One of the new staff members this year is Coach Anthony Jude (A.J.) Antonescu.  Coach A., as the football team calls him, will coach the offensive line  and teach 10^th grade World History.

Coach Antonescu went to elementary school in Greenwood, MS at Pillow Academy where he became friends with Coach Jacob Land.  After 6^thgrade, he made the move to Ridgeland, MS, where he went to school at Ridgeland High School and played guard for the football team.

Out of high school, Coach A. attended Holmes Community College for his freshman year, where he played offensive tackle.  But then he was given an opportunity to attend the University of Memphis earlier than normal by a coach who had recruited him through high school.  The coach started recruiting him at Louisiana State University and then moved to Memphis and still kept in touch with Coach A. After attending Memphis early, Coach Antonescu started at Center for the 2011 season, and in his first game he played Mississippi State. 

Coach A. says the biggest thing he took away from playing football was how to overcome adversity.  He talked about the three-week camp the team had before the season, where they practice outside every day, in spite having a great indoor practice facility, and faced-triple digit temperatures and intense practices.  He says that you have to motivate yourself and your teammates to make it through the grueling every day practices and not back out and quit when it gets tough.

Coach Antonescu finished out college at Mississippi College and graduated with a major in History and a minor in English. He says he is looking forward to teaching his World History class with Coach Shane Bennett and winning a state championship with the football team.