Coach Johnny Barfield is a renowned championship track and field coach who spent his entire 30-year career at Carthage High. A native of Meridian, he attended Northeast Lauderdale High, where he was a three-year letterman inn football and track and was named First Team All Sam Dale Conference in football in his senior year of 1976. Coach Barfield earned his college degrees at East Mississippi Junior College and Mississippi State before launching his coaching career at Carthage High in 1981. He began as an assistant football coach, a position he held for 20 years, and in 1983, he was named head coach for the school's track and field program, a position he served for 28 seasons. From 1988 to 2011, he guided the Carthage High boys' track program to 24 consecutive division crowns, 10 regional crowns, 12 South State titles, 6 state runner-up finishes and six Class 3A state championships in 1992, 1994, 2001, 2005, 2006, and 2007. Coach Barfiled paced the boys' cross country squad to 14 consecutive division titles, 3 state runner-up finishes and Class 3A state championship in 1991 and 1996. He also coached the girls' cross country runners to four division crowns. Coach Barfield served as athletic director for the school from 2010 to 2011, while he continued to teach and coach. In 2007, Coach Barfield was selected as the MAC Track Coach of the Year and was named NFHS Coach of the Year for boys' track. A member of the MAC from 1981 to 2016, he also served as a member of the MHSAA state council, the executive committee and the state track committiee.