Casey Orr’s attention is now fully on his responsibilities as head football coach, teacher and assistant athletic director at Kosciusko High School.
Orr, who was officially hired by the Kosciusko Public Schools in late February, was released from his contract at Noxapater High School by the Louisville Municipal School District last week.
“I’m exciting about getting going,” Orr said. “Of course the Coronavirus (pandemic) has handcuffed things. It’s definitely not an ideal time to be making a change, but I’m excited about the opportunity.”
Although Orr was still employed at Noxapater and fulfilled his duties at the school each day, he was able to go to Kosciusko after lunch each day to meet with the players and work with them in the weight room. Noxapater was waiting until it filled his teaching spot before leasing Orr from his contract.
“I’m really glad I got to do that,” Orr said of taking the daily trips to KHS. “It doesn’t take the place of spring training, but we were beginning to connect some.”
Kosciusko Director of Athletics Macy Wilbanks said Orr’s hiring was approved back in February, and that the contract just needed to be finalized now that he has been released from his duties at Noxapater, where he was head coach for six years and an assistant the two years prior.
He said he had been encouraging the current juniors on the team that had a chance to rekindle the success they had in junior high during their senior seasons.
Orr noted that he had been watching a lot of Kosciusko game film, learning as much about the players who were on the field last year as he could.
He did not hesitate to admit that not having a spring training is tough when a team is making a coaching transition.
“You wouldn’t have been able to put the entire offense in anyway, but you had a chance to evaluate personnel, and put in the most important parts of your game plan,” Orr said.
Orr said this year’s Whippets would have the same football schedule as it did in 2019, with the game sites being reversed. He also said he was hoping Kosy could be in a preseason jamboree hosted by New Hope, possibly either at East Mississippi Community College or Mississippi State University.
