No question what Chuck Smith accomplished is short of amazing. But I do believe he caught "lightning in a bottle". Nobody knew his name nor cared who he was his first 15 years as a head coach, because he won nothing. I sat in the stands and watched Danville beat his Boyle Co. team 60-7 in the last regular season game of 1998. Of course by the end of 1999 his legend was begininng to grow, and in spite of what you may think, a tremendous run of high school talent mixed with 5-6 division 1 calibar players over that time span created a dynasty. It was a perfect storm, so to speak.

 

Chicks, lots of teams and have similar runs of talent and many teams have a boatload more talent and ususally they don't have anything to show for it.

 

I know Chuck had talent, but he by no means won using big time D1 skilled athletes.

No question what Chuck Smith accomplished is short of amazing. But I do believe he caught "lightning in a bottle". Nobody knew his name nor cared who he was his first 15 years as a head coach, because he won nothing. I sat in the stands and watched Danville beat his Boyle Co. team 60-7 in the last regular season game of 1998. Of course by the end of 1999 his legend was begininng to grow, and in spite of what you may think, a tremendous run of high school talent mixed with 5-6 division 1 calibar players over that time span created a dynasty. It was a perfect storm, so to speak.

 

 

I think your perfect storm analogy is good.

 

But it was from the very beginning that Central Kentucky teams saw what made Smith special. He took an 0-10 team to 7-4 and the playoffs his FIRST year. By his fourth year he had them in playoffs every year and the rivalry with Danville was reborn as the games became more competitive. By 1996 Boyle had upset Danville and the Rebels went all the way to the AA semi-finals losing to the eventual champ in a close game. 1997 Boyle went undefeated only to be upset in the playoffs by Bourbon County.

 

Smith's storm front was born out of those early years and progressive success. The two biggest blips on the radar screen were his 2nd campaign (2-8) and that very 1998 team you saw that was injury riddled and playing the young people who became the beginning of the dynasty.

Chicks, lots of teams and have similar runs of talent and many teams have a boatload more talent and ususally they don't have anything to show for it.

 

I know Chuck had talent, but he by no means won using big time D1 skilled athletes.

 

I agree. I can't say whether Boyle County had an unusual influx of talent or not, but if they did, it still wasn't the caliber or talent that just wins no matter who coaches. Chuck Smith, IMO, built Boyle County from ground zero and maximized the talent that he did have...that means developing players and recognizing where to play them to get the maximum benefit for your team. The latter, IMO, is an often overlooked gift that some coaches have and some do not. You don't win to the extent Boyle County did because of an influx of talent, IMO...from my experience, talent waves just don't come continuously for nearly a decade.

 

Speaking from a Breathitt County standpoint, we had a huge influx of talent in the mid '90's that was maximized by good coaching. There weren't many D-1 players, but there were some good ones...around '98 the last of that wave was gone and we dropped a bit. I think what Chuck Smith did at Boyle County was develop and keep winning despite the ebbs and flows in talent....some Boyle County teams were more dominating, but they all won when he was there. I doubt we'll ever see anything like it again.

 

Also, one more note, during Breathitt's great run from '95 through '97, we played Boyle County in the state semi-finals in '96 and, IMO, that was the best team we played during that run. We beat them 12-7 in a great football game...two great, well-disciplined defenses. My brother-in-law was an all-state lineman for those Bobcat teams and he said as much. His quote was, "That's the best team I played against. It was like playing against ourselves. Their defense wasn't huge or overpowering, but they were fast and tough and really disciplined." I take that as a pretty good compliment coming from him...

 

He did go on to say he thought Breathitt had a bad game on offense and should have done better...I take that as football talk. Good defenses have a way of doing that, and I suspect the '96 Boyle County players feel like they should have done more and won that game as well.

 

I hope the Rebels can get back on top. Good luck...:thumb:

I agree. I can't say whether Boyle County had an unusual influx of talent or not, but if they did, it still wasn't the caliber or talent that just wins no matter who coaches. Chuck Smith, IMO, built Boyle County from ground zero and maximized the talent that he did have...that means developing players and recognizing where to play them to get the maximum benefit for your team. The latter, IMO, is an often overlooked gift that some coaches have and some do not. You don't win to the extent Boyle County did because of an influx of talent, IMO...from my experience, talent waves just don't come continuously for nearly a decade.

 

Speaking from a Breathitt County standpoint, we had a huge influx of talent in the mid '90's that was maximized by good coaching. There weren't many D-1 players, but there were some good ones...around '98 the last of that wave was gone and we dropped a bit. I think what Chuck Smith did at Boyle County was develop and keep winning despite the ebbs and flows in talent....some Boyle County teams were more dominating, but they all won when he was there. I doubt we'll ever see anything like it again.

 

Also, one more note, during Breathitt's great run from '95 through '97, we played Boyle County in the state semi-finals in '96 and, IMO, that was the best team we played during that run. We beat them 12-7 in a great football game...two great, well-disciplined defenses. My brother-in-law was an all-state lineman for those Bobcat teams and he said as much. His quote was, "That's the best team I played against. It was like playing against ourselves. Their defense wasn't huge or overpowering, but they were fast and tough and really disciplined." I take that as a pretty good compliment coming from him...

 

He did go on to say he thought Breathitt had a bad game on offense and should have done better...I take that as football talk. Good defenses have a way of doing that, and I suspect the '96 Boyle County players feel like they should have done more and won that game as well.

 

I hope the Rebels can get back on top. Good luck...:thumb:

 

I thank you for the good words, and i also agree. Some of Smith's most talented teams like the 96 team didnt win state. REMEMBER that the 99 team was supposed to be horrible because the only returning seniors were Greg Wilson, Brandon Clem, and Bobby Leffew. They had a sophomore QB in Jeff Duggins who wasnt near his potential when he won Mr. Football. That same 99 team with like 5 seniors won state for the FIRST time against a very good Glasgow team. 96 was always a sore spot with coach Smith, but Coach Smith brought the rest of the teams to realize that they had achieved nothing, except for the season they were about to play

I know skilled wasn't in your comment but in my opinion your comment is misleading. All the guys you mentioned were studs but I don't think those kind of players can have near the impact on a game that a skilled D1 athlete can have.

 

Also, imagine if Chuck would have coached at Henry Clay, they would have been Super Bowl champs. LOL

 

I couldn't agree more! With the talent that walks the halls at Henry Clay, a disciplined and enforced offseason training program and with a great coach like Coach Smith -- HC would have been competing against the likes of St. X and Trinity for what was then a 4A championship, and now a 6A championship.

I thank you for the good words, and i also agree. Some of Smith's most talented teams like the 96 team didnt win state. REMEMBER that the 99 team was supposed to be horrible because the only returning seniors were Greg Wilson, Brandon Clem, and Bobby Leffew. They had a sophomore QB in Jeff Duggins who wasnt near his potential when he won Mr. Football. That same 99 team with like 5 seniors won state for the FIRST time against a very good Glasgow team. 96 was always a sore spot with coach Smith, but Coach Smith brought the rest of the teams to realize that they had achieved nothing, except for the season they were about to play

 

People forget that the Rebels were close in both '96 and '97. The Rebs went unbeaten the next year but were part of that incredible upset run of Bourbon's or Boyle might have celebrated their first title that year.