By Michael A. Lough
The Sports Report
centralgasports@gmail.com

            It’s unlikely too much in his new job will be a surprise for Trey Porter.

            Porter was announced – barely in time – Thursday night at the Bibb County Board of Education meeting as the fifth head coach at Howard.

            The long meeting was a minute or two from adjourning without noting the hire.

            Board member Juawn Jackson read off a list of central office appointments and new principals, and chairman James Freeman had asked for a motion to adjourn.

            Assistant superintendent of Human Resources Emanuel Frazier quickly stepped to the mic to announce Porter’s hiring.

            Porter noted in a Facebook post last week that he started coaching football in 2012, and has moved to nine cities in 12 years.

            No information on his background was provided after the district posted on social media a list of the hirings Thursday evening.

His online resume shows he has four degrees from Southeast Missouri State and Arkansas State, graduating from SMSU in 2011 with degrees in general studies and special education.

He was a backup running back at Southeast Missouri State, an FCS program in the Missouri in 2009. His college career started in football and track at NAIA school Missouri Valley College, after rushing for more than 1,300 yards as a high school senior.

            He was an assistant at two high schools in Missouri and became head coach and athletics director at Roosevelt High in St. Louis for four years.

            Porter was abruptly released from that position in the middle of the 2019 season for violating the school’s social media policy, part of which states employees may not “friend” students on social media or communicate with students without approval from parents and administrators.

            He used the social media vehicles ostensibly for checking up on students, many of whom didn’t have cell phones, a decision that came as a surprise and was met with protests from around 200 students, including a march to the superintendent’s office.

            A group of players left practice the day of the announcement in hopes of meeting with district officials.

            The Rough Riders finished 1-9 his first season, and then went 19-5, racking up more than 4,000 yards in offense two of those seasons.

            The Malden, Missouri native then started teaching at a local charter school, earning positive reviews in one TV story, from the school’s co-founder.

            Porter then made his Peach State debut as defensive backs coach and head track coach at Jackson High in 2020 before returning to his home state as defensive backs coach and assistant special teams coordinator at Missouri Southern State, a Division II program that went 3-8 in 2021.

            He joined the staff at North Alabama for 2022. UNA went 1-10 in its first season as a member of Division I (FCS) after moving up from Division II.

            His resume doesn’t indicate a team for 2023, but his Twitter account indicates he is the director of the Missouri Minority Coaches Association and owner of a running back academy.

            He replaces Paul Carroll, who resigned in January to take over at Stratford after going 28-30 in six seasons, the most wins and best percentage of his predecessors.

The Huskies went 11-9 the past two seasons, but were edged out of the playoffs as part of a tough region that included the GHSA Class AAAA state champ Perry.