In his final year as a head coach, Willis Tullos made the most of it.

Leading the Philadelphia boys basketball team, Tullos guided the Tornadoes to a 24-6 record and a berth in the MHSAA Class 2A state semifinals. His accomplishments this past season earned Tullos the Premier Preps Presented by Mississippi Power Boys Basketball Coach of the Year honors.

“When you’ve coached your last game at the (Mississippi) Coliseum, you’ve gone pretty far in the playoffs,” Tullos said. “I had a great group of kids; nobody understands how good this group was. It was just a pleasure to coach them and to have them as my last team.”

Losing just five games during the regular season, Tullos helped make the Tornadoes winners of 14 out of 15 games to start the new year, with their one loss coming against 4A Northeast Lauderdale in a holiday tournament in which they fell by just five points. Philadelphia finished Region 6-2A competition with a perfect 10-0 record and captured the district championship. Tullos and his squad won a trio of state tournament games to earn a trip to the Big House.

“We felt like we had a chance to get to the (Mississippi) Coliseum, and we used that as motivation all year long, and we were fortunate to get there. Everybody tries to get there, and that was the first time these kids ever had the opportunity to go to the Coliseum and play, so that was a big thing for them,” Tullos said. “They just worked their tails off, and they believed they were good enough, and they tried to do everything the coaching staff asked them to do. You don’t find a group of kids like that too often.”