#1 Coaching Staff in the 13th Region would have to be the Cumberland Redskin Coach Staff, no better group of men out there.

 

Better than South Laurel and Corbin :eek:

So what do you base that on...

Your opinion has got to be based upon more than the simple fact that you want Cumberland to win or you have a son or relative playing there. Coach Wright and Pietrowski have been walking the walk, consistently. Having said that...Cumberland, this year, will be a team to watch out for and will battle for a trip to RUPP.

Upper Tier:

 

Wright, Pietrowski, Spurlock, Strange, Morris, Nolan, Phipps,

 

Elite:

Hays, Conway, Edwards, Wilson

 

Rising:

 

Elam, Pennington, Baker, Robinson., Lester

 

No opinion:

 

Jones, Ford, Woods

 

My rankings, but what does Bubba know..... except in NASCAR the best drivers with the best Equipment seem to win alot more often. In WWE, Vince Macmahon decides who is the champion. Might be the same thing with these coaches. Players make plays.....:dancingpa

Your opinion has got to be based upon more than the simple fact that you want Cumberland to win or you have a son or relative playing there. Coach Wright and Pietrowski have been walking the walk, consistently. Having said that...Cumberland, this year, will be a team to watch out for and will battle for a trip to RUPP.

Steve Wright is clearly the most decorated coach and IMO he is the best head coach in the Region and he has some very good basketball people around him assisting him. As for the rest of the Region it would be wide open for discussion and opinions would greatly vary, with really no one having near the credentials Wright has. As for Edwards of Cumberland, he has only 3 years of head coaching experience at the H.S. level of which have produced some pretty darn impressive results and he, like Wright has some excellent basketball people assisting him in Derek Akal and Greg Creech with Akal arguably being one of the best players ever at Cumberland in the early 80's and one of the toughest. Akal has been a great teacher of tough, hard nosed defensive minded basketball at Cumberland and is a tremendous asset to the Cumberland staff along with Creech. So, where they rank in the Region is really hard to say, but their body of work over the last 3 to 4 years is something that does deserve some credit. Hats off to the Redskin coaches and good luck this year

Wright

Phipps

Spurlock

Pietrowski

Nolan

Until Phipps and Nolan win a region in the big scene I can not put them the same level

Until Phipps and Nolan win a region in the big scene I can not put them the same level

 

That's a popular sentiment, and I understand the reasoning, but an average coach could win a region with great players and a great coach could go .500 with inferior talent.

 

Billy Hicks, for example, coached for over 10 years before he won a regional championship. Mike Jones did the same. I was around both of them quite a bit, and they were great coaches before they started winning regional championships.

 

Getting Barbourville to the regional finals (with 200 students) and winning consistently over a 20-year period is just as impressive to me as South Laurel winning three straight regional championships.

 

I had Nolan on the list because he had winning teams for 10 straight years (until last year) and was in the mix for several years.

That's a popular sentiment, and I understand the reasoning, but an average coach could win a region with great players and a great coach could go .500 with inferior talent.

 

Billy Hicks, for example, coached for over 10 years before he won a regional championship. Mike Jones did the same. I was around both of them quite a bit, and they were great coaches before they started winning regional championships.

 

Getting Barbourville to the regional finals (with 200 students) and winning consistently over a 20-year period is just as impressive to me as South Laurel winning three straight regional championships.

 

I had Nolan on the list because he had winning teams for 10 straight years (until last year) and was in the mix for several years.

I agree. I truly believe Phipps would be a perfect choice for the new Harlan County school. It would be scary what he could accomplish at a school of that size. However, I have been told that he is perfectly satified at Barbourville.

That's a popular sentiment, and I understand the reasoning, but an average coach could win a region with great players and a great coach could go .500 with inferior talent.

 

Billy Hicks, for example, coached for over 10 years before he won a regional championship. Mike Jones did the same. I was around both of them quite a bit, and they were great coaches before they started winning regional championships.

 

Getting Barbourville to the regional finals (with 200 students) and winning consistently over a 20-year period is just as impressive to me as South Laurel winning three straight regional championships.

 

I had Nolan on the list because he had winning teams for 10 straight years (until last year) and was in the mix for several years.

 

 

I know during my 4 years of high school Barbourville was very down. They never even came close to us. After that Barbourville has had some good teams lately, but over the past 10 or 12 years RedBird has been just as good as Barbourville has with even less students.

As for Nolan, he is a pretty decent coach, but I wouldn't put him in the top 3 or 4.

#1 Coaching Staff in the 13th Region would have to be the Cumberland Redskin Coach Staff, no better group of men out there.

 

North Laurel has compiled a staff that is just as good or better than the top teir coaching staffs in the 13th or state for that fact.

#1 Coaching Staff in the 13th Region would have to be the Cumberland Redskin Coach Staff, no better group of men out there.

 

 

After watching them in the region tourney last year, I would agree that Cumberland's coaching staff should be right at the top of the list....OUTSTANDING!!!! They teach a very disciplined style of play and execute it very well. I was very impressed with Cumberland's coaches.

Does Edwards or the Assistant Akal actually coach the team? I have watched the Skins several times and it appears Akal actually does most of the game and bench coaching. From all indications the Skins will be a force to be reckoned with this year.

#1- Bobby Keith

#2- Bobby Keith

#3- Billy Hicks

#4- Larry Bruner:jump:

Does Edwards or the Assistant Akal actually coach the team? I have watched the Skins several times and it appears Akal actually does most of the game and bench coaching. From all indications the Skins will be a force to be reckoned with this year.

 

Does that really have any bearing on them being successful coaches? Each one of the coaches give an equal part to the team. They are co-head coaches in a sense, which works better, in my opinion. They are great coaches, great personalities and so forth and I would say that even if I wasn't from C-land.

J.D. Strange, Tony P., Dinky Phipps and Roscoe Denny are my picks.