article The 15 Least Performing Counties In Kentucky High School Football

[Jim Schue]

Yeah I know, but they have enough population base they should be able to produce decent teams more than they have. I think North is on the right track now but South has been horrible for most of their history in football. Laurel County is surrounded by Pulaski, Knox, Rockcastle and Whitley counties that all have had traditionally successful programs.

 

FWIW they haven't been good at Basketball or Baseball really that much either consistently over the past few decades either, but their softball programs are top notch.

 

I remember when I was down that way how big a deal it was when South beat Corbin something like four years straight because of how odd it was from the norm. I don't think South's beaten the Redhounds since those mid-00s halcyon days. I heard lots of stories about good football players living in Laurel Co. finding their way to Corbin for football back in the day.

[LoneRanger]

Realizing this doesn't make hardly an ounce of difference but there have been 3 Region Final appearances for Madison County schools since 2000. (Madison Southern 2013, Madison Central 2004 & 2003).

This is a really interesting piece of work & im excited to read more from @ATLCat.

I believe what you see will demonstrate the importance of solid consistency in programs from top to bottom in these areas. I believe you will see counties/programs with strong consistent feeder programs at the youth & middle school levels feeding programs with established consistency in the high school programs move toward the top.

I believe you will also see the haves vs the have nots in how the programs are financially supported being revealed.

I am interested to see how the private schools are incorporated into the equation. I presume they will be lumped in the county they reside in as the independents have been.

I am interested to see the amount of coaching turnover & how if at all that trends in this breakdown.

Thanks for your work on this.

[ATLCat]

Realizing this doesn't make hardly an ounce of difference but there have been 3 Region Final appearances for Madison County schools since 2000. (Madison Southern 2013, Madison Central 2004 & 2003).

This is a really interesting piece of work & im excited to read more from @ATLCat.

I believe what you see will demonstrate the importance of solid consistency in programs from top to bottom in these areas. I believe you will see counties/programs with strong consistent feeder programs at the youth & middle school levels feeding programs with established consistency in the high school programs move toward the top.

I believe you will also see the haves vs the have nots in how the programs are financially supported being revealed.

I am interested to see how the private schools are incorporated into the equation. I presume they will be lumped in the county they reside in as the independents have been.

I am interested to see the amount of coaching turnover & how if at all that trends in this breakdown.

Thanks for your work on this.

 

It does make a little difference..one of those 12 game seasons Madison Southern had with Damien Harris

 

It moved Madison County to #103 and gives them a 0.067 rating instead

[LCDAWGS19]

I'd say a few of those counties with 1 school only avoided the list by not having football for very long.

[ATLCat]

I'd say a few of those counties with 1 school only avoided the list by not having football for very long.

 

Actually I accounted for that in my formula to some extent

 

The number of total seasons played were accounted in the data. This means for Counties such as Muhlenburg it fairly accounts for two high schools pre- Consolidation... it also takes into account schools like Bracken County who havent played every season since 2000.

[BigVMan23]

This is going to sound critical I know, and I don't mean it to be because I could never sit down and do all the research you did here, that took tons of work and I applaud you for that.

 

However, with that said, I just have to think there is a fault somewhere in the data/formula if Fulton Co. doesn't show up at least in the bottom 15. Not only that, but how they wouldn't be in the bottom 3, if not the very bottom I'm not sure. I very seriously believe if you polled coaches throughout the state, especially those in WKY who are familiar with teams in that area, FC would be the county that would pass first through the lips of the majority of those coaches, and those that didn't mention them first, they would almost assuredly be second. I just wholeheartedly believe that. That's anecdotal I know, but still, there's a reason they would think that.

[Jim Schue]

This is going to sound critical I know, and I don't mean it to be because I could never sit down and do all the research you did here, that took tons of work and I applaud you for that.

 

However, with that said, I just have to think there is a fault somewhere in the data/formula if Fulton Co. doesn't show up at least in the bottom 15. Not only that, but how they wouldn't be in the bottom 3, if not the very bottom I'm not sure. I very seriously believe if you polled coaches throughout the state, especially those in WKY who are familiar with teams in that area, FC would be the county that would pass first through the lips of the majority of those coaches, and those that didn't mention them first, they would almost assuredly be second. I just wholeheartedly believe that. That's anecdotal I know, but still, there's a reason they would think that.

 

Population probably has a lot to do with that. Fulton Co. has just barely more than 6,000 people, so it seems a per capita is part of the formula. All the counties on the list are at least twice as big and then some.

[ATLCat]

This is going to sound critical I know, and I don't mean it to be because I could never sit down and do all the research you did here, that took tons of work and I applaud you for that.

 

However, with that said, I just have to think there is a fault somewhere in the data/formula if Fulton Co. doesn't show up at least in the bottom 15. Not only that, but how they wouldn't be in the bottom 3, if not the very bottom I'm not sure. I very seriously believe if you polled coaches throughout the state, especially those in WKY who are familiar with teams in that area, FC would be the county that would pass first through the lips of the majority of those coaches, and those that didn't mention them first, they would almost assuredly be second. I just wholeheartedly believe that. That's anecdotal I know, but still, there's a reason they would think that.

 

Don't disagree, but population is huge here

 

Think of it like building a house.

 

Person #1 has 5,000.00 to build a house and builds a piece mill shed.

 

Person #2 has 50,000.00 to build a house and only builds a little nicer shed. Meanwhile other people with $50,000.00 built decent to even nice houses.

 

Who used their resources better?

 

If you only take wins and trophies Fulton is right at the bottom... but once you factor in the talent pool they are working with it changes the picture a little. Still not a pretty picture... but a picture of "doing less with less" as compared to "doing less with more" like you see from some of the other schools with multiple times the population base they have.

[thehotsnakes]

Aren't the Fultons the two smallest schools playing football?

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

Aren't the Fultons the two smallest schools playing football?

 

Smallest ten schools in 1A...

 

Fulton City - 96 students

Jenkins - 150 students

Fulton County - 163 students

Pineville - 174 students

Paris - 199 students

Phelps - 203 students

Caverna - 208 students

Eminence - 218 students

Harlan - 221 students

Williamsburg 221 students

 

https://khsaa.org/reports/enrollments/20162017schoolenrollmenttotalsbyenroll.pdf

[gchs_uk9]

Aren't the Fultons the two smallest schools playing football?

 

What's crazy is if they combined they'd still be a middle of the road 1A population.