Jim May leaves Scott City to coach Sikeston

Scott City head coach Jim May went 84-76 during his 15-year tenure with the Rams, including going 52-18 since 2018.

Tom Davis ~ tdavis@semoball.com

Sikeston needed to land a big name to run the football program and that’s exactly what it got with the hiring of Scott City head coach Jim May, as announced on Wednesday via Facebook.

May comes to Sikeston High School after coaching the Rams for 15 years, racking up a record of 84-76.

“Just an opportunity that I felt it was the right time to embark on,” May said.

May’s tenure at Scott City was a talk of two halves. He started with back-to-back 2-8 seasons in 2009-10 while trying to build the program from the ground up. The Rams improved to two straight 5-5 seasons in 2011-12 but didn’t get their first winning season under May until finishing 7-4 in 2016.

The patience practiced in May during the first nine years paid off for Scott City in the back end. The Rams went 52-18 since 2018 including a district championship in 2019.

“15 years and a lot of hard work went into this build,” May said. “It’s hard to walk away.”

Scott City has won nine games during each of the final three years of May’s tenure. Each season started with replacing a large senior class with another large senior class and ends with an emotional goodbye.

“A very hard decision,” May said. “It’s been very difficult talking to the players, hard to walk away.”

By going to Sikeston, May said he is going to “a great program deep in tradition”. The Bulldogs finished last season 2-9 but one of those wins came in the first round of the Class 4 playoffs on the road against Perryville.

May will be looking to lead the Bulldogs to their first winning season since 2016 and eventually their first state semifinal appearance since 2010.

“I’m excited to try and make it something the community and school can get excited about and be proud of,” May said.