By By Marty Stamper/The Meridian Star
Saturday, May 19, 2001
Neshoba Central High School boys' basketball coach Sal LaBue is leaving the Rockets to take a job as girls' basketball coach at Forest High School.
LaBue's boys' teams went 86-67 in his five seasons at Neshoba Central. Four of the five years resulted in winning seasons an oddity for the Rockets in recent years.
From the 1989-90 through the 1995-96 seasons, the Neshoba boys had a dismal 54-158 combined record with only the 13-14 mark of the 1995-96 squad reaching double figures in the win column.
LaBue's best record at Neshoba came in the 1997-98 season as the Rockets went 22-8. The 1998-99 team made the Class 4A state playoffs in posting an 18-12 record.
LaBue also upgraded the Rockets' schedule as Starkville, Columbus, and South Leake were added as non-division games this past season along with Meridian.
At Forest, LaBue will find a girls' program steeped with a winning tradition. The Forest girls have won state championships in 1953, 1954, 1955, 1960, 1964, and 1994 and were state runners-up in 1952, 1957, 1961, 1962, 1975, 1977, 1992, and 2000.
The Forest girls went 23-13 this past year, finishing fourth in the Class 3A South State Tournament.
Marty Stamper is a sports writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at mstamper@themeridianstar.com.