By Angie Ledbetter

South Panola Head football Coach Lance Pogue has been selected as one of eight active coaches in Mississippi to be entered in the first ever Best High School Football Coach contest by USA Today. 

The fourth installment of USA Today High School Sports’ “Best Of” contest series kicked off yesterday.

USA Today staffers selected eight active head football coaches in each state after more than a month of conversations with local media and other state and school officials with high school football expertise.

From there, the fans will decide which coach emerges from a list of 408.

Other seven coaches from Mississippi include: Bill Hurst, Centerville; Bobby Hall, Madison Central; Brad Peterson, Brandon; Chris Chambliss, West Point; Lance Mancuso, Bassfield; Marcus Boyles, Petal; and Ricky Black, Jackson Prep.

There will be three rounds of voting. The state round which began yesterday, ends at 11 a.m. on October 8. The 51 winners from each state plus Washington, D.C. will advance to a regional round.

Then they will be divided among eight regions of six or seven coaches apiece.

The regional round begins at 11 a.m. CST on October 9 and ends at 11 a.m. CST on October 18. The eight regional winners move onto the national round, which starts at 11 a.m. CST on October 21 and ends at 11 a.m. CST on Oct. 29. The champion is crowned based on most votes in the final round.

The athletic department of the winning coach will receive $2,000.

Second place will receive $1,000, third place $500, fourth place $250 and fifth place $100. All eight finalists also receive banners for their schools.

The “Best Of” contest series launched last November with the best high school football rivalry competition won by Brookfield vs. Marceline in Missouri. The teams celebrated their national title rivalry on Sept. 13 in Brookfield.

In January Hartford Vermont was crowned as the People’s Champion high school football team. The monster of them all, the top high school mascot last spring was won by the Centralia Illinois Orphans after 80 million total votes were cast during the competition.

Players, fans, students, faculty, friends and everyone throughout the community, state and country can cast their votes online for Pogue at www.USAToday.com.