Most of us do not remember the coaches of "yesteryear." We tend to think of the coaches of today, without remembering those who preceded them in their programs. Two of the ones mentioned are active coaches who have taken their schools to new heights, but they have built on programs that were successful before they arrived.

 

Bob Beatty is a good/great coach, but where would the Trinity program of today be if it were not for coaches Jim Kennedy (won two state AAA championships at Trinity and one at Flaget), Dave Moore (Trinity won two AAA titles and one 4A championship under his leadership) and Dennis Lampley (during his time, Trinity had a 50 game win streak and won 5 4A championships)?

 

Dale Mueller is a good/great coach, but where would the Highlands program be without coaches Homer Rice (won one mythical and two AA championships during his years, he helped found the Fort Thomas Junior League and was the last coach at Highlands with a losing season on his record in 1955 [4-5-1]), Owen Hauck (under his leadership, Highlands went 1-1 in state championship games [he also took Boone County to 4 times]), Mike Murphy (his teams won two AA championships), Roger Walz (a player under Rice, won one AAA championship at Highlands), Bill Herrmann (an assistant with each of the previous mentioned Highlands coaches, Bill won three AAA titles), and Tom Duffy (Dale's immediate predecessor who won two AAA championships at HHS [plus two at Danville])?

 

Eddie Eviston may have won two championships in his three years at NCC, but would he have been able to do that without the program built by Bob Schneider (three state championships, one AA and two AA)?

 

More schools and coaches come to mind, like Mayfield, Murray, BG, and Danville that have multiple championships with multiple coaches.

 

I would say that maybe these coaches are good/great, but they had a lot of help from the past.

 

My choice for "Greatest Head Coach in KY history" is a coach that did not have a program in place, but helped start a dynasty that has lasted for over 55 years without out a losing season. A coach that did many things during his career besides coach High School football. My "Greatest Head Coach in KY History" is Homer Rice. Not only did he have a successful career in Kentucky, but he coached an undefeated team at Wartburg, TN, HS, before his stint at Highlands. As a high school coach in the 1950's, he compiled a record of 101-9-7 and was named "Winningest Football Coach in America 1961". He invented the (veer) triple-option offense, which is still used today by many coaches in KY and nationwide. He is an author read widely by other coaches. He also served as assistant coach at the Univ of KY and the Univ of Oklahoma. He was head coach at the University of Cincinnati and Rice University. He served as Head Coach of the Cincinnati Bengals. He later became the AD at both the Univ of North Carolina and Georgia Tech.

 

You also can't discount current coaches because others were successful before. Think how many coaches would apply to Trinity if there was on opening...? of course they are going to get a good coach because of the tradition built up by previous coaches. That doesn't make a coach any better or worse, it just changes what "success" is at that school.

I think there are two different discussions going on, here... There are two basic types of "great" coaches that everyone seems to be talking about:

 

1. The Program Builder (a'la Chuck Smith)

2. The Powerhouse Leader (a'la Bob Beatty)

 

Maybe everyone could give their thoughts on each of the two types???

You also can't discount current coaches because others were successful before. Think how many coaches would apply to Trinity if there was on opening...? of course they are going to get a good coach because of the tradition built up by previous coaches. That doesn't make a coach any better or worse, it just changes what "success" is at that school.

 

I did not say that the present coaches are not good/great, I said that the situation makes the coach look better. How would Bob Beatty or Dale Mueller do with a program such as Jenkins (2 winning seasons since 1990) or Clinton County (a 6 year old program)? If he had the same results at a program such as that as they have seen at Trinity or Highlands, then I would consider them for the Greatest, but they did not have to build a program, they many have had to restore the program from a few down years and take it to a new level, but Homer Rice took a program and underlying youth program on a path to a that has resulted in fifty plus year (so far) of success. BTW, Dale Mueller is a product of the Fort Thomas Junior Football League and a Highlands graduate. Dale Mueller's coaching record was not that spectacular at Sycamore before he moved to Highlands.

I think you could argue for a lot of guys. Rice, Mueller, Yeagle, Smith, Beatty etc. Seems like when I was young Lampley had a nice run. What Yeagle did in his span is pretty crazy. Smith as far as turning a country school into what he did is impressive. Beatty on a National level. Rice before my time but seems like The Godfather! The guy I think gets overlooked and maybe most consistent is Jack Morris. Not saying he's #1 but we lost to Mayfield in the final 4 my Jr year and I want to say they'd been to 24 of the last 26 Final Fours at the time the paper said! It's about a 15hr drive so somebody on that end of the state would have a better idea. If that's true it doesn't get more constant than that run!

You also can't discount current coaches because others were successful before. Think how many coaches would apply to Trinity if there was on opening...? of course they are going to get a good coach because of the tradition built up by previous coaches. That doesn't make a coach any better or worse, it just changes what "success" is at that school.

 

What's the saying we've heard many times about "standing on the shoulders of the teams before them"???

 

It is usually applied to the players at Highlands, but in this case it could also be applicable to the coaches...

 

 

Dale has taken it to a new level at Highlands. Whenever he decides to hang up the whistle, the next coach is going to have huge shoes to fill. Dale will go down as one of the greatest coaches in KY history. No question about it.

Scary to think about what Bob Lewis would have accomplished if he had coached longer at Conner. Great coach.

 

With the massive amount of title that NKY big class has won (none).....forgive me if I disagree.

