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I once talked to the youngest coach in 5A Texas. He made 6 figures. He said his pay was small compared to others. He said some schools the head football coach only coaches and the principal has to call before he can come into his building. I love watching schools like Southlake Carrol a couple of years ago. Actually watching one on Fox Sports right now.

Lawrence Co is very close to 2A.

Enjoy the journey. I've won state championships I've gone winless in a season. Things are easy when things are going great but your character is built when times are tough. If you learn to be mentally tough and persevere in these tough times you will be prepared for life to dig in and fight when life says give up. You will never get the chance to strap it up with the guys you grew up with again. If you are doing things the right way then you can take pride that you are building the foundation that kids in your community won't have to make the sacrifices you made. We went from 0-11 to 12-1 at Lawrence Co in one season. It is because of the sacrifice and work ethic that was built in that 0-11 season. Do things right and like Coach B said win each play. Enjoy the journey. Win or lose you never get to strap it up again. While it might be tough you are preparing for life and paving the way for the next generation.

Cool. If you ever come across it let me know. Our film was bad that game.

Wow that it awesome! Lost 21-18 to Mayfield in Final4 in 91. Never seen that game. Will now! Ironically we lost regional championship the next year to Pburg coached by Bill Letton. Couldn't stand him because I lost last game to him. Fast forward to 2005 we were eating Thanksgiving dinner together before shutting Highlands out. Went on to win state. He then won it as a head coach. I think that speaks volumes to what a great career Coach Letton has had. He is a fine man too! Can tell you from playing the "touchdown twins" Dwayne Garza and Seth Hyden that the were arguably the best tandem I ever played against.

Thanks guys. Felt good to be pacing the sidelines at home again. That one was for Coach Cecil who lost his mom this Summer. 15 years coaching it's been an honor to watch him grow into the best off the field leader of young men I've been around. Very emotional pregame and the kids rallied around him. Coach Short and Caudill deserve a lot of praise. They've put together a solid offense. QB AJ Cyrus is the best option QB mentally since the 90's. Should have a huge year! Long season. 1 game. Hungry and humble.

Lawrence Co Paintsville Lewis Co Maggofin Co Morgan Co

When we went from 0-11 to 12-1 at Lawrence Co we were able to two platoon almost playing only 2 kids both ways. Lost in state championship in WV last year w same system. Had about 4 ACL tears on def. best dlineman in state broke his leg in state championship+MLB tore his ACL. We were forced to play best athletes both ways. It hurt us. We weren't as good on D that game and our tailback who went to Costal Carolina didn't have that extra burst in title game from playing both ways. Back at Lawrence Co this year. Only a couple of kids playing both ways. Anxious to see how it goes.

Had a coach I respect a lot that has coached against every elite team in ky and some good ones out of state. He said Ensworth is the best program he's ever coached against. Hope the Rocks represent KY! Did I read that right Ensworth only has 40 players but 10 D1? How's that happen? I know people always joke on BGP about Trinity having apartments for players etc. Ensworth really does I think. Apartments right on their campus.

I'll also add this. I got beat in the big school state championship coaching in WV last year where they have 3 classes. Great competition every week (KY football overall is much better) but winning that game probably wouldn't touch what it would mean to my hometown in KY winning 3A! I also have a talented nephew at Paintsville. They have 98 boys in the school there. Four classes is brutal for an enrollment like that which is one of the big reasons it ever went to 6 classes.

I won a state championship in 4 classes going through Highlands, Cov Cath, Rockcastle+Bowling Green. That's an amazing feeling of accomplishment because those programs are so great. With that being said I'm so happy KY is six classes. Why? Because for me the game is about the kids. Only 2 teams each class will be there that last weekend but for many kids that 1st playoff game is 1 more week guarenteed to put the pads on with their brothers again! I'll take it a step further as there's been arguments that 4 from a District is too much. In 1992-93 we (Lawrence Co) played 1st half of season w many injuries. Mid season we got healthy and sent on a roll. Won 1st rd as 4 seed at Sheldon Clark. 2nd rd played Russell on the rd wout our QB. Russell had beaten us almost 40 earlier in the year. End of playoff game it was 6-6 at Russell. We went on to beat them in double OT. 3rd rd we stopped Mason Co on 3yd line to win by 5! Final Four we ate Thanksgiving Dinner and left EKY for 2 day trip to Mayfield. Paper had us 40pt underdog. We went on to lose 21-18 in the Final Four. Had there not been 4 playoff teams our program might have never turned into one where kids in middle school at that time are now coaching in the NFL, SEC, recruiting coordinator in Big 10, coached in multiple state championships etc. That run changed our community and the young men in it forever. Maybe it is watered down a little. There are some pretty darn good programs to go through to win it! I think classes differ. To me 4A is brutal, 6A+3A are tough. 5+2 is best path but things change. My old school would be looking at a road going through Belfry, Russell/Mason, Central, Bell etc. Nothing watered down about that. 4A is brutal! 6A nothing watered down etc. 6 classes gives more kids a chance to play a game they love. A shot at a Cinderella run like we went on. More time to learn life lessons. More time on the football field instead of finding trouble on the weekend etc.

