[Matney's Prodigey]

There are lots of great coaches in the mountains but I'll give it a shot.

1. Phillip Haywood-Belfry: What can you say about the states 7th all time wins leader. (270-103). That is enough to make the list, but the back to back state titles pushes you to the top. His style may not be sexy, but it is effective. He plays sound defense and sticks with his philosophy. On offense you know what your gonna get. Belly, Veer, Toss, Counter, and maybe a pass once or twice. He is a preperation fanatic and sledom ever puts Belfry in a position to lose a game, but alomst always puts them in a spot to win it.
2. Mike Holcomb - Breathitt Co: Can anyone tell me how Breathitt County football was before Holcomb? I'll tell you what it was, a W on other teams schedule. This man threw the football before it was fun and popular. He is an offensive Guru. 3 state titles and one winning streak that spanned 42 games (19995-1997). That is amazing.
3. Dudley Hilton - Bell Co.: He has made the Hilton Hotel famous through-out the state. He is the 5th all time winningest coach (73-91) in Kentucky History. He won a state title at Bourbon County and as you can see as of late, they are not a football powerhouse.
4. Hillar Howard - LCC: He may not be as dominant away from Pikeville, but the man still deserves to be on here. He made Pikeville the football school it is today. He gave Pikeville a state reputation when it only had a Mountain reputation.
5. Tom Larkey - Rockcastle Co: Why is this man not on other peoples list? He took the Rockets to back to back state title games only to fall to a Kentucky Football Dynasty (Boyle Co.). He made the bear-crawl defense well known through-out the state. Two trips to the carpet get you on my list.

Others that deserve mentioning are:
Jim Matney- Johnson Central
Ken Roark - M'boro

I did not include Ivan McGlone in the list because I don't see Russell as a typical "Mountain Team". Had I included him he would had been in Larkey's spot and Larkey would had dropped one. (McGlone has 2 state titles where as Larkey has 2 runner-ups. That is easy math)
I would loe to include Shawn Hagger of Sheldon Clark to my Honarable Mention List, but he has been a head coach for 2 years. He is going to be a good one, but the one thing he needs more of to make this list is TIME in my opinion.