Great to hear for Coach Downs. :banana:

 

I have always respected him and the way he has ran his program. He broke "RULE #1" for head coaches. (Never follow a legend - Garnis Martin) I think he is a master at making the most with what he has. Which IMHO is BEST indicator of success. His teams have won with power, Wing-T, to spread offense (and I think back to Wing-T) and the 50, Male's Confusion, and 3-3-5 defenses. No matter what they did, they were disciplined and well prepared. That does not happen on accident.

 

More importantly, Coach Downs gave the school consistancy. He stayed put did his job in the up and down years. He is a class act!!

 

Best of luck to Bardstown and the new man. (Who will also tempt the fate of "RULE #1" - NEVER FOLLOW A LEGEND!)

Thanks Hearsay and very interesting westsider. Coach Clark sounds like a winner.

For the past several years, in retrospect, Downs has been leaving more and more to Koontz and Clark as far as preparation and game plan. I think his choice has been made over a period of time. Not much will change under the new regime if Clark takes over because Downs has eased them into it. As mentioned above, Clark is an offensive genius, and Koontz, obviously is a mastermind on the other side of the ball so i believe the Tigers will be in good hands.

Wish Coach Downs the best.

Congrats on a great career at Bardstown. Good luck to Coach Downs in whatever he pursues in future!

Does anyone know WHY he is retiring? I think he's only like 50 years old or something. Going to coach somewhere else maybe?

Here is a local article about it.

 

http://www.kystandard.com/articles/2007/02/16/sports/local_sports/sports01.txt

Coach Downs has played with, coached with, and coached several of my family members. It has been a privilege to have had him at Bardstown over the past 3 decades. He has put together- arguably THE best coaching staff in the state. The last 2 years have been proof of the effectiveness of his coaching ability. Neither team was predicted pre-season to be a threat. Yet the hard work of the coaches and the players produced 2 of only 4 undefeated regular seasons in Downs' career as a coach. He leaves the next coach with a bunch of talented and dedicated young men.

 

I want to wish Coach Downs all the best in his retirement- and Thanks for all those amazing football memories!!! You'll be missed!:cry:

David Clark was named the new head coach toaday