Coach Jack French was an outstanding championship football coach and athletic director at Pascagoula. He was born in Louisville and is a graduate of Noxapater High where he was a 3-year, 3-sport letterman in football, basketball, and track. Coach French earned college degrees at East Central CC and Mississippi State. His 32-year plus coaching career started at DeSoto Academy in Olive Branch in 1975 with stops at Hillcrest Academy in Senatobia, Olive Branch, Pelahatchie, and Itawamba AHS before his arrival at Forest. He coached the Forest Bearcat football team to 8 division crowns, 3 South State titles, and 3 state championships in 1992, 1993, & 1999. Jack led the Baldwin County High team in Bay Minette, AL, to conference and region titles from 2001 to 2005. He coached a year at Starkville Academy and led the team to a state title before being named head coach at Pearl. Overall, his football teams at time of MAC induction had a record of 224-92-2. He has been named Coach of the Year an amazing 22 times by the MAC, NE MS Daily Journal, the MPSA, and the Jackson Clarion Ledger among other groups. Coach French served as assistant and head coach in the MS/AL All-Star game in 1995 & 2000 and in the Bernard Blackwell All-Star Classic in 1993 & 1994. Jack is a past president of the MAC and an active member of the MHSAA, the National Federation, and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He has served as chairman of 11 MAC Affairs Committees. Coach French designed and started the building of the Pelahatchie field house and supervised the construction of the Forest Athletic Complex. In 2023, Coach French was inducted into the National High School Athletic Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame.