Harlan County native Amos McCreary has been selected as new coach of Harlan Co.

jamesdeane · (This post was last modified: 05-04-2021, 01:56 PM by jamesdeane.)

HARLAN, Ky. (WYMT) - Harlan County native Amos McCreary has been selected as the new coach of the Harlan County Black Bear football program.

One of the most successful coaches in the Atlanta area and in the state of Georgia, McCreary produced multiple NCAA Division I football players in his outstanding career.

McCreary was selected by the HCHS school administration and is scheduled to meet with the Black Bear players on Tuesday.

McCreary previously coached at Whitewater High School in Fayetteville and at Creekside High School in Fairburn, Georgia.

He only had three losing seasons during his playing and coaching career.

Harlan County Football names new head football coach (wymt.com)

***Bull got out!*** · 05-04-2021, 02:27 PM

Congratulations! Sounds like a proven winner.

606CATS · 05-04-2021, 05:25 PM

(05-04-2021, 02:27 PM)Bull got out! Wrote: Congratulations! Sounds like a proven winner.

Congratulations Coach Amos

**E's Army** · 05-04-2021, 07:32 PM

Sounds like a very good hire

watcher · 05-04-2021, 08:56 PM

Congrats Coach Amos! I think he will be a good hire.

FootballFan1999 · 05-04-2021, 09:21 PM

Is this the same guy that was at Bell?

**pjdoug** · 05-04-2021, 11:34 PM

(05-04-2021, 09:21 PM)FootballFan1999 Wrote: Is this the same guy that was at Bell?

Yes.

FootballFan1999 · 05-05-2021, 09:34 AM

Wasn't everyone disappointed at how he did at Bell? I'm confused as to why it's a homerun hire now.. not throwing off on the guy. Just a serious question.

TD Hounds · 05-05-2021, 09:58 AM

(05-05-2021, 09:34 AM)FootballFan1999 Wrote: Wasn't everyone disappointed at how he did at Bell? I'm confused as to why it's a homerun hire now.. not throwing off on the guy. Just a serious question.

Pretty sure the shelves where bare when he came to Bell, new schools in Harlan and Harrigate are making it hard on Dud this time around. He may start pulling some kids but coal mines closing down has affected the talent pool that Bell had within the county imo...Mccreary had a heck of a record coaching in the Atlanta area maybe he can make some noise at Harlan.

fridaynightfights · 05-05-2021, 10:03 AM

Good hire. Congrats to him and he school, big thing for him will be what happens with playoffs going forward. In the current format Harlan Co is in a bind playing Johnson Central second round every year. It would almost be better to move to 5A and try and get the district back with Whitley Co, Laurel Co's etc....

TD Hounds · 05-06-2021, 01:27 AM

(05-05-2021, 10:03 AM)fridaynightfights Wrote: Good hire. Congrats to him and he school, big thing for him will be what happens with playoffs going forward. In the current format Harlan Co is in a bind playing Johnson Central second round every year. It would almost be better to move to 5A and try and get the district back with Whitley Co, Laurel Co's etc....

Agreed they recently won that 5A region too, albeit it was four years ago, but they’d have a lot better chance in that district and region. I don’t know that they have consistent talent coming through but seems when there is a talented class it’s loaded. Best I remember Tom Larkey won some regions there, I want to say under the old class system but I can’t remember exactly without researching.

HCS · 05-07-2021, 12:13 AM

HCHS won the region in 2010, 2012 and 2017 and lost in overtime in the finals in 2011...

TD Hounds · 05-07-2021, 11:19 AM

(05-07-2021, 12:13 AM)HCS Wrote: HCHS won the region in 2010, 2012 and 2017 and lost in overtime in the finals in 2011...

I knew Larkey had a lot of success there, never understood why he was let go. I’d expected Harlan to do a lot better the last couple years, thought this years group of seniors had a very strong class, went virtually unbeaten in middle school?

TakeOver12 · 05-10-2021, 06:30 PM

Great Hire!

footballfever · 05-12-2021, 11:59 AM

(05-10-2021, 06:30 PM)TakeOver12 Wrote: Great Hire!

Is he any relation to Rick McCreary? Former head coach at Harlan City.

HCS · 05-15-2021, 12:01 AM

It was Rick McCrary - I think.

Gridiron_Raid · 05-26-2021, 05:46 PM

(05-05-2021, 09:34 AM)FootballFan1999 Wrote: Wasn't everyone disappointed at how he did at Bell? I'm confused as to why it's a homerun hire now.. not throwing off on the guy. Just a serious question.

Bell 5 years ago was in a struggle and was locked out of the weight room until amos was hired in the late spring, they had a very rough year with injuries and then the king of log mountain came calling when a good group of kids was coming through and the bell county faithful just gave him the job. Amos McCreary was not the head coach very long but he built the culture for nonexistent to a winning mentality when dudley stepped back in, and he was a huge players coach for all the groups coming in always in the weight rooms and workouts with the guys. HC got them a good one that can change a culture and build a solid program in 2-3 years when JC isn’t in the picture.

Coach Booth · 05-28-2021, 12:30 PM

(05-26-2021, 05:46 PM)Gridiron_Raid Wrote:
(05-05-2021, 09:34 AM)FootballFan1999 Wrote: Wasn't everyone disappointed at how he did at Bell? I'm confused as to why it's a homerun hire now.. not throwing off on the guy. Just a serious question.
Bell 5 years ago was in a struggle and was locked out of the weight room until amos was hired in the late spring, they had a very rough year with injuries and then the king of log mountain came calling when a good group of kids was coming through and the bell county faithful just gave him the job. Amos McCreary was not the head coach very long but he built the culture for nonexistent to a winning mentality when dudley stepped back in, and he was a huge players coach for all the groups coming in always in the weight rooms and workouts with the guys. HC got them a good one that can change a culture and build a solid program in 2-3 years when JC isn’t in the picture.

Just a little curiosity on my part but I was wondering why would JC not be in the picture it 2-3 years?

TD Hounds · 05-28-2021, 06:22 PM

I thought the same thing, while I’ve heard didn’t rumors of Matney leaving, I don’t see JC just falling off. I can see Harlan’s new coach making things interesting in years to come if the talent sticks around.

Gridiron_Raid · 06-09-2021, 09:42 AM

(05-28-2021, 12:30 PM)Coach Booth Wrote:
(05-26-2021, 05:46 PM)Gridiron_Raid Wrote:
(05-05-2021, 09:34 AM)FootballFan1999 Wrote: Wasn't everyone disappointed at how he did at Bell? I'm confused as to why it's a homerun hire now.. not throwing off on the guy. Just a serious question.
Bell 5 years ago was in a struggle and was locked out of the weight room until amos was hired in the late spring, they had a very rough year with injuries and then the king of log mountain came calling when a good group of kids was coming through and the bell county faithful just gave him the job. Amos McCreary was not the head coach very long but he built the culture for nonexistent to a winning mentality when dudley stepped back in, and he was a huge players coach for all the groups coming in always in the weight rooms and workouts with the guys. HC got them a good one that can change a culture and build a solid program in 2-3 years when JC isn’t in the picture.
Just a little curiosity on my part but I was wondering why would JC not be in the picture it 2-3 years?

Meant a possible district reseeding or something just happens lol, the word maybe should’ve been in that sentence. I was just trying to get the point across that amos could really build something up if he didn’t have a brick wall to face so early.