article 50 Greatest Programs in Kentucky History: #15-8

Day three of our list of the 50 greatest high school football programs in Kentucky history looks at #15-8 . As was mentioned in each of the previous threads, this is based on a formula that awards teams a certain amount of points for playoff wins, district championships, appearances in state championship games, and state titles. These rankings begin with the 1959 season since that was the first year the KHSAA sponsored a playoff.

In case of ties, the team with the most state championships gets the better ranking. If that number is the same, then I moved to playoff wins. Also, regarding district championships, between 1959 and 1972 some regions were not divided into districts. In those cases, a region championship is awarded as a district championship.

This is the third of four posts on the topic. Check back throughout the day tomorrow as the top seven are revealed one at a time.

Monday: http://bluegrasspreps.com/ky-football-high/50-greatest-programs-318171.html#post5771292

Tuesday: http://bluegrasspreps.com/ky-football-high/50-greatest-programs-318197.html

Wednesday: #15-8

Thursday: #7-1

15. Bardstown Tigers (122.5 points)

Playoff Wins: 51 (1 tie)

District Championships: 21

State Final Losses: 3

State Championships: 4 (1967, 1970, 1981, 2001)

14. Boyle County Rebels (131 points)

Playoff Wins: 63

District Championships: 15

State Final Losses: 1

State Championships: 7 (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010)

13. Paducah Tilghman Blue Tornado (142 points)

Playoff Wins: 62

District Championships: 25

State Final Losses: 5

State Championships: 3 (1973, 1985, 2009)

12. Corbin Redhounds (149 points)

Playoff Wins: 62

District Championships: 30

State Final Losses: 4

State Championships: 3 (1976, 1980, 1982)

11. Male Bulldogs (157 points)

Playoff Wins: 69

District Championships: 22

State Final Losses: 3

State Championships: 7 (1960, 1963, 1964, 1993, 1998, 2000, 2015)

10. Bowling Green Purples (159 points)

Playoff Wins: 72

District Championships: 25

State Final Losses: 4

State Championships: 5 (1995, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015)

9. Pikeville Panthers (174.5 points)

Playoff Wins: 81 (1 tie)

District Championships: 32

State Final Losses: 3

State Championships: 4 (1987, 1988, 1989, 2015)

8. Newport Central Catholic Thoroughbreds (177 points)

Playoff Wins: 79

District Championships: 23

State Final Losses: 9

State Championships: 5 (1984, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2012)

Happy to see my Purples at the #10 spot!

I love what you are doing but don't agree with the formula. I believe State Championships should out favor everything else by a large margin, followed by appearances. District titles are awesome, but to me 25 district titles is nothing compared to even 2-3 state titles with 2-3 more appearances. I don't think teams playing for state championships are even worried about the district they look right past that.

We are getting deep now.

This is really cool GCHS...thank you for taking your time and effort to put towards this endeavor.

I love what you are doing but don't agree with the formula. I believe State Championships should out favor everything else by a large margin, followed by appearances. District titles are awesome, but to me 25 district titles is nothing compared to even 2-3 state titles with 2-3 more appearances. I don't think teams playing for state championships are even worried about the district they look right past that.

Formula was a challenge. I didn't want to give too much credit for championships because a school that won only one might get too much of a boost. And the district titles actually did mean a whole lot for the first 30+ years because making the playoffs required winning the district. So it kind of is a balancing act to make it all valuable.

I agree with being given too much credit for only winning one title but that's easily fixed by giving more weight to each additional title.

For Boyle County and Male to be ranked where they are is just stupid.

There better be some dang good programs left.

In 1973 Beechwood went 9-1 and did not make the playoffs as their only loss was to district foe Ludlow. Yeah, district titles were certainly very important for the first twenty or more years of the time frame. We can argue the formula all we want but regardless this is a lot of fun and a great history lesson!

I agree with being given too much credit for only winning one title but that's easily fixed by giving more weight to each additional title.

 

For Boyle County and Male to be ranked where they are is just stupid.

