Nets

Put a statue on the front lawn of the gym.

If you are not going to have even 4 team districts, I can see this as a positive development for this region. NCAA created a play-in game...why not create a little more excitement in the mountains.:laugh: It will be interesting to see how this develops. Somebody keep us updated.

East Carter starting to maybe separate themselves from everyone in the region. They have had an excellent year and are a very nice team.

Congratulations and best wishes to Coach Kidwell, he is a great basketball mind and will do well at Russell.

Cougars get a big win over the highly rated Bulldogs in a pitchers dual. Andrew Fannin picks up the win for the Cougs.

I think they will announce a new head coach between now and the Russell Preview Pan-O-Rama in November.

They should be reaching a decision soon...it has been a month now. Kidwell should be the choice IMO, he is the most qualified, proven, and what other applicant knows the teams of the 16th region like the back of their hand like Coach Kidwell? A great hoops mind that would do well in Flatwoods.

Thought he had too much fish living along the chesapeake...but old Purnell will get his fair share of fish SAMICHES.

There were no specifics in terms of finding a new coach based on what the middle school ran...that really had no bearing, the search was for the best football coach period. As in most searches, certain coaches out there were of interest and I know there is a deep respect from Morgan Co. for Estill's head coach and what he has done at Estill. Coach Purnell will not run the double wing, but there are similar characteristics and offensive philosophies that are fitting for the type of athletes here. He has many years experience and worked under some outstanding coaches, one of which was Charlie Hovis at Tabb H.S., a legendary coach who has produced outstanding talent and teams at that school. Coach Purnell is highly recommended, proven to have made a difference at his school and has an extremely high football I.Q. His disciplined approach will help Morgan Co. H.S. in many ways on and off the field. Kentucky coaches will enjoy getting to know him. Outstanding personality and quick wit humor. He spent his spring break here at Morgan Co. in the weight room and getting to know the kids. Hopefully there will be continued cohesion among our football programs, and Morgan looks forward to beginning the Jake Purnell era. Best wishes to him and our football program in 2008.

Every year there is a blunder in these rankings.

East playing very well. Beat Morgan Co. the other day and were impressive. They execute very well and are well coached.

Steve Dodd--Won a regional title at Russell and HOF collegiate coach is available. Where will he land next?

Larry Conley John Pelphrey Todd May (but left the team) Mike Scott (Transferred from Wake Forest) Chris Jones (Russell walk-on) Todd Tackett (Paintsville walk on) who else am I forgetting?

Duck... What is exactly is the "Sons of Sam" movement? Can you explain?

Are you kidding me ???? Everyone agrees talent makes good coaches...but to discredit Coach Perry on back to back losing seasons is baseless. For the record, he did take a bunch that had a losing record in middle school and out of that group took them from 10-12 as 8th graders to 28-5 as Juniors and regional champions. Do bad coaches lose 95% of scoring and rebounding in one year and all 5 starters and then win a regional titles????? Identify several coaches that have done that. 2003, Morgan was 24-7...2004, 28-5 with a brand new 5, only 1 player had ANY varsity experience. Included in that was a 20 game win streak, the longest among a 16th region team in quite a while.

Good win for Raiders over a usually hot hitting Lewis Co. bunch.

Don't think Morgan played very well early...Tyler Adkins threw a few innings and Joel Nickell threw one and combined for the 1 hitter Morgan has a deep pitching staff with Fannin and Lopez as the top 2 with Harvey, Nickell, and Adkins completing the rotation. I don't think Coach Evans will throw a starter for the duration of most games early. Congrats to Cougars and Coach Evans who has now won 24 of his first 35 games!

Russ was extremely impressive during the tournament. Very intelligent basketball player and liked how he could create off the dribble. He's got great length and can finish strong or shoot from unlimited range. Still wonder if he can really beat his dad 1 on 1?

Coach Henley is one of Kentucky's best coaches. His ability to mold young men together and make them fundamentally better has to be his trademark. He also acts like he has been there before...never rattled or tore up from the floor up like some get... once they put their feet on Rupp Arena's floor. He also has a great staff in place and they seem to work very well together. They will guard people and that's hard to get young talented basketball players to do this day and age. They were very fun to watch and their players play extremely hard for him. Coach Henley makes it look easy in making that team play hard, playing together, and playing smart basketball. Holmes High School should be very proud and feel luck to have David Henley and his staff as their coaches. Also, didn't Holmes have a Freshman standout who had a broken foot not play? Arrez Henderson was a pleasure to watch and the Johnson brothers along with Elijah Pittman are going to be special next season.

Holmes is the best defensive team in Kentucky that I've seen this year and Arrez Henderson is by far the best individual defensive player. He locked down Landon Slone of Paintsville and Vee Sanford of Lex. Cath like I've not seen before in which a player simply locks 'em up and takes them out of the game. Also, just how poised this team is to be so very young. The Johnson brothers are sophomores and Elijah Pittman is also another incredible sophomore! David Henley has done a masterful job and has a team that plays very unselfishly and they don't get rattled very easy...some teams have tried to get into their heads but to no avail.

Morgan County High School is announcing that Jake Purnell will become the new HEAD FOOTBALL COACH of the Morgan County Cougars. Purnell has spent the past 10 years as Head JV Coach, Varsity Offensive Coordinator and Offensive Line coach for Tabb High School in Yorktown, Virginia. Tabb H.S. has produced 2 NFL players including (Terry Kirby) and (Chris Slade) Before coming to Tabb H.S. in 1998, he spent 4 seasons as an assistant varsity football coach at Towanda High School in Towanda, Pennsylvania. He also spent 4 seasons at Marion Catholic High School in Hometown, Pennsylvania as a varsity assistant football coach.

Congrats to Brandon Baker on a very well deserved award. He has done the best job this year in the 16th region and his teams are always extremely well coached and fundamental. Congrats Brandon!

Morgan now has a healthy pitching arm in Andrew Fannin this season. He played but did not pitch last year. A LOT of solid young talent is at Morgan Co. this year. With 6 starters returning they should be a very tough out...They were 22-11 last year and District Champions. Pitching will be their strength.

Not impressed? What a joke Samantha Sparks only hit a three pointer to beat West Carter during the regional semi-finals of her sophomore year. Last second three landed them in the finals....this year against Lewis Co...her team trailed by 22 points to Lewis Co. and she had 18 second half points I believe and led a furious comeback to win the game...they were down as many as 31 pionts in the second half? Any more proof of clutch performances needed? One of the regions best female athletes, going to MSU to play softball.

I remember when Coach Brown (as a player for Morgan County) hit a last second three pointer at Boyd County to beat Boyd on their home floor...1988 I think, might have been the Cougs 1st victory over Boyd. Was a lucky player and a lucky coach last night!!! Great coach but he has no hops....he is broke down....I think he jumped off the chair to get that high.