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We can argue from now to next year about whether Mississippi is a football state, a basketball state, a baseball state — or, for that matter, any kind of sports state at all.

What we cannot argue is this: In northeast Mississippi, most often referred to as Hill Country, basketball is king.

Always has been. And, I would wager, always will be.

Let’s take, for example, the recent Mississippi public schools state tournament that concluded over the weekend at the Mississippi Coliseum. Fourteen state champions in seven divisions were crowned. Eight were from up in the state’s northeast corner. The only time Hill Country teams lost was when they played each other.

A quick recounting: In Class 1A, the Blue Mountain girls and the Biggersville boys were winners. In Class 2A – stop me if you’ve heard this before – Ingomar swept both the boys and girls titles. In Class 3A, the Belmont girls and Booneville boys are champions, and the Booneville girls lost by one point to Belmont. In Class 4A, Tishomingo County’s girls easily won the crown, and in Class 7A, Tupelo’s girls won it all.

You will note that nearly all the Hill Country champions are from the MHSAA’s smaller divisions, and there’s a reason. For the most part, northeast Mississippi schools have just said “no” to consolidation. And that has a lot to do with basketball, or more specifically, with the pride the small towns and communities have in their basketball teams.

“Basketball is almost like a religion up there,” says MHSAA executive director Rickey Neaves, and he should know. Neaves played at Saltillo and coached, taught and was an administrator at Booneville. “That’s the way people are raised. It’s in their blood. There are basketball goals in every yard, every park and any place, really, that’s level enough to dribble a ball.”

Neaves knows because it is in his blood, too.

These words are written by a guy from Hattiesburg, nearly at the other end of the state. But they are also written by a guy who learned to read by reading the sports sections of daily newspapers, especially the scoreboard pages with all the scores and statistics in small print. And I can remember picking up the Jackson newspapers back in the 1950s when I was learning to read and being flabbergasted to see high school basketball scores in September and October. Schools from exotic-sounding places such as Jumpertown, Hickory Flat, Ingomar, Potts Camp, Wheeler, New Site, Baldwyn, Blue Mountain and West Union were already playing basketball. And it seemed as if they played every night. The 1956 Ingomar girls won the state championship and finished with a 54-0 record. Fifty-four and zero!

I remember asking my daddy about it, and his saying, “Those schools don’t play football, son. They don’t have enough students for a football team. They play basketball year-round.”

He showed me on a state map where those towns were and he told me this, too: “Those teams know how to play.”

For five decades now, I’ve watched those teams from tiny towns and communities make the three hours-plus drive down to the Big House, and to this day am still amazed at how many folks follow the yellow school buses to support their favorite team. Blue Mountain is a community of about 800, but there appeared at least 2,000 blue-clad fans yelling themselves hoarse at the championship game. 

“We get support from all over Tippah County,” Regina Chills, the Blue Mountain coach, said. “There were people from Ripley and Walnut here cheering for us.”

One strongly suspects there were also Blue Mountain ex-patriots who now live in other parts of Mississippi in attendance as well. Basketball pride and tradition runs deep in Hill Country.

Take Ingomar, which won both the 2A titles. That makes 20 state championships total for Ingomar, 13 for the girls and seven for the boys. This one was particularly special in Ingomar, because Jonathan Ashley, son of Ingomar coaching legend Norris Ashley, won his second as a coach, his first in the Big House. Norris Ashley, whose 1978 team famously won the Overall State Championship (back when there was such a thing), representing the smallest classification. It was Hoosiers in Mississippi.

Norris Ashley, who died just over a year ago, won nine state titles and more than 1,700 games. His son learned from one of the best to ever do it by following his daddy’s teams to the Big House nearly ever year. Norris Ashley was like Hill Country deity. You think this year’s championship wasn’t extra special in Ingomar and in the Ashley family?

