In Search of Its Past Glory, South Panola Hires a Head Football Coach with a Pair of State Championships

The Tigers have hired state-title coach Michael Fair away from Grenada, signaling a bold push to recapture the dominance and mystique that once made South Panola one of the nation’s most feared high school football programs

South Panola will look to reclaim postseason in 2026 under the guidance of Michael Fair / Kendall Bowlin

The high school coaching carousel keeps going 'round and 'round this off season, and South Panola is the latest school to hire a new football coach for the 2026 season. As first reported by Michael Chavez of The Clarion-Ledger, the Tigers hired Grenada head coach, Michael Fair, to the same position on Thursday.

Breaking: Michael Fair has been named the new head football coach at South Panola. Fair spend the past three seasons as head coach at Grenada where he guided the Chargers to the 2024 6A state championship.

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— Brandon Shields (@bshields0244) January 15, 2026

South Panola's five year stretch prior to hiring Michael Fair

The Tigers decided to make the switch after going 7-4 last season with a 28-27 loss in the first round of the Class 6A Playoffs. In the five years prior to Fair being hired at South Panola, the Tigers went 42-15 with an appearance in the Class 6A playoffs in each of their five seasons. The furthest that South Panola made it in the playoffs over this period was to the semifinals in 2023 where they were defeated by Grenada 33-21.

Fair's brief stint at Grenada

In his first season in 2023, Grenada finished 11-4, and the Chargers made the Class 6A state championship where they were defeated by West Jones 23-3.

In 2024, Grenada finished the season 15-1, and they ended the season as state champions with a 43-14 win over Hattiesburg.

This past season, the Chargers took a step back, but they were resilient and fought hard en route to a 7-4 record. Three of their four losses were by single digits including their 35-28 defeat to Ridgeland in the first round of the playoffs. Statistically, the offense finished the season with 1,754 passing yards with an average of 159.5 yards per game and 21 passing touchdowns. The rushing attack proved to be more formidable as they rushed for 2,092 yards and 27 touchdowns while averaging 190.2 yards per game.

Fair's success at his previous stops before Grenada

From 2016-2022, Fair led the Commodores to a 58-30 record which includes going 13-2 and winning the Class 4A state championship over Poplarville in 2016. He followed that up with a 3-8 record in 2017, but bounced back in 2018 by going 9-4.

Prior to his tenure at Lafayette, Fair coached two seasons at Senatobia, and he got his start his in coaching at Pillow Academy who is a member of the MAIS.

South Panola looks to return to its glory and championship success of the 2000s under Fair

If you lived in Mississippi in the 2000s, you knew of the mystique and championship pedigree that South Panola possesed. Even if you weren't a high school sports fan, let alone a sports fan in general in Mississippi during this time, you knew about South Panola football.

One could argue that they were the best high school football program in the country during this decade that saw them lose only two games from 2002-2010. There was also a stretch where they were the most dominant program in the country as they won 89-straight games, which is the third longest streak all-time, from 2003-2008. This historic run is also highlighted with their high school football national championship in 2010.

Since that season, the Tigers have won seven district championships and two state championships. However, by their standards, the results these past few years have not met the expectations of the Tigers football program which has led to this pivotal coaching change.

It remains to be seen, but given Fair's track record, it should not be surprising if South Panola is able to reclaim some of its luster and winning pedigree from the 2000s.