Tucker Peavey is an old school football coach and that’s meant as the highest compliment. He sets a high standard for how he expects his players to carry themselves on and off the football field.

In 2024, the longtime Brookhaven High head football coach had a group that responded greatly to his leadership. Brookhaven High finished the season 11-2, won Region 3-5A and lost in the 5A semifinals at Gautier High by a mere two points.

For his efforts, Peavey has been named the 2024 Daily Leader All-Area Coach of the Year.

Not to chase a rabbit too far, but it does seem like in the world of coaching today, those who go about things with an old-school approach are becoming rarer.

The highlight play has become less important as the highlight taunt takes precedence.  You’ve got to have that afterwards as players want to go viral with their highlight packages.

The world of youth sports is increasingly about me, myself, and I.

The team, the team, the team as Bo Schembechler preached has become a cry of, “look at my kid, look at my kid, look at my kid.”

An old school coach does not want his best wide receiver tapping the top of his helmet after he’s made a catch over the top of a defensive back. He wants his guy to hand the referee the ball and to act like he’s made a play before.

The old school coach wants efficiency and results, rather than histrionics and a “look at me” mentality.

A good example of what this looks like came in a tight, tough region battle for BHS during the 2024 season on King Field.

Peavey was coaching up one of his young, talented players. He let the student-athlete know that he wanted to see less agitation in his body language when things didn’t go well.

It was a tough, physical game. Things were going to go right for BHS and things would go wrong, but you can’t expect to win if your emotions are out of control.

When the player returned to the field, he improved that behavior, but only briefly.  

Peavey then resorted to using a tool that coaches should never be afraid to implore, the bench. Old school coaches know that nothing gets a guy’s attention like being put on the bench or sideline.

He called the player off the field and replaced him with someone else. You could see the surprise at the one being substituted for as he was called off the field.

A new man went in and instantly made a play in business-like fashion while his teammate watched from the sideline.

It was a great reminder for that young man to see that the team could roll on without him, if he wasn’t willing to be coachable.

Brookhaven High returns nearly its entire roster after making the 5A final four last year. Expectations will be sky high for the Panthers in 2025.

The Panthers should have the prevailing expectation that their old school leader is going to keep coaching them up the same way he has in his previous 16 seasons of leading Brookhaven High football.