CENTREVILLE, Mississippi -- Bill Hurst sat beside his dad, Lea Fulton Hurst. His father, then 94, had only hours left to live.
He was a strict disciplinarian, "a no nonsense kind of guy," according to his son. He raised his family alongside his cattle on a farm, feeding them all, even when there wasn't always enough money to go around.
"He'd love you to death," the 64-year-old Centreville Academy coach said. "But he wasn't afraid to whip you."
So when Lea Fulton Hurst died in the afternoon hours of May 7, 2012, his son knew exactly what he had to do.
He hurried home, showered, threw on his best clothes and headed toward the football field at Centreville Academy. He was going to graduation.
"I know (Dad) would have told me, 'Son, you've got a job to do. Those people are counting on you,'" said Hurst, who triples as headmaster, athletic director and football coach at Centreville.
"It was a hard thing, but I had to do it."
Hard work and discipline -- both qualities Bill Hurst learned from his dad -- have trickled over to the football field, where Hurst has won 346 games (against 101 losses) during his career, tying him for the most victories all-time in Mississippi. Jim Drewry, who coached at Kossuth, Booneville and Tishomingo during a tenure that spanned from 1958 until 2009, is the other coach with 346 victories.
Unlike Drewry, Hurst has collected all his W's -- which includes eight championships -- at Centreville, where he started as an assistant in 1973 before replacing Mike Mullens as head coach two years later.
"They didn't know me back then," Hurst said. "But Dr. Bill Craft knew my daddy, and he told Joe Bryan, who brought me in as an assistant, 'If (Lea's) his daddy, you don't have to worry about him. He's going to do what's right.'"
Hurst has stayed true to that recommendation, including in 1995 and 1996, when he went on a two-year hiatus from coaching so he could watch his son play football at Southwest Community College on Thursday nights.
The transition back to coaching was a quick one.
He guided the Tigers to back-to-back titles in 1998 and 1999 and repeated the feat nearly a decade later in 2007 and 2008.
For all that, Hurst, who couldn't tell you a lick about the first game he won, says he remembers losing more.
"We went 11-1 last year but got beat in the first round of the playoffs," Hurst said.
That fear of losing fuels Hurst, a demanding coach.
"When I say something, that's what I expect them to do," Hurst said. "I don't take any backtalk."
Neither did his father, whose advice never seemed to quit resonating, including when other schools tried to lure Hurst away from Centreville Academy.
"In 1976, I could have doubled my salary at a school in Louisiana," said Hurst, who never wanted to stray too far from home. "Daddy always said, 'The grass always looks greener somewhere else, but when you get there, it may not be what you think it is.'"
Hurst has relished the opportunity to build his life and Christian faith around his school -- which competes in the MAIS' Academy AA division -- from the ground up.
"Nothing will beat hard work," Hurst said.
That won't change any time in the near future.
It's why Hurst game plans at all hours to prepare for Friday night's bout at Parklane Academy -- a team his Tigers edged 13-12 last season.
"This game is just another game," Hurst said. "Our kids have played hard and given their hearts. We'd like to get a win."
Hurst has done just that a lot in his career -- 346 times to be exact.
One more won't likely change things in the Hurst household.
After all, people are counting on Hurst to win a few more games after No. 347.
Just like his father would have said.
-- The Clarion-Ledger