His formula goes back to 1959 and teams with a more recent record of success (or dominance in some cases) may not be ranked as high as some others who have been really good over the long haul. This formula rewards sustained success (district titles) a little more than what you like, but it is not a slight on anyone.

These threads will be a great resource to refer back to in the future.

I agree with being given too much credit for only winning one title but that's easily fixed by giving more weight to each additional title.

 

For Boyle County and Male to be ranked where they are is just stupid.

 

There better be some dang good programs left.

Male maybe I can see... but Boyle wasn't exactly a football powerhouse until Smith came along in the late 90's

I would say those decades of pretty average football play a large role in them being at #14.

I would also say there are some pretty outstanding programs that will be filling these final spots.

Many of which have had dominating runs in their history and have been at the minimum "good" for 25+ years

Formula was a challenge. I didn't want to give too much credit for championships because a school that won only one might get too much of a boost. And the district titles actually did mean a whole lot for the first 30+ years because making the playoffs required winning the district. So it kind of is a balancing act to make it all valuable.

I guess my biggest gripes comes from the fact that PT and Corbin are both ahead of Boyle because when you combine PT and Corbin they still don't have as many State Championships as Boyle does, but they are ahead because of district titles. I get what you are saying about the amount of value they used to hold, but I think it skews the numbers quite significantly. My other concern is how in the world Male is not in the top 10, and again I think that is because of the weight of the district titles, and the fact they used to play in "super district" which is why I don't like how much weight a district title holds. A 5-6 team can win a district title but that doesn't hold a lot of weight to me, looks like the NFC east vs a Wildcard team like the Vikings, just doesn't make sense to me.

Take off your fan hat for a minute and give gchs_uk9 a little slack. This is his system, his hard work and effort, and he has put together a meaningful discussion topic here. It is most definitely not stupid.

 

His formula goes back to 1959 and teams with a more recent record of success (or dominance in some cases) may not be ranked as high as some others who have been really good over the long haul. This formula rewards sustained success (district titles) a little more than what you like, but it is not a slight on anyone.

Some of what you said is true, but it also has programs ranked quite high who have not been relevant in a long time as well, because of how many districts they won many, many years ago. The formula works both ways, and I love the work and effort he is putting into it, I am just adding to discussion about how we should maybe weight things differently, because I agree that both Male and Boyle should be at a different place, but the district wins skew things heavily in favor of teams who are not near as dominating as Boyle or Male.

I guess my biggest gripes comes from the fact that PT and Corbin are both ahead of Boyle because when you combine PT and Corbin they still don't have as many State Championships as Boyle does, but they are ahead because of district titles. I get what you are saying about the amount of value they used to hold, but I think it skews the numbers quite significantly. My other concern is how in the world Male is not in the top 10, and again I think that is because of the weight of the district titles, and the fact they used to play in "super district" which is why I don't like how much weight a district title holds. A 5-6 team can win a district title but that doesn't hold a lot of weight to me, looks like the NFC east vs a Wildcard team like the Vikings, just doesn't make sense to me.

Once again... we are talking about 56 years of football here.

Boyle has been a Top 5 or 6 program over the past 15 years... but pre-Chuck Smith the Rebels probably aren't even a Top 50 program.

Tilghman and Corbin don't have the Titles of Boyle..but both have been solid, winning programs with deep playoff success for 40+ years

Once again... we are talking about 56 years of football here.

 

Boyle has been a Top 5 or 6 program over the past 15 years... but pre-Chuck Smith the Rebels probably aren't even a Top 50 program.

 

Tilghman and Corbin don't have the Titles of Boyle..but both have been solid, winning programs with deep playoff success for 40+ years

I understand completely what you are saying, so I am bringing up a different argument, do titles matter more than district championships? This system seems to value good seasons over Great seasons, as long as you had a long run of good seasons.

It's kind of like the argument for Notre Dame football, yes they won a lot of championships 30+ years ago, but what about the now, would teams like Oregon not be considered top 10 programs because they came a long recently and have dominated, instead of having average success over a large margin of years?