I posted this about 5 or 6 years ago when I first became a member to familiarize myself w/the top coaches in Ky. I now am much more familiar but still interested in opinions. I am wondering with this years title and past success should Coach Szabo be included? I saw his team play in Fort Myers @ Christmas and even though they lost I was impressed with the stuff they ran and how sound they were defensively. Does Coach Booher's title on 2010 launch him into the elite? I myself have watched several either live or mostly online, and I only mention the ones I have actually seen coach, so there are still many I haven't had the pleasure of watching which is one reason I have done this post. I like to watch great coaches coach to help me become a better coach myself, so if I know who they are I can try to find ways to do so. My top guys would be Billy Hicks, Jason Booher (although I thought he would have done better sooner @ Holmes), Allen Hatcher (and I know some will blast me because of them getting upset, but I have watched AND coached against him and nobody will convince me he isn't one of the best), Dale Mabrey, Mike Szabo, Chris Renner, Tim Riley definitely was and will be if he gets back in, Troy Barr (I like what I have seen of his teams although I haven't seen them very much at all), Al Holland, Jeff Jackson (has been highly successful at 2 different programs), Wayne Breeden (just seems to always win or be in games his teams probably shouldn't), Scott Hundley was very impressive the games I saw online. A couple of names I have heard but never got to see is Matthew Perry & Tim Davis. I know many will say you are only mentioning the bigger schools etc.. which is true, but remember I am only talking about the ones I have gotten to see and I coach in Florida, so my times and means are limited. There are some I have seen that I don't think belong on here so I didn't just mention every coach from KY I have ever seen. Please chime in. Sorry for the extremely long post.

One of my all time favorite coaches is Bobby Keith. He is retired now, but loved to watch his teams play. Matthew Perry took Morgan Co to the state tourney for the first and only time a few years back. They would have gone the year before, but that is when Mayo and company was at Rose Hill. He has a very young group coming up so we should be hearing more on the Cougars in the next few years. Many may say I am biased but got to mention Scott Humphrey. Back to back region wins. What he did with the group he had this past year was a suprised to most to say the least. Lost 8 seniors last year, only returned one starter, and still guided this team to win the region, and elite 8 of the state and record of 31-6.

 

Also got to mention Coaches Allan Feldhaus and Brandon Salsman. I am sure there are more. Hopefully posters from across the state will help name some more.

Hard to argue with the success that Billy Hicks has had.

Hard to argue the success that Chris O'Hearn has at Mason County not to mention also at Nicholas County.

Hard to argue the success that Chris O'Hearn has at Mason County not to mention also at Nicholas County.

 

I forgot about O Hearn & Salsman. I was impressed with both when I was at the Sweet Sixteen several years ago. Can't wait to see Perry coach one day, hopefully very soon.

I'd add Dave Henley of North Oldham to the list as well. Led Holmes to three straight final 4 appearances and back to back state title appearances with a ring to go with it. Tough to argue against that. Granted he had a lot of talent to work with, there were a lot of egos on those teams.

 

As far as the comment about Coach Booher doing better at Holmes, sooner. You have to realize he has had no where near the talent level that Henley had to work with but he has kept Holmes consistently in the top 3-4 in the region, despite dealing with attrition every year. His player development has impressed me since he came to Holmes. Kids have quit the team, left the school, been kicked off the team, and yet he still maintains a high level of play with the "next man in" philosophy.

 

Every year he has taken little known JV players at the beginning of the year, who are buried at the end of the bench in game one, and turned them in to varsity contributors by the end of the year. See Chris Englemon's progress this past season as a perfect example. BJ Coston his sophomore year is another very good example and the way he brought James Bolden along last year as a frosh really contributed to the team success late in the season.

 

Holmes supporter or not, no doubt Jason Booher is one of the top guys in the state.

Another good one from the not so long ago past is Kelly Wells. He had a great run at Mason County and it takes a great coach to be able to jump from high school to college successfully.

Yes, Kelly Wells will never be forgotten but I was still considering High School. Mason has been lucky in having great Coaches but better people.

Said it before, and I'll say it again, one of the best coaches that I've personally seen get the most out of a group of kids that a lot of people would pretty much write off is...Jon Jones at Gallatin County.

 

Several things come to mind about his teams...

1.) He's had success with pretty much home-grown kids...Warsaw's usually not a hotbed for transfers.

2.) He's not afraid to play the "big boys". (Hasn't padded his record by playing a cupcake schedule year after year.) Even though Gallatin's a Class A school, you often see them playing a Simon Kenton, Anderson County, Shelby, Oldham, etc.

3.) He's done it with a lineup that may not have a single kid over 6' out there on the floor.

 

Don't know that he'll ever compete for a state title while at Gallatin, but he's still a top coach IMO.

I'd add Dave Henley of North Oldham to the list as well. Led Holmes to three straight final 4 appearances and back to back state title appearances with a ring to go with it. Tough to argue against that. Granted he had a lot of talent to work with, there were a lot of egos on those teams.

 

As far as the comment about Coach Booher doing better at Holmes, sooner. You have to realize he has had no where near the talent level that Henley had to work with but he has kept Holmes consistently in the top 3-4 in the region, despite dealing with attrition every year. His player development has impressed me since he came to Holmes. Kids have quit the team, left the school, been kicked off the team, and yet he still maintains a high level of play with the "next man in" philosophy.

 

Every year he has taken little known JV players at the beginning of the year, who are buried at the end of the bench in game one, and turned them in to varsity contributors by the end of the year. See Chris Englemon's progress this past season as a perfect example. BJ Coston his sophomore year is another very good example and the way he brought James Bolden along last year as a frosh really contributed to the team success late in the season.

 

Holmes supporter or not, no doubt Jason Booher is one of the top guys in the state.

 

I agree w/Coach Henley and should have had him on my original list as I saw 2 of his state title games and all the games in the sweet 16 of his each of those years and came away totally impressed. Thanks for the info on why Coach Booher hasn't been as successful @ Holmes. I already had him on my list and knew there had to be good reasons as to why Holmes hadn't been back in the sweet 16 yet. Both great coaches! Henley just got the Eastern job and they will now continue to be even, ahead or right on the heels of Ballard & Trinity.

I always enjoyed watching Tim Rileys teams at the State Tournament. That guy is an excellent coach.

I always enjoyed watching Tim Rileys teams at the State Tournament. That guy is an excellent coach.

 

Agree, loved watching him on the sidelines.

I always enjoyed watching Tim Rileys teams at the State Tournament. That guy is an excellent coach.

 

A good young coach who played under Riley when he was the defensive coach @ Holmes and carries on his defensive style of tough in your face man-to-man "D" is Tim Sullivan @ Cooper. He got his young Jaguars to the regional semis this year in only their 4th year of existence.

A good young coach who played under Riley when he was the defensive coach @ Holmes and carries on his defensive style of tough in your face man-to-man "D" is Tim Sullivan @ Cooper. He got his young Jaguars to the regional semis this year in only their 4th year of existence.

 

And they will be one of the top 2 or 3 teams in the region next year.

I definitely feel like Szabo has to be mentioned as one of the top coaches. He took over a basketball program that had never been to the Sweet 16, was perpetually terrible and turned it around. 2 Sweet 16s and 1 title is nothing to sneeze at, especially coming out of the region that Trinity does. About 10 years ago, or a little longer, no one even talked about Trintiy basketball except maybe to laugh about it. Now it has become a great program in a state full of great programs.