9 minutes ago, Footballmania said:

People close to the situation know the search has been going on. This is the hire and it’s not a bad hire based on the situation. He’s familiar with the area and can relate to the kids. He took SW down the wire his last year at Hoptown but with that being said at the new school if you’re not in at least in semi’s consistently then I give any coach 3 years max until they look in another direction. 

It’s a good hire for Hoptown for 1 year, but no it’s not a good hire for Consolidation at all. 

HHS was a job that used to regularly beat Mayfield and Bowling Green. Christian County has been a power until recent days. This is a job that should be aiming to compete against the Louisville schools. This is a job that people want and I’ll put a lot of money they’ll get a big time hire for that job next years.

Clark is good if your aim is to compete with Henderson County and McCracken, but not if you want to win state titles. You’re combining 2 schools that have proud histories and many division 1 athletes through those doors. This will be the best 6A job outside of Louisville. 

Is this where Marc Clark is gonna land?

If he does he will have some things to clean up much like he had to the last time he was there.

Just now, Big Fletch said:

If he does he will have some things to clean up much like he had to the last time he was there.

I think Clayton is definitely leaving the program in a significantly better position than it was when Clark took it over from Dixie Jones back in like 2010 or 2011.

3 minutes ago, TylerDurden said:

I think Clayton is definitely leaving the program in a significantly better position than it was when Clark took it over from Dixie Jones back in like 2010 or 2011.

Dixie Jones last year they beat a state champion Paducah Tillman. Played Craig Clayton’s Franklin Tennessee team. A Christian County team that went to the state title. Owensboro and Madisonville. They weren’t great, but go look at the KHSAA scores for that year and they lost 3 district games to Owensboro, Madisonville, and Ohio by 1 score. 3 plays in that season and they’re the 2 seed. So it’s not like they were far off from being competitive.
 

Clark arrives and it’s 0-10 and a running clock every game. His last 2 years he moved down to 4A from 5A and played a very soft schedule. Had a record setting QB and some of the most talented players in school history. And in those 2 years they don’t really have 1 win of note. Played 3 really good teams and went 0-3.

Clayton is also leaving it in better shape than what he took over from Clark in 2017. All 11 starters on offense were gone. Had a starter tragically pass away in the season. But then went further then Clark did with much better teams and had state finalist Franklin Simpson down 20-0 in the region finals. Clayton also started playing teams like Mayfield, Bowling Green, Louisville Ballard, etc and toughened up the district. Clayton also faced Logan County and Madisonville teams who were some of the best in their schools history.

36 minutes ago, Region2 Hype Man said:

Dixie Jones last year they beat a state champion Paducah Tillman. Played Craig Clayton’s Franklin Tennessee team. A Christian County team that went to the state title. Owensboro and Madisonville. They weren’t great, but go look at the KHSAA scores for that year and they lost 3 district games to Owensboro, Madisonville, and Ohio by 1 score. 3 plays in that season and they’re the 2 seed. So it’s not like they were far off from being competitive.
 

Clark arrives and it’s 0-10 and a running clock every game. His last 2 years he moved down to 4A from 5A and played a very soft schedule. Had a record setting QB and some of the most talented players in school history. And in those 2 years they don’t really have 1 win of note. Played 3 really good teams and went 0-3.

Clayton is also leaving it in better shape than what he took over from Clark in 2017. All 11 starters on offense were gone. Had a starter tragically pass away in the season. But then went further then Clark did with much better teams and had state finalist Franklin Simpson down 20-0 in the region finals. Clayton also started playing teams like Mayfield, Bowling Green, Louisville Ballard, etc and toughened up the district. Clayton also faced Logan County and Madisonville teams who were some of the best in their schools history.

Dixie Jones didn't impress at Hoptown. He took over a team that had it's only loss in 2004 in the AAA semis and then then basically led it on a steady decline. Jones' Hoptown teams went 9-4, 7-6, 4-7, 7-5, 3-8, and 3-7. He started off with a good program and then ended up with a program that optimists could maybe get away with calling "not far off from being competitive."

I guess I look at Clark's first year at Hopkinsville, which was also his first time ever being a head coach, as an uphill battle because he was taking over a team that had been on a downward projection for 6 straight seasons under Jones. Kids were jumping ship from Jones' teams and heading for greener pastures at Christian County. It's no coincidence that Lovelace took Christian to the state finals in Jones' last year at Hoptown. He did it with the assistance of all the kids who opted for Christian instead of Hoptown.

