By GREG MOORE

The Natchez Democrat

FERRIDAY — Ferriday High School varsity Boys Basketball team has a new interim head coach after the previous coach abruptly resigned Tuesday night after coaching Ferriday to a 68-64 victory over rival Vidalia High School.

Concordia Parish School Board Superintendent Whest Shirley said the only explanation K.G. Watkins gave for his resignation was that he had another offer.

This was Watkins 12th year of coaching the Trojans.

Assistant Coach George Barnes has been named Interim Head Coach of the Ferriday High School Boys Basketball team, Barnes said.

Shirley, Barnes said, asked if he would take on the responsibility.

“He came to me and asked me to try to hold it in the road until the end of the year,” Barnes said.

Shirley said it was an easy decision whom to appoint as the intern head coach.

“Coach Barnes was the assistant coach,” Shirley said. “He was familiar with the kids at the high school level. Really, he had coached probably 90 percent of the boys that came through the junior high where he was their head junior high coach.”

Fred Butcher serves as one of the board members for the Concordia Parish School Board.

Butcher spoke in a meeting saying that he wants to take a look at the dismissal of employees and employee discipline policies so the board can work on making changes to them.

“This board needs to form a policy where if we employ somebody at the beginning of the year and if they leave us without giving a 14 day notice,” Butcher said, “I’ll be checking with the attorney to see if they can get a termination instead of a resignation.”

Butcher then continued his speech about the short notice by say “I think it’s unfair for an employee to meet a principal the night of a game and say I’m not coming back.”

As for Shirley, he still had a positive outlook on the rest of Ferriday’s season.

“We’re wishing him the best. I know they have a tough district schedule, they really have to win the rest of their district games to make the playoffs but anything is possible right now,” Shirley said.

Barnes has over 20 years of teaching and coaching experience with 14 of those being at Ferriday.