Excellent coaching has been the staple of Hill Country basketball. Ashley and others such as brothers Milton and Malcolm Kuykendall, Harvey Childers, Jimmy Guy McDonald, Gerald Caveness, Kermit Davis Sr., and, let us not forget, Baldwyn legend Babe McCarthy easily would have won elections for mayor in their towns. But then, why take a demotion?

The next generation of Hill Country coaches — folks such as Jonathan Ashley and Trent Adair at Ingomar, Cliff Little at Biggersville, and Mike Smith at Booneville — carry on the tradition. 

As Rickey Neaves put it, “Those coaches, in many cases, are the most respected people in their communities. You rarely see them leave. Why would they? The communities support them so well. The gyms are packed. The kids grow up wanting to play. That’s why good coaches gravitate to that area and stay there. Who wouldn’t want to coach basketball where basketball is so important?”

Who, indeed?

MHSAA State Championship results

Class 7A: Boys: Meridian 54, Clinton 50; Girls: Tupelo 47, Germantown 38

Class 6A: Boys: Olive Branch 59, Ridgeland 56; Girls; Neshoba Central 53, Terry 39

Class 5A: Boys: Canton 58, Yazoo City 40; Girls: Laurel 40, Canton 32

Class 4A: Boys: Raymond 53, McComb 28; Girls: Tishomingo County 37, Morton 17

Class 3A: Boys: Booneville 46, Coahoma County 43 (OT); Girls: Belmont 40, Booneville 39

Class 2A: Boys: Ingomar 48, Bogue Chitto 46; Ingomar 57, New Site 40

Class 1A: Boys: Biggersville 45, McAdams 41; Girls: Blue Mountain 38, Lumberton 36

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Mississippi Today’s “Unfettered Power: Mississippi Sheriffs” investigation has been selected as one of six finalists for the coveted 2024 Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting.

The 2023 investigation from the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting at Mississippi Today and The New York Times revealed how Mississippi sheriffs rule like kings, wielding vast power, exploiting and abusing the very people they are called to protect with no one stopping them.

The series included new details about the Rankin County “Goon Squad.”

Mississippi Today’s Jerry Mitchell and investigative fellows Ilyssa Daly, Brian Howey and Nate Rosenfield were on the team of journalists who reported the “Unfettered Power” series. It was selected as one of six finalists out of nearly 170 submissions for the annual prize housed at Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center.

“This year’s finalists went to extraordinary lengths to uncover the truth – mixing classic shoe-leather journalism with the kind of shrewd and scrappy reporting that inspires new generations to enter the field and seasoned reporters to stick with it,” said Nancy Gibbs, director of the Shorenstein Center. “In a time of great uncertainty, these finalists remind us of journalism’s vital role in our democracy.”

Mississippi Today journalists previously won the 2023 Goldsmith Prize for “The Backchannel” investigation of the state’s welfare scandal and the 2020 Goldsmith Prize for an investigation with The Marshall Project of the state’s restitution centers.

Also this year, Mississippi Today’s “Committed to Jail” in collaboration ProPublica had previously been announced as one of 30 semifinalists for the Goldsmith Prize.

“Strong investigative reporting at the local level is not happening nearly enough, and we take seriously our responsibility to help fill that void in Mississippi,” said Adam Ganucheau, editor-in-chief at Mississippi Today. “We’re proud to be recognized among the very best in the nation, but truly, the impact that these projects and others from our newsroom have had on our home state is what matters most to us.”

Other finalists for the 2024 Goldsmith Prize are The New York Times, STAT, ProPublica, Streetsblog and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The winner will be announced at an April 3 awards ceremony.

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A bill to close three public universities in Mississippi will die as expected after inspiring a weeklong ruckus that some lawmakers blamed on misleading news articles.

But another bill that advanced in the Senate Universities and Colleges Committee on Monday has raised questions abouts its potential to yield similar results. The sponsor said that isn’t the intention.

The author of controversial Senate Bill 2726, Sen. John Polk, R-Hattiesburg, seemed relieved his bill’s death was official. It would have required the governing board of Mississippi’s eight public universities to shutter three by 2028 after analyzing criteria such as enrollment, economic impact or any other “special factors.”

