For context, Coach Benton is a member of the RHS administration, serving as Dean of Students. 

2 hours ago, VF111 said:

For context, Coach Benton is a member of the RHS administration, serving as Dean of Students. 

Could this be a situation where the upper administrators said “We need you to focus on being the Dean of students or the football coach and you have to choose?” I know some schools do not like admin as coaches. I am not saying this happened, I am just curious and don’t seem to know anyone who knows what happened. 

12 hours ago, AppalachianTactician said:

Could this be a situation where the upper administrators said “We need you to focus on being the Dean of students or the football coach and you have to choose?” I know some schools do not like admin as coaches. I am not saying this happened, I am just curious and don’t seem to know anyone who knows what happened. 

IF that was the case I would think the coach would have stepped down vs fired?

per the BG Daily News:

The Russellville football team will have a new face on the sidelines following the dismissal of longtime head coach and alum Mikie Benton earlier this week.  Benton, a star for the Panthers who played at the University of Kentucky before returning to take the reins in 2018, said he was informed of the decision on Monday. The decision came after several offseason meetings with Russellville Independent School District superintendent Tim Guinn. The first came right after the season in November.  “He made a statement that I guess the discipline of the team wasn’t up to par like what he wanted,” Benton said. “Basically he wanted me to put a plan together that fixed it, so you know I was like OK cool, no problem.”  Benton said he went back and put together a plan with the coaching staff that he presented to Guinn a few weeks later.  “He was like I still think you need to add a veteran coach that’ll help you out, so I was like OK cool,” Benton said. “We went on the search. It was a bit of a struggle, but ended up finding somebody. I let them know that we had somebody hired and he was like OK cool, we’ll talk soon.  “I came to work Monday morning and I got pulled into the principal’s office. He basically told me you know we gotta have a tough conversation that basically the superintendent wanted me gone. It just literally caught me by surprise.”

Read more at: https://bgdailynews.com/2026/01/07/benton-out-as-russellville-coach/

https://bgdailynews.com/2026/01/07/benton-out-as-russellville-coach/

 

3 minutes ago, AppalachianTactician said:

per the BG Daily News:

The Russellville football team will have a new face on the sidelines following the dismissal of longtime head coach and alum Mikie Benton earlier this week.  Benton, a star for the Panthers who played at the University of Kentucky before returning to take the reins in 2018, said he was informed of the decision on Monday. The decision came after several offseason meetings with Russellville Independent School District superintendent Tim Guinn. The first came right after the season in November.  “He made a statement that I guess the discipline of the team wasn’t up to par like what he wanted,” Benton said. “Basically he wanted me to put a plan together that fixed it, so you know I was like OK cool, no problem.”  Benton said he went back and put together a plan with the coaching staff that he presented to Guinn a few weeks later.  “He was like I still think you need to add a veteran coach that’ll help you out, so I was like OK cool,” Benton said. “We went on the search. It was a bit of a struggle, but ended up finding somebody. I let them know that we had somebody hired and he was like OK cool, we’ll talk soon.  “I came to work Monday morning and I got pulled into the principal’s office. He basically told me you know we gotta have a tough conversation that basically the superintendent wanted me gone. It just literally caught me by surprise.”

Read more at: https://bgdailynews.com/2026/01/07/benton-out-as-russellville-coach/

https://bgdailynews.com/2026/01/07/benton-out-as-russellville-coach/

 

Made a bunch of demands over the head of the principal (to probably get the coach to quit) and when those demands were met, made the principal do his dirty work for him. What a cluster.

That's a JOKE. 

Warren East better be giving him a call.

 

Edited January 9Jan 9 by theguru

Sounds to me like some board members were pulling the super's strings which was likely a result of some behind the scenes agenda by some thinking Benton was not getting the job done for whatever reason. But you are right. Typical admin dumping the dirty work on someone else. SMH. 

14 hours ago, AppalachianTactician said:

per the BG Daily News:

The Russellville football team will have a new face on the sidelines following the dismissal of longtime head coach and alum Mikie Benton earlier this week.  Benton, a star for the Panthers who played at the University of Kentucky before returning to take the reins in 2018, said he was informed of the decision on Monday. The decision came after several offseason meetings with Russellville Independent School District superintendent Tim Guinn. The first came right after the season in November.  “He made a statement that I guess the discipline of the team wasn’t up to par like what he wanted,” Benton said. “Basically he wanted me to put a plan together that fixed it, so you know I was like OK cool, no problem.”  Benton said he went back and put together a plan with the coaching staff that he presented to Guinn a few weeks later.  “He was like I still think you need to add a veteran coach that’ll help you out, so I was like OK cool,” Benton said. “We went on the search. It was a bit of a struggle, but ended up finding somebody. I let them know that we had somebody hired and he was like OK cool, we’ll talk soon.  “I came to work Monday morning and I got pulled into the principal’s office. He basically told me you know we gotta have a tough conversation that basically the superintendent wanted me gone. It just literally caught me by surprise.”

Read more at: https://bgdailynews.com/2026/01/07/benton-out-as-russellville-coach/

https://bgdailynews.com/2026/01/07/benton-out-as-russellville-coach/

 

May they reap what they have sown.  

22 hours ago, AppalachianTactician said:

Russellville Independent School District superintendent Tim Guinn.

After further evaluation... the superintendent of Russellville Independent KY is Kyle Estes... not Tim Guinn, Tim Guinn is the super at Russellville independent, AL. Small, but still bad mistake by BG Daily Times, but message still rings the same. 

52 minutes ago, AppalachianTactician said:

After further evaluation... the superintendent of Russellville Independent KY is Kyle Estes... not Tim Guinn, Tim Guinn is the super at Russellville independent, AL. Small, but still bad mistake by BG Daily Times, but message still rings the same. 

I guess that's why he didn't want to comment on the situation lol

Regardless of who the superintendent is it looks bad on the school and school district to handle this in the manner that they have.  Granted we only have the word of one side, but it's not like we're talking about a perennial cellar dweller.  They were in the state championship game in 2021 and positioned well to win it.  If they want to replace him with a coach as good or better, then they better start getting out ahead of this before the wheels fall off.  Not fair for Coach Benton or the kids at all.

Got some news.... but bigger news on the way. 

Coach Mikie Benton is headed to a bigger school to be their DC. He has offers to go be a head coach, but for his long range professional goals, he wants to see the workings of a bigger program from the perspective of an assistant.  He wants to be able to run a bigger program as the head coach someday. 

His old college coach(Chuck Smith) pushed him to tell us where he was going! Lol. He would not tell us. But, he did say that he would give us a heads up before it was announced.

He says the decision was a shock to him when he was fired. 

My opinion, I think it was really tough for him/hurt him when it happened. But, I think NOW, he is really proud and happy with what the program accomplished during his time. 

Overall, I think he is bouncing back and excited for the future. 

On a sidenote...being the head coach in your hometown is a great experience, but it is TOUGH. He has advice for other guys looking to be head coach in their hometown and I thought he was on target. 

Will be a great episode when we get it out there!

 

 

Coach Benton is gonna be fine and go on to lots more success. 

I would not be surprised if Russellville finds itself in the same situation we saw play out in Frankfort this year (a very similar school in terms of student numbers and make-up). Logan Co. HS and RHS are about a mile and a half from one another. If you're a good football player in that area, the choice would seem obvious. 

following @Calico Jack lead here is the salary schedule and coaches stipends listed on Russellville's website. 

HC is a little over $10K.

5 paid assistants I believe.

russellville salary schedule.pdf

any word on this one?