The Lafayette County School Board voted to approve the hiring of Anthony Hart as the school’s next head football coach Monday.

Hart, who coached Lafayette from 2005-2011, amassed an 80-16 record over his seven seasons, including 18-5 in the playoffs and 6-1 against Oxford.

He led the Commodores to back-to-back undefeated Class 4A state championships in his final two seasons at the helm, becoming the first coach in Mississippi high school football history to lead his team to a perfect 16-0 record.

The ‘Dores outscored opponents 1,316-293 over that stretch as they secured the first two championships in program history.

“He’s one of the best guys out there. I think he’s probably one of the top three or top five guys in Mississippi — maybe the top one in Mississippi so we can’t complain with what we got,” said athletics director Greg Lewis.

Hart accepted a position at Franklin County following his second championship before taking over as the head coach and athletics director at Madison Central in 2016.

He led the Jaguars to a 48-18 record over his five seasons at the helm, losing three consecutive North Half championships in heartbreaking fashion.

He spent the past two seasons at Brookhaven Academy, but now returns to the Commodores following an 11-year hiatus.

“I think it’s a win-win for us all across the board. I think he’s gonna do a great job again coming back in — and he wants to be here. He’s excited about being here again,” Lewis said.