By By Marty Stamper/The Meridian Star
MARCH 29, 2001
UNION Union High School has turned to former Yellow Jacket standout Brad Breland in hopes of turning around the school's football fortunes.
Breland was a standout at offensive lineman and placekicker on the 1985 Jacket team that went 9-1. Union has had just one winning season in the 15 years since he graduated as the 1994 squad finished 6-4 in Ricky Casey's first year as head coach.
Casey resigned as head coach following the 2000 season that resulted in a 2-9 mark. Union was 27-49 in Casey's seven years.
Breland spent the last season at Noxapater with the Tigers making the Class 1A state playoffs. Prior to that, he spent two years at Pearl, with the Pirates making the playoffs both times.
Breland started his coaching career at Madison Central, where he spent six years with Mike Justice's highly-regarded program. The Jaguars made the playoffs five times, missing out only in the first year they moved up to Class 5A.
After graduating from Union in 1985, Breland played two years at East Central Community College and then played two more years at the University of Arkansas-Monticello.
Breland's hiring could set up an interesting scenario sometime down the road as his older brother, Jeff, is head coach at Newton County High School.
The two schools will not play each other in the 2001 or 2002 seasons, however.
Both are the sons of former Southeast Lauderdale coach Vonnie Mac Breland.
Marty Stamper is a sports writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at mstamper@themeridianstar.com.