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Mississippi high school basketball coach caps legendary career with state title

Wg0vf-nP_400x400by: Keegan Pope02/25/26bykeeganpope

Not only is Richard Duease one of the all-time greats in Mississippi high school basketball, but the Madison-Ridgeland Academy has a strong claim as one of the best prep coaches ever.

The 74-year-old Duease has been coaching for 51 years, dating back to 1975 when he began his illustrious career as the girls’ coach at Yazoo City’s Manchester Academy. On Tuesday night, the legend wrapped up his career in fitting fashion, as Madison-Ridgeland rolled to a 65-53 win over Jackson Academy to win the MAIS overall state championship.

It was Duease’s 16th MAIS state title, the most by any coach in state history. In total, he has captured 42 MAIS championships — another record — and won more than 1,800 games between his time as a boys and girls head coach over the past five decades.

“Man, it just doesn’t get any better than this right here,” Duease told the Clarior-Ledger after his team cut down the nets. “To finish the year out, and win the (MAIS 4A Division I) title, and then come in and win the overall. It’s just, it’s a dream come true.”

Madison-Ridgeland finished the season 37-2, just a year after a disappointing 17-13 finish. A major reason for the turnaround was Erick Dampier Jr., a top-5 recruit nationally in the 2028 class and the son of former NBA center Erick Dampier.

The 6-foot-9 Dampier Jr. averaged 15.6 points, 12.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.5 blocked shots per contest this season and poured 25 points to lead MRA to the title.

Mississippi losing a coaching legend with Duease’s retirement

Duease announced that he would retire after the 2025-26 season last summer, making this year his swan song. And it lived up to the hype. Across his 43 years coaching boys basketball, he compiled a 1,293-452 record — the third-most wins of any high school coach ever, according to MaxPreps.

He also spent decades as a girls coach where he compiled a record of 592-271 across 26 seasons, coaching both boys and girls until 2002.

He led the boys program on a 77-game win streak from 2008-11 and guided the program to five consecutive state championships multiple times during his tenure.