Clinton's John Carr named next Starkville football coach

Clinton’s John Carr named next Starkville football coach

Posted by author February 10, 2025 Football

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Starkville High School has its new football coach.

Former Clinton coach John Carr has been hired to take over the Yellow Jacket program, replacing state championship coach Chris Jones according to a Monday press release from the school.

Carr, who completed his first season at Clinton this fall, helped the Arrows to a 4-6 record following its 1-9 record in 2023. That included a win over Starkville. Clinton’s offense averaged 30 points and 345 yards per game.

Carr was hired at Clinton in March 2024 after being at Louisiana-Monroe, where he served as wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator from 2022-23. Carr wasn’t retained when former ULM coach Terry Bowden was fired in 2023.

“While I worked at the collegiate level, I recruited the entire state of Mississippi, and you get to know programs and schools that stand above the rest,” Carr said in a press release. “The Starkville position is a head coaching job that really checked all the boxes for me –– an A district, a top-tier program that has won before, a college town.

“It’s an ideal place for me to come and help kids and get the best chance as a coach to experience the whole process. I’m excited to be here, and I can’t wait to entrench myself in the community and get to know our players and our staff.”

He replaces Jones, who was recently hired as the Hinds College football coach in December. Jones led Starkville to the 2022 MHSAA Class 6A state championship and had runner-up finishes in 2017 and 2023.

Last week, Starkville hired its new athletic director, Jay Hopson, a former Southern Miss and Alcorn football coach. Hopson adds Carr as his first hire.

“He’s an outstanding, classy guy –– a high character guy,” Hopson said in a release. “Plus, John Carr has an extreme amount of experience. He was a highly successful high school coach in the state of Louisiana at Ouachita, which was a premier power in Louisiana at that time. He has a very gifted and brilliant offensive mind, which means his teams tend to score a lot of points. In his time at Jones Community College, he produced one of the top-10 offenses in the nation. He has also coached with Todd Monken, now with the Baltimore Ravens, who this past year had the number one offense in the NFL.”

Starkville ended the 2024 football season 7-5 and lost to eventual MHSAA Class 7A state champion Tupelo in the second round of the Class 7A playoffs 35-34.

Michael Chavez covers high school sports, among others, for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at mchavez@gannett.com or reach out to him on X, formerly Twitter @MikeSChavez.