Coached there previously from '86 through '04. He played football for his dad, Fred Clayton at Caldwell County in the late 60s, and played in college as well. Went on to begin assistant coaching for his dad at Christian County, went to Madisonville as an assistant, then Todd Central, and then started his head coaching career at Hoptown in 1986.

 

He left to coach in Tennessee in 2005, and he resigned at his latest job at Hillsboro High School in TN this past spring in order to move back home to Kentucky.

 

Welcome back, Coach!

Per Chris Jung of the KY New Era, Clayton is Hoptown's winningest coach at 149-86, including two trips to the state finals in 1997 and 1998.

Also from Chris Jung...Clayton's record against other teams while at Hoptown:

 

A super guy. Terrible fisherman.

I am a big fan of Coach Clayton. KY HS Football just got better!

WKY has just been dealt a shake up! Congrats, Coach Clayton.

Awesome! Glad to see this.

Also from Chris Jung...Clayton's record against other teams while at Hoptown:

 

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I'll never forget that game with X in '99!

 

Hope the Hoptown trend continues upward.

Also from Chris Jung...Clayton's record against other teams while at Hoptown:

 

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6-4 isn't bad against Mayfield.

Tougher to get talent to hoptown now that we don't have school choice... wonder how well he will adjust? Hopefully we'll.

Per Chris Jung of the KY New Era, Clayton is Hoptown's winningest coach at 149-86, including two trips to the state finals in 1997 and 1998.

 

Not that it makes a hill of beans worth of difference, but the writer didn't include the 1997 figures in his story correctly...because of the Artose Pinner deal.

 

From a media perspective, some coaches are great to work with--some are a bit more difficult. For the record, I always enjoyed interaction with Craig Clayton. He was my favorite for the Madisonville head coaching job in 1984 when Steve Tweddell left. He was passed up; took the head job at Todd County Central; went 8-3 and 9-3 and won the district each year; then went to Hoptown.

Edited April 1, 20179 yr by Colonels_Wear_Blue
Repairing the quote.

Not that it makes a hill of beans worth of difference, but the writer didn't include the 1997 figures in his story correctly...because of the Artose Pinner deal.

 

From a media perspective, some coaches are great to work with--some are a bit more difficult. For the record, I always enjoyed interaction with Craig Clayton. He was my favorite for the Madisonville head coaching job in 1984 when Steve Tweddell left. He was passed up; took the head job at Todd County Central; went 8-3 and 9-3 and won the district each year; then went to Hoptown.

 

The shot of the win loss record vs teams is accurate tho. I know for a fact that the loss to Valley at sub state was a forfeit.

Edited April 1, 20179 yr by Colonels_Wear_Blue
Repairing the quote.

Grumpy, BG History lesson:

 

In 1997, BG opened with Hoptown and the game was even until Pinner went down with a thigh injury...then BG crushed Hoptown and ended up winning by a wide margin (like 42-21 I believe).

 

Pinner plays in the whole Regional Championship game against BG 12 games later and Hoptown beats BG. Hoptown would go and then have a fumble fest and lose to Cov Cath.

 

Many BG folks will argue that that '97 should have at least had a shot at that state title. "If's" and "but's" but it's still a sore spot.

Not that it makes a hill of beans worth of difference, but the writer didn't include the 1997 figures in his story correctly...because of the Artose Pinner .

 

I absolutely remember.

Curtis Higgins who was principal at Hoptown for the last few years (resigned at the end of 2016) will be an assistant coach for Clayton.