Bunio new head football coach at MA
Every coach is looking for the right fit, and Chris Bunio believes he has found his.
The 33-year-old was recently named the new head football coach at Marshall Academy. He will replace Ben Durham, who is going to Central Hinds Academy.
Bunio comes to Holly Springs after one season as the offensive coordinator at Pillow Academy in Greenwood.
“Culturally, this is where I want to be,” he said. “Marshall is a place where they take pride in football. They care about football and want to win championships.”
Bunio is a seasoned coach. He has worked as a head coach at Briarfield Academy in Lake Providence, La., Clinton Christian Academy and also Elkmont High School in Alabama. Those stints included seasons with record-setting wins, area championships and post-season trips. Other assistant jobs have been at Trinity Episcopal in Natchez and Haleyville High School and Chelsea High School, both in Alabama. He is a native of Birmingham, Ala., graduating from John Carroll Catholic High School where he was the varsity football MVP at quarterback. He played college football at Mississippi College where he earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
Bunio said both the headmaster, Barrett Donahoe, and head football coach, Jim Crowder, at Pillow Academy left for other jobs. That’s when he started considering other positions and wanted to go back to being a head coach. Donahoe is also a former head football coach and headmaster at MA. At Pillow, Bunio also worked with former Marshall baseball coach Bruce Branch.
“I looked for the right community I wanted to be in and the right people who I wanted to work with,” he said. “I talked with Jason Taylor (headmaster at Marshall), and all of my colleagues spoke so highly of him. And they also said good things about the school in general.
“Barrett and Bruce both spoke highly of this place and told me it would be a good fit, and I look up to the two of them.”
He said a Bunio-led football program will be all about doing things the right way.
“We will be relentless, as far as work ethic,” he said. “We will take pride in the details and work as hard as possible each and every day. We want to be the more prepared football team on Friday night. We have to have that mindset to compete at a high level and have success.”
Success, he said, also comes from everybody buying in to the football program.
“It takes good coaches, surrounding yourself with the right people, plus it takes the entire school, the students, the faculty, the parents, the community, all pulling together,” Bunio said. “Everybody has to be on the same page.”
He will be moving to Holly Springs at the end of March. The football team will go through spring training, including a steady workout program and some on-the-field drills.
“Then we will move full speed ahead the first of June with our summer program,” Bunio said.
“Personnel-wise, I am not sure yet what we have coming back from last season. I know they played for a state championship last season. They know how to get there. They’ve had a taste of it.
“We want this program’s foundation to be hard work. Success is a by-product of the culture you have in place. We want the kids to be prepared for winning on the football field, but more importantly, we want to make sure they are prepared for life. We want to compete for championships, but we also want them to do well in the classroom, graduate and have a plan in place to accomplish what they want to accomplish down the road.”
The Mid-South Association of Independent Schools goes through realignment every two years. In 2025-26, the football Patriots will compete in District 1-3A with Rossville Academy, West Memphis Christian School and Washington School. Next season’s non-district opponents include Regents, Magnolia Heights, Lee (Clarksdale), Winona Christian, Greenville Christian, North Delta and St. Joe (Greenville).
“I’m really happy and excited to be at Marshall,” Bunio said. “One of my favorite quotes says, ‘Before you win championships, you have to build champions.’ That’s my goal.”