop student athletes into being leaders, people that are great in the community and with their families, and being people that you know really know what it is to be a human being.”

Boose emphasizes what this program can do to coaches all around the state and highlights what effects it can have on the coaches as well as the student athletes. 

“I think the biggest thing is that we get a chance to train and learn skills to teach our people to be great citizens, great human beings and great people,” Boose said. “It gets a chance to help you to really take a deep look at yourself and see what improvements that you can make and what things you can do to help.”