[mysonis55]

Alright, the more I read these coach of the year picks year after year, the more insane I think the voters are. I know this is going to sound like a little homerism, but even the blind should be able to see what I'm about to lay out. Joe Morris almost never gets recognized for this award and it is crazy. Here are the facts to back this.

2008 was a down year for Mayfield, with coach Joe at the helm, as they didn't win their district or make it to the semis.

2009 they go 13-2 and finish as state runners up. They lost to what has become a perineal power in 2a or 3a ( Caldwell Co) by 7 and then the eventual state champions. Great improvement from the year before. Yet, no coach of the year for 1a.

2010, perfect season, 1a state champs. They put 11 running clocks up out of 15 games. He won 1a coach of the year.

2011, 14-1, with a loss in the state championship. No coach of the year.

2012, 14-1 and state champs. The only loss was on the road to a top 10 5a team in the first game of the season after replacing a butt load of players, mostly on the line. No coach of the year.

2013, 14-1 and state champs in 1a. The only loss was on the road to a top 5 2a team by 7. This after replacing one of the best line backing crews in history of the school, the schools leading tackler and rusher. This after replacing most of the line again. Still no coach of the year.

2014, 14-1 and state champs in 1a. The only loss was on the road to a top 10 6a team in OT by 1 point. This with a large portion of undersized sophomores taking places of a lot of lost talent from the year before. This in my opinion was the most challenging and greatest level of achievement ever for this coaching staff. Still no coach of the year.

2015, 14-1 and state champs in 2a. This as 1 of the smallest schools in their new class. The only loss again to a top ten 6a team in OT. This after having to replace all five starting offensive linemen and all defensive linemen. This with their leading rusher missing at least 4 games. Still no coach of the year.

Now, add to this what all the Mayfield haters love to point out. During this time, not 1 D1 recruit from this team. Also, the Cards are almost always the smallest team across the board on the field each week. This would tend to tell me that he gets more done that almost anyone with far less than most. So, please, please explain!!!!

[TigerBlues]

I agree 55, I scratched my head on this one when I read it. I don't need to go into data as you have already made it available but moving up in class first year and winning state should have been enough for even the most novice voter

[Iam4thecats]

If I was him I wouldn't care. He probably doesn't care. You seem to be acting like winning the title = coach of the year. I can assure you that is not the case. You get rings for winning the title. He has several rings. You get a plaque for the wall for coach of the year which is voted on by people and totally out of your control. He has one of those already too. Why does it matter at this point once you have one?

[killbilly usmc]

Winning titles seems to get Haywood from belfry a lot of awards. Not saying he doesn't deserve it, but Morris has more titles, and has coached about 25 years less. Morris has gotten less awards than Haywood in this insane run mayfield has been on since 09. Record is 98 wins 7 losses 5 state titles 2 runners up in 7 years.

[EKUAlum05]

Winning titles seems to get Haywood from belfry a lot of awards. Not saying he doesn't deserve it, but Morris has more titles, and has coached about 25 years less. Morris has gotten less awards than Haywood in this insane run mayfield has been on since 09. Record is 98 wins 7 losses 5 state titles 2 runners up in 7 years.

To be fair he is also the State's All-Time Wins Leader, Top 7 Nationally for current coaches, a published author, and one of the faces of the FCA.

To answer 55's initial question:
- Titles help, but this is a vote conducted by peers. Respect from fellow coaches seems to matter the most as well as name notoriety. Haywood's notoriety has mostly came from respect as a mentor and just a genuinely nice guy. Chuck Smith has 4 COY awards and you can mainly tie his to respect for his achievements and putting guys to the next level and even the NFL.

- Milestones help... no surprise that Haywood has won the award mainly in years he also set a coaching milestone.

- All this doesn't explain why a guy like Morris hasn't won COY in his respective class. How they can vote Edge ahead of Morris or a Clay Clevenger really surprises me. For what I have seen of Morris he never tries to embarrass teams or run the score up, not sure why his fellow WKY coaches would vote for Edge over him.



I definitely see the mystery in it... there are very few coaches in KY I would rather have than Morris.

[mysonis55]

I doubt that it does matter to Coach Morris. He didn't pose the question, I did.

Secondly, I doubt that any coach could think he isn't geniune or nice to them or their program, so I don't understand how that could be an issue. I have even heard of him arranging to provide food to teams that have had to travel distances to get here in the playoffs and did not have the funding. As previously stated, he doesn't like to run scores up on teams. One of the times that I noticed him most upset was when we were playing a very down district foe in 2002. He had the ball handed off to the fb up the middle to try to prevent getting anything big. The boy fought his way through tackles and into the endzone. I was on the sideline, he was upset. He didn't want to score there.

As far as putting players through to the next level, as pointed out, we just have not had the big d1 type talent. He has put a bunch into either Murray State or other smaller colleges. I don't know what more he could do there.

I'm not sure what the problem is. But, if you ask me, it is a glaring problem. I see coaches with far less success and far more athletic bodies getting a lot more recognition than he. This is why I don't care for such awards because they tend to become more political than anything else. Of course you could make the same argument for the Heisman award.

