Jim Tom Allen to be Hired as an Asst. Coach at Prestonsburg

**BlackcatAlum** · (This post was last modified: 04-15-2008, 11:23 PM by BlackcatAlum.)

Former Paintsville head coach, Jim Tom Allen, will be hired as one of the new assistants at Prestonsburg. I suppose that he will teach also.

This isn't official yet, but its more than likely going to happen.

Congratulations to Jim Tom!

IRISH4 · 04-13-2008, 11:16 PM

Jim Tom is much more of a defensive coach than offensive. He coach offensive line at Pikeville College in 2004, but a great pick-up by the Blackcats. Congrats to Coach Allen...I wish you nothing but the best.

**Redneck** · 04-13-2008, 11:47 PM

I don't know how much he will help out on the offensive side of the ball, but he will definately be a big help on the defensive side and in the weightroom.

blackcat_mvp6 · 04-13-2008, 11:55 PM

Congrats Coach.

UnderArmour24 · 04-14-2008, 12:14 AM

Congrats Coach!

IBleedRed · 04-14-2008, 12:18 AM

Congrats to Jim and good luck Blackcats!

The Joker · 04-14-2008, 01:33 AM

Coach Allen will be a great fit for the Blackcats next season...Just a side note he might get the last laugh at the Tigers in next years game.

gish · 04-14-2008, 02:50 AM

blackcat_student Wrote:, Prestonsburg has been needing a person that could help John out on offense.

Prestonsburg has had plenty of assistants the last few years that were more then capable of helping out on offense. It just been a matter or people opening up their ears. Tommy Poe who is currently at the middle school was an offensive assistant at Pburg for years...but fell on deaf ears. Subtle enough for you?

**BlackcatAlum** · 04-15-2008, 11:21 PM

Joe Chirico will join the staff at Prestonsburg also, he will be coaching the defensive backs.

IRISH4 · 04-15-2008, 11:39 PM

blackcat_student Wrote:Joe Chirico will join the staff at Prestonsburg also, he will be coaching the defensive backs.

WOW!!!! another great pick-up by the Blackcats. I figured that Chirico would follow Allen since they are the best of friends. Chirico was my defensive back coach in high school and one year in college....for those of you who don't know he played with Troy Brown at Marshall when they were National Champions in the early 90's right before turning D-1A. He is a great at motivating players and getting the best out of them and most importantly he knows his stuff better than anyone I've been around or associated with. I figured that the Blackcats would have a good chance at playing for a state title but now they have a great chance at winning it with these additions.

**BlackcatAlum** · 04-15-2008, 11:46 PM

IRISH4 Wrote:WOW!!!! another great pick-up by the Blackcats. I figured that Chirico would follow Allen since they are the best of friends. Chirico was my defensive back coach in high school and one year in college....for those of you who don't know he played with Troy Brown at Marshall when they were National Champions in the early 90's right before turning D-1A. He is a great at motivating players and getting the best out of them and most importantly he knows his stuff better than anyone I've been around or associated with. I figured that the Blackcats would have a good chance at playing for a state title but now they have a great chance at winning it with these additions.

He has a real good background, hope that the Blackcats can make a push at the 2A state championship this season.

EKY Sportster · 04-16-2008, 12:27 AM

Two good additions for the Blackcats! I like both guys, especially Chirico. JTA just needed to step away from the head coach job, he is much better as an assistant. Great guy and the Blackcats will benefit.

Brugh27 · 04-16-2008, 04:33 PM

He will do much better as an assistant. Now this is not a crack towards him. Just from what I've seen, he will having only 1 thing to focus on and not everything in his lap to where he would have to delagate responsibility in every direction. Best of luck to him:Thumbs:

The Blue Blur · 04-17-2008, 10:18 AM

Johnson Central just let one slip right out from under their nose. Word on the street is that defensive back coach Chad Webb will not be returning next year. I figured they would recruit Chirico to join staff.

dfblackcat53 · 04-18-2008, 05:50 PM

allen and chirico are going to be a big help this year..im excited to have them on board..

**Redneck** · 04-20-2008, 10:27 AM

The Blue Blur Wrote:Johnson Central just let one slip right out from under their nose. Word on the street is that defensive back coach Chad Webb will not be returning next year. I figured they would recruit Chirico to join staff.

Chirico would have never went to JC, and not because of the Paintsville/JC rivalry, but because of personal reasons.

**sting** · 04-20-2008, 12:33 PM

Congrats to Coach Allen

ukbadmammajamma · (This post was last modified: 04-20-2008, 02:12 PM by ukbadmammajamma.)