 

RP, Conner was in Class AAA for most of the time under Lewis in the four-class system. So they wouldn't have been going after big-class titles too often.

Lets be realistic. If a high school coach was that good, he would be coaching college. In the end, it boils down to the kids. If you got the players, you will be successful. There are some exceptions, as there are to every rule.

 

I challenge you this, how good is mueller as a coach if he was at Newport or Brossart? Lickert had a good season last year, where will CCHS be next year with no Durham? Lickert is a good coach, but CCHS is a 2-8 team last season without Durham.

Lets be realistic. If a high school coach was that good, he would be coaching college. In the end, it boils down to the kids. If you got the players, you will be successful. There are some exceptions, as there are to every rule.

 

I challenge you this, how good is mueller as a coach if he was at Newport or Brossart? Lickert had a good season last year, where will CCHS be next year with no Durham? Lickert is a good coach, but CCHS is a 2-8 team last season without Durham.

 

Not all coaches want to move up the ladder. If Mueller or Beatty wanted a college job, they'd probably have no problem finding one.

Lets be realistic. If a high school coach was that good, he would be coaching college. In the end, it boils down to the kids. If you got the players, you will be successful. There are some exceptions, as there are to every rule.

 

Do you realize that probably 95% of the high school head coaches in the state would have to take a large pay cut to be an assistant coach at Thomas More, Georgetown, Mount St. Joes, etc.?

Do you realize that probably 95% of the high school head coaches in the state would have to take a large pay cut to be an assistant coach at Thomas More, Georgetown, Mount St. Joes, etc.?

Mueller definatly would lol

Do you realize that probably 95% of the high school head coaches in the state would have to take a large pay cut to be an assistant coach at Thomas More, Georgetown, Mount St. Joes, etc.?

If you mean head coaches, then no. Even a Div. 3 head coach makes more than a high school head coach. Now, like I said, mueller would be taking a pay cut, I've heard he makes somewhere around 100k at highlands. Now that's a joke. Anyone with any football sense could step in there and win state titles at half that cost in that program.

Lets be realistic. If a high school coach was that good, he would be coaching college. In the end, it boils down to the kids. If you got the players, you will be successful. There are some exceptions, as there are to every rule.

 

I challenge you this, how good is mueller as a coach if he was at Newport or Brossart? Lickert had a good season last year, where will CCHS be next year with no Durham? Lickert is a good coach, but CCHS is a 2-8 team last season without Durham.

 

Totally disagree with the 1st sentence. There's guys I coached coaching in the NFL, have been in the SEC, Big 10 etc. While there was a ton of temptation to move up for me it was more important to be around by 2 little kids more. Those guys had no kids until recently 1 just had their 1st. I've coached with and against many coaches that would excel at the college level if they chose too.

I do agree players make coaches look a lot better. Coaches often develope players but there are certain schools/areas that tend to get a lot of outstanding talent. I think some of that you also have to look at the product built. Schools like Highlands have built a tradition along with an excellent school that makes parents want their kids to be a part of it etc. Coaches build that culture a lot of the time. If you look at the coaches at Trinity, Highlands, Boyle they have had crazy talent. Multiple D1 guys. They also have built programs that attrack kids and develope talent.

I did not say that the present coaches are not good/great, I said that the situation makes the coach look better. How would Bob Beatty or Dale Mueller do with a program such as Jenkins (2 winning seasons since 1990) or Clinton County (a 6 year old program)? If he had the same results at a program such as that as they have seen at Trinity or Highlands, then I would consider them for the Greatest, but they did not have to build a program, they many have had to restore the program from a few down years and take it to a new level, but Homer Rice took a program and underlying youth program on a path to a that has resulted in fifty plus year (so far) of success. BTW, Dale Mueller is a product of the Fort Thomas Junior Football League and a Highlands graduate. Dale Mueller's coaching record was not that spectacular at Sycamore before he moved to Highlands.

 

You might want to look at Mueller's record prior to arrival at Highlands. Withrow was 0-10 prior to his arrival & 10-0 three years later. Sycamore was everybody's whipping boy. When Dale arrived, Moeller's Klonne was the speaker at the Sycamore sports banquet. They were losers and quite OK with that. Dale changed the culture and actually had a winning season before leaving for Highlands.

 

How would he do at Jenkins or Clinton? Better than anyone else ever has by a huge margin.

If you mean head coaches, then no. Even a Div. 3 head coach makes more than a high school head coach. Now, like I said, mueller would be taking a pay cut, I've heard he makes somewhere around 100k at highlands. Now that's a joke. Anyone with any football sense could step in there and win state titles at half that cost in that program.

 

Not neccessarily true but even if so it would be a result of Mueller building up the program to that level. In the 10 years prior to his arrival HHS won at a 76% clip with 2 titles. In his 19 years he's won at an 88% clip with 11 titles and 2 runners up. Whole different level of success. Combine that success with the greater success he has turning out good men, his AD duties and his teaching of AP science classes and we think we're getting a deal. No joke.

If you mean head coaches, then no. Even a Div. 3 head coach makes more than a high school head coach. Now, like I said, mueller would be taking a pay cut, I've heard he makes somewhere around 100k at highlands. Now that's a joke. Anyone with any football sense could step in there and win state titles at half that cost in that program.

 

Lol! Where do you get your info? Anyway it's not about the money. It's Ft Thomas remember! (:rolleyes:for all those who hate).

 

Just sayin!