“Please, everyone, get that message out: The chair has killed my bill,” Polk said during the Senate Colleges and Universities Committee meeting. “And that way I can sleep at night.”

Senate Bill 2725, by Committee Chair Nicole Boyd, R-Oxford, would require a similar analysis of factors. The legislation, Boyd explained, was inspired by a hearing earlier this session on the impending decline in high school graduates going to college that is poised to hurt the bottom-lines of Mississippi’s tuition-dependent universities.

If her bill becomes law, a 10-member task force — a mix of lawmakers and appointees representing the regional colleges, HBCUs and research institutions — would review IHL’s funding formula, the system’s physical plant, enrollment and graduation rates, and any existing plans to tackle the enrollment cliff.

Then the task force would make recommendations to the Legislature with an eye to increasing efficiency and the number of Mississippians with college degrees.

“This bill looks at really what is going on at our colleges and universities as they are right now, what we need to do in regard to that enrollment cliff that we see is coming,” Boyd told committee members. “We need to be proactive in helping our universities and colleges manage this.”

Sen. Sollie Norwood, D-Jackson, asked if Boyd anticipated the task force making a recommendation to address the building deficiencies at the HBCUs which, despite a decades-long settlement, many alumni say continue to be underfunded. At Alcorn State, students have complained of mold in the dorms, and Jackson State has sought to upgrade its water system since the water crisis in 2022.

Boyd replied that she could not say what the task force’s findings would be and added that all of the universities struggle with deteriorating infrastructure.

After the meeting, Boyd told Mississippi Today that she can’t say closing universities is off the table for the task force, but that it is not her intention with the bill. She said the goal is to ensure tax dollars are meeting the universities’ needs.

“Everybody is trying to look at how we can make our IHL system the most efficient and effective to get a strong Mississippi workforce,” she said.

Polk’s bill would have put the decision on closures in the hands of the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees.

More than 14,000 people had signed an online petition calling for the bill’s death. The local newspaper in Columbus, home to Mississippi University for Women, published an op-ed against it. And alumni of Mississippi’s historically Black public universities decried the bill, with some saying they didn’t trust the IHL board, which is mostly comprised of graduates of the state’s three largest predominantely white institutions, to make a fair decision.

“We urge you, as elected representatives of the people of Mississippi, to recognize the profound value of all our state’s institutions by opposing this bill and working together to shift the focus from closure to investing to further strengthen these vital institutions,” read a letter from the alumni association presidents of Alcorn State University, Jackson State University and Mississippi Valley State University.

Though the bill was depicted by some news articles as targeting the three HBCUs, Polk and other lawmakers had suggested that more likely in its crosshairs were on the three smallest universities by enrollment: MVSU, Delta State University and Mississippi University for Women.

After Boyd confirmed she was not bringing Polk’s bill before the committee, she apologized to him for what she called misinformation.

“It’s a little bit ironic to me that this bill and this legislation has been so misquoted,” she said. “Clearly we might have some literacy issues that we need to look at, because … what his legislation said and what it was purported to say were entirely two different things.”

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Mississippi Today Editor-at-Large Marshall Ramsey sits down with Michael Guidry, the new Mississippi Today managing editor. Michael comes to Mississippi Today from Mississippi Public Broadcasting where he served in the same role (he is currently hosting their show, @Issue). Michael talks about how he got to Mississippi, his background as a coach and teacher, and his plans for the news coverage at Mississippi Today.

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After facing initial pushback, a proposal to close most of the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman passed its first hurdle in the Senate Corrections Committee Friday morning. 

Senate Bill 2353 by Committee chair Juan Barnett, D-Heidelberg, proposes shutting down most operations at the state’s oldest and most infamous prison by sending incarcerated people, staff and programs to other facilities. 

The vote comes days after the U.S. Department of Justice released a report slamming unconstitutional conditions at three Mississippi prisons. Parchman was not the focus of the report, but Barnett said two years after the DOJ’s initial report about Parchman, conditions there have not improved much.  

