The Attala County School Board has approved the hiring of two assistant football coaches and teachers at McAdams High School.
Moses Bates will be defensive coordinator and will coach running backs and linebackers. Dustin Alford will be offensive coordinator and will coach receivers and defensive backs.
“I'm very glad to have them,” said head coach Kenneth Nelson. “Both of them have been coaching as long as I have, 10 or 11 years. I had the privilege of working with Moses Bates. He was my running backs and linebackers coach when I was head coach at Holmes County Central.”
The opportunity to work with Nelson was a reason both coaches applied for positions at McAdams.
“I had such good rapport with Coach Nelson,” Bates said of the time they spent together at Holmes County Central.
Alford said “I've known Coach Nelson for several years. I've worked with him. I coached against him when I was at Durant and he was at McAdams the first time. Coach Nelson reached out to me to come and be his offensive coordinator. I sat down and talked with him. We had a good conversation and I felt like it would be a good move for me.”
Bates and Alford have extensive backgrounds coaching football in Mississippi. Alford moves to McAdams after one year coaching linebackers, running backs and special teams at Sebastopol. Prior to that he coached at Leake Central, Neshoba Central, Crystal Springs and Durant.
Alford will also be an assistant baseball coach at McAdams, a position he held at Sebastopol.
Bates spent the past two years at Jackson public schools. He coached linebackers at Jim Hill in 2018 and at Whitten Middle School in 2018 and 2019. He has also coached at Vancleave, McComb and Hazlehurst.
At McAdams, Alford will be a history teacher and Bates will teach social studies.
