As a Tupelo High assistant football coach, Bob Monroe was quoted about the Starkville High-Tupelo High rivalry in the Y'all Vs. Us book.

If you ask most people around Tupelo who happen to know him, they would say Bob bled blue and gold.

“We tell old stories all the time," former Tupelo High assistant Chris Coleman said about reminiscing with Monroe about their days coaching the Golden Wave. "We got a bunch of old ones. They were a lot of good ones from the Tupelo days. We won a lot while we were there."

When asked which state university he pulled for – Mississippi State or Ole Miss – Monroe would simply say, "I'm a Tupelo fan."

This year, however, Monroe has traded his blue and gold for the maroon and white of New Albany High School. After sitting out the 13 previous falls, Monroe has returned to coaching, leading the defensive backs at New Albany this season.

"I have been through the years," Monroe, now 59, said about his Tupelo High fandom. "Right now I'm a New Albany High School fan."

When Tupelo took on New Albany in a preseason jamboree game at Ole Miss' Vaught Hemingway Stadium last month, one may have wandered what it was like for Monroe to coach against his longtime employer. Even after Monroe stepped down from coaching in 1996, he still worked for the Tupelo School District out of their central office.

In June, Monroe retired from his director of human resources position in the Tupelo School District.  A couple of months before he retired, Monroe – who has been living in New Albany since 2002 after getting married to a woman who resided there – was asked by New Albany head football coach Ron Price if he was interested in coaching again.

Monroe eventually said yes.

"It was a tough scrimmage," Monroe said of New Albany's 24-14 win in its two-quarter scrimmage versus Tupelo. "I darn sure wanted to win, but I darn sure don't enjoy playing Tupelo. It was tough."

He says he'll still wish the Golden Wave the best and that he has nothing but fond memories of being associated with the school. He says he has tremendous respect for the Tupelo school's administrators and coaches.

But he is now at New Albany, he says, and that's where his loyalty resides.

"I have been for 33 years," Monroe said about being a loyal Golden Wave fan. "I'm now a New Albany fan."

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For those in the area who are former students, players or colleagues of Bob Monroe, and wish to share your favorite memories of him, feel free to post them in the comment boxes below.