“I know this bill is not the fix-all but we have to start somewhere,” he said. “… Even yesterday was too late and tomorrow will definitely be too late.” 

A key point of the phase down plan is for the state to gain operation of the Tallahatchie Correctional Facility, which is located less than 10 miles away in Tutwiler and run by CoreCivic. 

Earlier this week, committee members asked for more information about how much it would cost for the state to gain operation of the Tutwiler prison and how that compares to the cost to repair Parchman. 

On Friday, Barnett said there is not a contract or memorandum of understanding between the Department of Corrections and CoreCivic in writing yet, but the prison prison company gave an estimate of $14 million a year to lease Tallahatchie Correctional, including the cost of maintenance and upkeep of the facility. 

Sen. Angela Burks Hill, R-Picayune, said problems with violence and gang control are present beyond Parchman and failure to address staffing won’t get the prisons under control. 

“Moving the inmates seven miles up the road is not going to solve our problem,” she said before the committee approved the bill. 

Barnett agreed, but added that the reason why the prisons are that way is because money hasn’t been invested to make sure they are secure. 

He noted that during the riots at the end of 2019 and early 2020, about 1,000 inmates were transferred from Parchman to Tallahatchie Correctional, and there were no problems. 

A committee substitute version of SB 2353 passed, including a name change for Parchman. In the meeting, Barnett said he consulted with members of the Delta delegation about renaming the prison because of its current and historical negative association. 

As of Friday morning, a copy of the committee substitute was not available online. 

The bill now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee, which is scheduled to meet Tuesday. Appropriations Chair Briggs Hopson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

After reporting on prison conditions in 2019 by the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting and ProPublica, the U.S. Department of Justice, at the urging of U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and others, began an investigation into four Mississippi prisons, starting with Parchman. It concluded in April 2022 that those imprisoned at Parchman were being subjected to violence, inadequate medical care and lack of suicide prevention.

In a 60-page report released this week, the Justice Department found the state is also violating the constitutional rights of those held in the other three prisons: the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility, the South Mississippi Correctional Institution and Wilkinson County Correctional Facility.

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Former Republican President Donald Trump endorsed U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker’s bid for reelection on Thursday, likely giving the incumbent senator a major boost weeks before Mississippi’s party primaries. 

“Senator Roger Wicker is a fantastic Senator for the Great State of Mississippi,” Trump wrote on social media. “As the Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Roger is working hard to Strengthen our Military, Defend our Country, and Support our Veterans.” 

Wicker, a 72-year-old Tupelo resident, has represented the Magnolia State in the U.S. Senate since 2007. Before the Senate, he served several terms in the U.S. House and in the Mississippi Legislature. 

He is currently the top Republican serving on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which has jurisdiction over matters involving the U.S. military. If the GOP gains a majority in the Senate this year, Wicker could be the first Mississippian to lead that committee since former U.S. Sen. John Stennis.

“We are proud to have President Trump’s support for our campaign and re-election efforts,” Wicker campaign manager Jake Monssen said in a statement. “Republicans across Mississippi are excited to take back the Senate and the White House in 2024 and put an end to the radical Biden-Harris agenda.” 

Wicker will compete against state Rep. Dan Eubanks of DeSoto County and retired U.S. Marine Corps Colonel Ghannon Burton in the Republican primary on March 12. Civil rights attorney Ty Pinkins is the only candidate who qualified in the Democratic primary. 

The winner of the Republican primary will compete against Pinkins on November 5.

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For most of this made-for-Hollywood season, the remarkable Blue Mountain girls basketball team has been known as the Super Six. That’s because for most of the season there were only six players, three with the last name of Foote. 

That explains the Six. The Super? The Blue Mountain Cougars brought a 28-1 record into Thursday night’s Class 1A State Championship at Mississippi Coliseum, known as the Big House throughout Mississippi high school basketball. Rarely, if ever, has there been a smaller team in the Big House.

