Friday, the Pearl River County School Board approved hiring Larry Dolan as Pearl River Central High School’s new athletic director and head football coach for the 2016-2107 school year. He will also serve in that capacity through the remainder of the 2015-2016 school year.
Dolan replaces former head Eric Collins, who led the Blue Devils for six years and who, last year, led the team to a Region 4-5A regional title. He recently moved to D’Iberville High School to coach the Region 6A school.
Dolan was born and raised throughout Mississippi. His mother worked for the phone company and the family lived in Jackson and Gulfport and Hattiesburg.
In 1983, he graduated from Forrest County Agricultural High School. He earned an associate in arts from Pearl River Community College in 1985, a bachelor of science from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1991, a master of education from USM in 1996 and an educational specialist degree in educational administration from USM in 2005.
For the past two years, Dolan served as the athletic director and football coach at Columbia Academy High School.
Prior to that, Dolan coached football for 22 years at Forrest County AHS. During his tenure there, he was also assistant principal and athletic director.
His record as a head coach consists of 125 wins and 60 losses, which includes a Class 4A state championship in 2013.
“I’ve won more than I’ve lost,” Dolan said. “Pearl River Central’s football team has been successful the past couple of years. I want to turn this program into a championship program. High school programs have their up and down seasons, I just want to stay away from super down seasons.”
Dolan said PRC is known for running the football and being physical, which is something he is not going to change. However, he said players have to be able to also throw the ball to be successful.
In order to match up with today’s offense, Dolan said that must be faced with a multiple defense.
His number one goal every year will be to win a state championship, he said.
Dolan has been married for 30 years to Kim, who is a K-8 principal at South Forrest Attendance Center. They have a daughter, Nikki who is a physical therapist at Forrest General Hospital and their son; Kyle is the assistant baseball coach at PRCC and working on his degree from William Carey College.
“The community and school board love their athletics,” Dolan said. “I’m excited about coaching hard-nosed blue collar kids. I’m also a traditional guy. At PRC I’ll be coaching the sons of guys who played here. I just love the traditional football programs in communities.”