Taylor steps down at Southeast
By By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
Jan. 9, 2004
For the first time since 1978, somebody other than Dwane Taylor will be calling the shots as head football coach at Southeast Lauderdale next fall. Taylor stepped down after back-to-back 1-9 seasons.
Taylor was the head man at Southeast since taking over in 1979 after the Tigers were 0-10 in 1978 and 0-9 in 1977. His 25 years as head football coach are the most at any Lauderdale County School.
After inheriting a program with a 20-game losing streak, Taylor's first squad extended the skid to 30 games before beating Clarkdale 20-10 in the 1980 season opener.
With 107 career victories, all at Southeast, he is the only head coach at a Lauderdale County School to win 100 games. His 146 losses are also a record for the school system. In 42 years of playing football, Southeast has a 169-242-6 mark.
The Tigers' lone playoff appearance came in 1985,whereas Southeast lost 34-7 to Bassfield to finish the season at 7-4. It was a tremendous turnaround from a 1984 season that saw Southeas go 0-10 and scored just 21 points for the entire year. Included in the seven wins were a 7-0 victory at Taylorsville and a 23-20 win over Northeast Lauderdale.
Taylor shared the Mississippi Sports Writers Association's Coach of the Year honor with the head coach from Bassfield following the 1985 season.
Other highlights in Taylor's career are an 8-3 showing in 1986 that included a 27-20 win over Coffeeville in the third-annual Central Hills Bowl at Noxapater, another 8-3 mark in 1990 that included an 8-0 victory over Pontotoc in the Magnolia Bowl in Columbus, 7-3 showings in 1991 and 1996, and a 7-4 mark in 1997 that was capped by a 26-0 whipping of Belmont in the Red Hills Bowl at Ackerman.
Of his 25 seasons, 10 produced winning records with two others winding up with 5-5 marks.
Taylor's 1997 team set a school record for scoring in a 73-0 drubbing of Clarkdale. Of Southeast's 10 all-time, highest-scoring games, seven came during Taylor's tenure.
Over the last five years, the Tigers have gone 10-39.
The Tigers also lost 16-13 to Choctaw Central this year and lost three games by eight points or less in 2002 and four games by eight points or less in 2001.
Against Lauderdale County teams, Taylor was 17-5-1 against Clarkdale and 12-13 against both Northeast and West.