TO clarify my statement I think that Clayton is leaving the program in a much more competitive state then when Clark took over several years ago.  However, there are some discipline problems that will have to be taken care of to take make a consolidated team to the level to compete with the Louisville teams.  For those who want to compare records you also should weigh in the fact when Clark had his most successful years at Hoptown that Christian County had some very good teams as well so the talent was split between the teams.  

1 hour ago, TylerDurden said:

Dixie Jones didn't impress at Hoptown. He took over a team that had it's only loss in 2004 in the AAA semis and then then basically led it on a steady decline. Jones' Hoptown teams went 9-4, 7-6, 4-7, 7-5, 3-8, and 3-7. He started off with a good program and then ended up with a program that optimists could maybe get away with calling "not far off from being competitive."

I guess I look at Clark's first year at Hopkinsville, which was also his first time ever being a head coach, as an uphill battle because he was taking over a team that had been on a downward projection for 6 straight seasons under Jones. Kids were jumping ship from Jones' teams and heading for greener pastures at Christian County. It's no coincidence that Lovelace took Christian to the state finals in Jones' last year at Hoptown. He did it with the assistance of all the kids who opted for Christian instead of Hoptown.

The jump to 5A was also bigger deal. 

Jones beat the Paducah Tillman 3A state champs with a 3-8 team. Hoptown’s old district was PT, Madisonville, Calloway, Hop Central, and Union. The 5A move changed it to Christian, Owensboro, and Madisonville.
 

You can see the last year Hoptown was in the old 3A they lost their region title to a 3A champion BG. Moved up to 5A in 2007 and only had 1 year with a winning record until they moved down to 4A. 
 

Hoptown under Jones was a team capable of winning the 3A title in Jones’ final year, but wasn’t a 5A contender. Clark got Hoptown back to where Jones was basically, 4A district champs but not really a team that could compete in 5A.

Thats the point I’m making. Clark wasn’t really any better than Dixie Jones, just had an easier schedule and went down to 4A. Not bad, but not special. Winning in 5A and 6A is HARD. There are really good coaches like Jones and Clark that could dominate the lower A’s, but not fit for the bigger classes.

28 minutes ago, Region2 Hype Man said:

That's the point I’m making. Clark wasn’t really any better than Dixie Jones, just had an easier schedule and went down to 4A. Not bad, but not special. Winning in 5A and 6A is HARD. There are really good coaches like Jones and Clark that could dominate the lower A’s, but not fit for the bigger classes.

Except Jones had spent 18 years as a head coach at Trigg, another year or two as linebackers coach at Hoptown under Clayton, then a year as head coach at Madisonville before he became head coach at Hoptown. Jones had all the experience in the world when he was given the keys to the program, and Clark was literally a first year head coach when he took over from Jones. That's a major difference to me if you're going to directly compare the two to one another.

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41 minutes ago, TylerDurden said:

Except Jones had spent 18 years as a head coach at Trigg, another year or two as linebackers coach at Hoptown under Clayton, then a year as head coach at Madisonville before he became head coach at Hoptown. Jones had all the experience in the world when he was given the keys to the program, and Clark was literally a first year head coach when he took over from Jones. That's a major difference to me if you're going to directly compare the two to one another.

Ok but we’re in his 11th year of coaching and what has he shown? Great character. Hard worker. Can’t win against bigger teams in 5A and 6A. 
 

He also was given HHS as his first job and McCracken as his 2nd job. 2 schools with size, resources, and athletes. Not many other coaches have been given programs like that so this whole he could do well with more talent does not make sense.

If this was Trigg County or Caldwell, he’d be the perfect hire. For a 1 year stop gap at Hoptown, great hire. For a 6A school that will be top 3 public school enrollment in the state and wanting to win titles, he’s a coordinator for that staff.

Everyone is talking about Clark being an automatic contender for the consolidated job they have forgotten about a former County coaching great Coach Keith.  Maybe they can lure him back from Tennessee.

Would Todd Adler be a name for the consolidated job? He would be a local name that might have the energy and culture to be successful.

1 hour ago, Bud_Kilmer said:

Would Todd Adler be a name for the consolidated job? He would be a local name that might have the energy and culture to be successful.

I don’t think many of you understand that he’s the coach of the coach of mega school! This was the search and the search is over. It’s now time to see what staff he puts together for the upcoming years.

Well if they wanted to bring the community together behind a winning football team, this definitely wasn’t the hire.

A guy that’s being pushed out of a 6A school just west of you shouldn’t be the one you target to coach the largest school in the state.