[insideinfo]

Politics

[Ghostofjoey]

I wouldn't worry to much about about it. Joe wins the award he wants more every year.

[Fly Like a Duck]

Outside of some of your bigger schools, there aren't that many schools putting out all kinds of D1 talent.

Mayfield in Class A and AA has all the talent they need and then some, let's not kid ourselves there.

With that said, Joe is one hell of a coach and I can assure you he isn't worried one bit about it. I don't know why he doesn't win it more, either.

....yeah I do. Jealousy.

I get your frustration, but let's not play Mayfield out like they are The Little Engine That Could, either.

For their class (es), there are few, if any that are more talented.

[Fly Like a Duck]

1A Joe Chirico - Paintsville
2A John Edge - Owensboro Catholic
3A Philip Haywood - Belfry
4A Brandon Smith - South Warren
5A Chris Larkey - North Laurel
6A Chris Wolfe - Male

[mysonis55]

Well, I agree with you duck, somewhat. I agree that we have talent. But, I swear to you if you looked at the last 3 games of the year, we were outsized at almost every single position on both sides of the ball. Then you consider the fact that OC even had more speed. That should tell you something about what he does. He has a system where he programs these kids to not just think they are the best but, that they fully know they are the best. I promise you it is a fact. If I've heard it once from my own, I've heard it a ton. The Wburg state game, they controlled most of the first half. They controlled the clock. They owned all the stats. After the game, my boy said he never felt like there was any chance that they would not win. Now, did you catch that wording? He didn't say lose. He said he never felt like they wouldn't win. Again in the McCracken game. Again in the Caldwell game. Again in the OC game. Again in the DeSales game. I think you can see the pattern. This when you look across the line and see a much larger and equally talented group but, you absolutely know that you will win. They play like caged tigers as a result. That is coaching!!!

[E's Army]

Obviously he has deserved a couple of coach of year awards. His record speaks for itself

[Fly Like a Duck]

Well, I agree with you duck, somewhat. I agree that we have talent. But, I swear to you if you looked at the last 3 games of the year, we were outsized at almost every single position on both sides of the ball. Then you consider the fact that OC even had more speed. That should tell you something about what he does. He has a system where he programs these kids to not just think they are the best but, that they fully know they are the best. I promise you it is a fact. If I've heard it once from my own, I've heard it a ton. The Wburg state game, they controlled most of the first half. They controlled the clock. They owned all the stats. After the game, my boy said he never felt like there was any chance that they would not win. Now, did you catch that wording? He didn't say lose. He said he never felt like they wouldn't win. Again in the McCracken game. Again in the Caldwell game. Again in the OC game. Again in the DeSales game. I think you can see the pattern. This when you look across the line and see a much larger and equally talented group but, you absolutely know that you will win. They play like caged tigers as a result. That is coaching!!!

I totally understand where you are coming from, I do.

But, I'll take Speed over Size all day long and twice on Sunday. I didn't see O'Catholic a lot this year (none actually), but at best...you line up your skill kids vs theirs in a track meet, it's a push at best (advantage Mayfield).

Now that whole belief thing? Agreed. That's coaching + belief+ playmaking.

About Caldwell, though; the worst thing Caldwell could have done was tackle your WR out of bounds with those 1-2 ticks left. He takes one more step and there is no FG, game over.

I get where you are coming from, though, trust me...I do.

Edge is a dang fine coach. As is Clevenger (who I thought would get it) and nothing needs to be said about Joe. You all, as does everybody knows his worth. I can promise you that he isn't worried.

[killbilly usmc]

I totally understand where you are coming from, I do.

But, I'll take Speed over Size all day long and twice on Sunday. I didn't see O'Catholic a lot this year (none actually), but at best...you line up your skill kids vs theirs in a track meet, it's a push at best (advantage Mayfield).

Now that whole belief thing? Agreed. That's coaching + belief+ playmaking.

About Caldwell, though; the worst thing Caldwell could have done was tackle your WR out of bounds with those 1-2 ticks left. He takes one more step and there is no FG, game over.

I get where you are coming from, though, trust me...I do.

Edge is a dang fine coach. As is Clevenger (who I thought would get it) and nothing needs to be said about Joe. You all, as does everybody knows his worth. I can promise you that he isn't worried.

Caldwell county didn't tackle Kevin caldwell out of bounds. The clock was stopped for the chains to be reset for 1st down. Mayfield players sprinted down the field to be ready for when whistle was blown to start clock, and immediately hiked, and spiked ball to stop clock to set up the fg.

[Fly Like a Duck]

Caldwell county didn't tackle Kevin caldwell out of bounds. The clock was stopped for the chains to be reset for 1st down. Mayfield players sprinted down the field to be ready for when whistle was blown to start clock, and immediately hiked, and spiked ball to stop clock to set up the fg.

You're right. I had to go back and look. He was tackled about the 10. Had he not been tackled and allowed to take another step or two trying to break the tackles I should have said, but you can't what if that.

Wait, sure we can.