Gridiron Gold

Gridiron Gold features exerpts of interviews with over 100 of Mississippi's greatest high school football coaches.

In a 2006 study conducted by USA Football and the Wharton Business Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania, the state of Mississippi was cited as having the best high school football in America. In fact, Mississippi produces more college and professional football players per capita than any other state in the country. However, these two distinctions fall more than 100 yards short of illustrating the true importance of football in Mississippi. High school football is more than just a sport to residents of the Magnolia State. It is a mechanism for teaching right and wrong; it is a platform for preaching the word of God; it is an outlet for escaping farming and pulpwood hauling; it is a source of civic pride and it is a way of honoring your ancestry. To Mississippians, high school football is a necessary obsession.

Gridiron Gold explores the many aspects that make high school football unique in the state of Mississippi. The book reflects the thoughts, stories, and philosophies of many of the state’s greatest coaches, extracted from over one hundred interviews and over twenty-six hundred pages of transcripts. Some excerpts are funny, some sad, and some reflect deep history, tradition, and social change. All are pure football. Pure Mississippi.

"Mississippi has much to be proud of, but possibly nothing more so than its high school football."
Governor Haley Barbour

"There were two important events during the week: Friday night football and Sunday church. In many cases the coach and the preacher were saying the same things. There was a fuzzy line between the two. You talk a lot of football at church and learn a lot about God at football practicce."
Jerry Rice

"It was a wonderful experience playing high school football for my father. The high school coach is an incredibly important figure in small towns like Kiln, Mississippi. Sometimes my dad seemed more like the mayor of the town than the football coach."
Brett Favre

"Unless you've been to Mississippi you can't begin to understand the importance of high school football in the small towns throughout the state. In many places, high school football is all that exists."
Steve McNair