I don't understand how a coach is "unofficially hired". Either you are hired or you are not. What players does Presonsburg have returning and coming up? No matter how many or how great the coaches, YOU GOTTA HAVE PLAYERS!
Good luck in 2008 Blackcat players and staff.

**BlackcatAlum** · 04-20-2008, 02:27 PM

ukbadmammajamma Wrote:I don't understand how a coach is "unofficially hired". Either you are hired or you are not. What players does Presonsburg have returning and coming up? No matter how many or how great the coaches, YOU GOTTA HAVE PLAYERS!
Good luck in 2008 Blackcat players and staff.

The only reason why I put "unofficially" is because he hasn't been hired yet, but he will be. But I going to change the thread title to "JTA Too be Hired as an Asst. Coach at Prestonsburg."

Prestonsburg is coming off of a 9-4 season, they return 8 starters on offense including 2,000 yard back Allen Craynon, 1,000 yard back Seth Setser, kicker Clay Jamerson, quarterback Michael Burchett, and leading receiver Austin Gearheart. They also return 8 on defense, one is a UK recruit in linebacker Seth Setser, which had 100+ tackles last season. They lost 3 offensive linemen but expect some boys there to step up.

Some up and coming players are freshman Joseph Jamerson, this kid has already went to state as a hurdler in track as a 7th grader, expect junior Austin McKinney to play some huge rolls this year, and you can also expect some sophomore offensive linemen to step up in CC Thompson and Michael Crowe.

The Blue Blur · 04-20-2008, 09:31 PM

Redneck Wrote:Chirico would have never went to JC, and not because of the Paintsville/JC rivalry, but because of personal reasons.

He may not have went but I just figured it wouldn't have hurt JC to talk to him and find that out themselves. Question to the Blackcat fans; Any chance on head baseball coach Marc Shepherd, being an assistant on the football team?? I know his uncle John who is an official, has some close ties with the Blackcat football program. I was just wondering, I know he doubles as the head golf coach but he's much more experienced with football. Golf was just a leisure sport for Marc and he took the job as just something to give himself to do.

**BlackcatAlum** · 04-20-2008, 10:49 PM

The Blue Blur Wrote:He may not have went but I just figured it wouldn't have hurt JC to talk to him and find that out themselves. Question to the Blackcat fans; Any chance on head baseball coach Marc Shepherd, being an assistant on the football team?? I know his uncle John who is an official, has some close ties with the Blackcat football program. I was just wondering, I know he doubles as the head golf coach but he's much more experienced with football. Golf was just a leisure sport for Marc and he took the job as just something to give himself to do.

I heard that he was going to be helping out last year when he became a teacher at Prestonsburg, but he didn't help out with the football last season so I don't think he is going to this season, but I'll look into it.

kyrifle · 04-21-2008, 08:37 AM

Redneck Wrote:Chirico would have never went to JC, and not because of the Paintsville/JC rivalry, but because of personal reasons.

Just talked to Joe Chirico last night and he tells me he has no problems whatsoever with JCHS, and was never approached by anyone from JCHS about helping them coach. P-burg called him and asked him to help and he accepted. Joe's a really good coach, anyone that gets him will better their program.

The Blue Blur · 04-21-2008, 10:57 AM

kyrifle Wrote:Just talked to Joe Chirico last night and he tells me he has no problems whatsoever with JCHS, and was never approached by anyone from JCHS about helping them coach. P-burg called him and asked him to help and he accepted. Joe's a really good coach, anyone that gets him will better their program.

Thanks for the clarification. He'd been a really great addition to an already good staff at JCHS. None the less, it's the same scenario at P-Burg. As far as Coach Shepherd goes, he probably had the intentions to do so, I know in 2006 he helped JCHS' football program. I'm sure he was approached with the head coaching job in golf and figured more money, less stress and plus he was planning his wedding this time last year. I would love to see Marc get back to coaching on the gridiron, he has a passion for the game. He's definitely made a difference on the diamond up there. So yeah check on that and get back to us.

Find · 04-21-2008, 02:29 PM

Redneck Wrote:Chirico would have never went to JC, and not because of the Paintsville/JC rivalry, but because of personal reasons.

I have known Joe Chirico close to 7 or years and also played for him. He has never had anything had any personal grudge between PHS/JCHS. To him it was just another game on the schedule. He didn't get into the rival fued. Chirico has made the comment to me several times that JCHS is a very good program. So I think this post is a little off pace and isn't fair on Chirico's part because he has never had anything against the JCHS administration.

**Lisa Douglas** · 04-21-2008, 03:16 PM

I read this to be a JTA thread. I am glad he has found a place where his talents can be utilized. I hope none of the same "issues" cloud this move and he will be useful to the football players on his team and the science students in his classroom. I wish him success in Floyd County.