The opponent this night was 26-6 Lumberton, and nothing came easy for Blue Mountain. Nothing ever has for the Cougars, who represent the fourth smallest public school in Mississippi. The three smaller: The Mississippi School for the Deaf, the Mississippi School for the Blind and Piney Woods.

But basketball is big in small schools across northeast Mississippi’s Hill Country, and that’s especially true in Blue Mountain where there aren’t enough boys to field a football team. The school also recently has dropped baseball and softball due to the lack of players.

“We’re a little school in a little bitty town,” said Dominique Foote, a former Blue Mountain Cougar and proud father of Keyauna Foote, the team’s star player and Miss Basketball for Class 1A.

About 800 folks live in Blue Mountain. There are 66 students – boys and girls, combined – in grades 7 through 12. The Cougars play their home games on a gym floor that is roughly about three-quarters the size of a regulation basketball court. Put it this way: A player with big feet can’t shoot a three-pointer from the corner because the three-point line extends just six inches short of out of bounds.

And even that’s not all that’s small about the Tippah County town about 34 miles northwest of Tupelo about six miles southwest of Ripley, the county seat.

“Nope, we don’t have any traffic lights in Blue Mountain,” said Regina Chills, the team’s coach.

But the town without a traffic light now has one gleaming, gold state championship trophy. Despite many scary moments – and a dogged effort from Lumberton – Blue Mountain prevailed 38-36 in a defensive struggle that turned into an offensive barn-burner in the fourth quarter.

As usual, only the original Super Six played for Blue Mountain, while two more youngsters, promoted from the junior high team late in the season, watched and cheered from the bench. The three Footes, Keyauna and her first cousins A’rare and Beiga, made play after play after play, especially in the fourth quarter.

Keyauna scored 14 points, grabbed seven rounds, blocked two shots and passed out two assists. A’rare scored 11 points and made two steals. Beiga scored seven points and stole the ball three times. So, the three Footes provided 32 of the team’s 39 points.

There were some tense and anxious moments, like when Beiga Foote went down hard after a collision midway through the first quarter and had to leave the game. The Super Six was suddenly down to five. Thankfully, Beiga returned after a short rest to recuperate. Another starter and key player, Ahkeeah Lipsey, drew her fourth foul in the last minute of the third quarter and sat for much of the fourth. But the Cougars kept hustling, kept answering every Lumberton challenge –  and there were plenty of those.

“We’ve done that all season,” Coach Chills said afterward. “Plus this was a championship game. No matter what happens, you have to stay in the game and keep playing.”

Mission accomplished. Baskets were cherished like rare gems through the first three quarters. Blue Mountain led 21-19 heading into the fourth quarter when both teams started scoring almost at will. Keyauna Foote scored three straight baskets to give the Cougars a five-point lead midway through, but Lumberton fired back and kept firing back until Keyauna scored what proved to be the winning basket on an in-bounds play with 20 seconds left.

As is always the case in the Big House this time of the year, a wild celebration ensued. If 866 folks live in Blue Mountain, nearly all were present and dancing in the stands.

Hard to say what comes next for Blue Mountain basketball. Four of the Super Six are seniors and won’t be around next year. This year’s junior high team was winless. 

“What are you going to do?” someone asked Coach Childs.

She held up her hands as if to dismiss the question. “Right now,” she said, “I’m going to go celebrate.”

No doubt, all of Blue Mountain, bursting with pride, will celebrate with her.

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Students from across the state competed in the 2024 High School Welding Competition held at Delta Technical College in Ridgeland. Every competition participant will receive a $500 Delta Tech scholarship plus an opportunity to enroll in one of the college’s welding programs.

“All of you are being offered an opportunity to have a career, not a job,” the students were told during orientation. “You have a job doing fast food. This can be a career for where you make over $100,000 a year.”

The winner of the competition will receive a $5,000 scholarship to Delta Technical College. One thousand dollars will be donated to his or her high school welding department. Second and third prize winners will receive DTC scholarships towards welding training at the college.

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