If anybody else in the state is thinking about getting a scoreboard like this keep in touch with me. The company I am with is very close to launching their football scoreboards that will blow this price out of the water. We already have basketball out. Football+baseball should be coming this year. Congrats to Highlands that is a beautiful scoreboard. Always loved playing there. Fans right on the field. Place surrounded with tradition.

Chester Ford was a beast!!

I thought it was a terrible idea with a ton of risk. Every single person I've heard that went or played said it was amazing! Great atmosphere, lots of fun and big money raised/split. Belfry won like 35-14. Most guys out of shape. I'd like to see Howard run the rock 1 more time!

So much respect for Coach Maglone+Buchanan. I also think Coach Gary Morris has flown under the reader for years except with the coaches that have to prepare for his defenses. Great staff and program!

Great thread. Always thought Jones was best college prospect but felt like Doug Howard was possibly the better back on that team. Both very talented!!

Ryan Letton are BIGTIME!!! Kash Daniels (6'3 215 Fresh lefty this year with HUGE upside) and Luke Trimble (150 yd receiving +75yd kick return all by halftime vs state runner up Fairview) will be a fun combo with a ton of potential the next few years at Paintsville. Throw in 8th grader Kent Phelps (arguably best RB in EKY in that class) and they should be a nice trio next few years. Luke is my nephew but I wouldn't praise him here if he wasn't legit. I don't know what's in the water in Somerset but all 3 of those schools have some amazing 8-10 grade talent!! Lex Cath had an outstanding 8th grade back 2 yrs ago don't know how he did this year.

When I lived in Lville you had Brohm QB at Trinity, Bush QB at Male and Kennan Burton QB at Manual. Those 3 put on some shows!

I look for Lawrence Co to crack in there. 4-0 w wins over Highlands, Capital WV etc.

Soph RB at Madison Southern will be top five and possibly highest recruiting RB ever from KY. Already offers from Mich, Tenn I think Notre Dame+UK are interested if not offered.

Totally disagree with the 1st sentence. There's guys I coached coaching in the NFL, have been in the SEC, Big 10 etc. While there was a ton of temptation to move up for me it was more important to be around by 2 little kids more. Those guys had no kids until recently 1 just had their 1st. I've coached with and against many coaches that would excel at the college level if they chose too. I do agree players make coaches look a lot better. Coaches often develope players but there are certain schools/areas that tend to get a lot of outstanding talent. I think some of that you also have to look at the product built. Schools like Highlands have built a tradition along with an excellent school that makes parents want their kids to be a part of it etc. Coaches build that culture a lot of the time. If you look at the coaches at Trinity, Highlands, Boyle they have had crazy talent. Multiple D1 guys. They also have built programs that attrack kids and develope talent.

I think you could argue for a lot of guys. Rice, Mueller, Yeagle, Smith, Beatty etc. Seems like when I was young Lampley had a nice run. What Yeagle did in his span is pretty crazy. Smith as far as turning a country school into what he did is impressive. Beatty on a National level. Rice before my time but seems like The Godfather! The guy I think gets overlooked and maybe most consistent is Jack Morris. Not saying he's #1 but we lost to Mayfield in the final 4 my Jr year and I want to say they'd been to 24 of the last 26 Final Fours at the time the paper said! It's about a 15hr drive so somebody on that end of the state would have a better idea. If that's true it doesn't get more constant than that run!

Thought about Chuke. Phil + I played for Goldsmith. Chuke was my off coordinator Sr year. He was head coach to all the rest of the guys. It will be fun to watch if these guys reunite at a high level one day. Jason has a legit NFL coordinator shot in the next half decade. He's only around 34.

Not really a tree but there's been a nice run of coaches from Lawrence Co since the 90's. Here's where guys have coached+what they've done coaching: Phil Ratcliff- Marshall, National Championship at James Madison now recruiting coordinator/Oline at UNC Charlotte (1st year D1 this year). Me-Final 4 at Lawrence Co, North Oldham, State Champs at Lex Cat, 0-11 to 12-1 at Lawrence, State runner up at Cabell Midland in WV this year. Jason Micheal- GA at UT, Oak Raiders quality control, NY Jets TE, UTenn TE, SF Ninets QB coach, only offensive coach hired back w SD Chargers TE coach. Still early 30's legit shot to do huge things!! Gerad Parker-GA UK, Tenn Martin, Marshall, now TE+recruiting coordinator at Purdue. Dontae Wright-GA at UK, North Ala, Centre now Dline and maybe recruiting coordinator at Morehead. Mike Copley- Paintsville, Head Coach at Greenup+Pikeville, Rowan now in Tenn. Alan Short-Lindsy Wilson, Adair Co, Off coordinator Lawrence. John Caudill-LC Pretty good run for a little town of 2,000. Strong network to keep up with next 10-20 years in college/Pro.

I disagree but that's another thread. Back to the original question. A lot of people run it but what offensive lines execute it well.