[BlackcatAlum]

This is the info that I gathered for the last 4 years of each Coach at Pburg


DeRossett Last 4 seasons at PHS - Reg Season 25-15, 3-4 Playoffs Overall Record 28-19
2014 - 8-2 Reg Season, 2-1 Playoffs Defeated Middlesboro, Danville, Lost to Shelby Valley Reg Finals 
2015 - 5-5 Reg Season, 0-1 Playoffs Lost to LCA 1st rd
2016 - 6-4 Reg Season, 0-1 Playoffs Lost to Somerset 1st rd
2017 - 6-4 Reg Season, 1-1 Playoffs Defeated Middlesboro, Lost to LCA 2nd rd - District Champ

Brewer Last 4 Seasons - Reg Season 11-27, 0-2 Playoffs Overall record 11-29
2018 - 2-8 Reg season, 0-1 Playoffs Lost to LCA
2019 - 2-8 Reg Season, Did not qualify for playoffs
2020 - 3-5 Reg Season, 0-1 Playoffs Lost to West Carter
2021 - 4-6 Reg Season, Did not qualify for Playoffs

Just curious if this is acceptable now at Prestonsburg.  I know Brewer wants to win I know the staff wants to win...but is that the correct staff to put together winning seasons?  Does Brewer make changes to his coordinators?  

Those comparisons are irrelevant. You have to try and understand what all has taken place at Pburg to get a grasp of why they're in the shape they currently are in.

John Derossett is a great football coach. He always got the most out of whatever he had coming up. Things went on that I can't speak on because I'm not entirely sure what happened and he was let go along with many others from his staff. Then before the 2017-18 school year basically the entire AMS 7th & 8th grade football team from the fall of 2016 decided to transfer together to Paintsville and play for Joe Chirico instead of Derossett. Joe coached at Prestonsburg under Derossett for a few years from I wanna say 2009-12?. Lots of Pburg folks liked Joe.

I bring that up because when you lose your best athletes from basically two classes you're going to struggle. Not to mention those kids went on to play for two state championships and won in 2020. Now I am not blaming those families for moving their boys to Paintsville. It worked out great for them and I'm happy for them all.

April 2018, Brandon Brewer is hired as the new football coach at Prestonsburg. He leaves his hometown school (Powell County) to takeover what he thought was a well oiled machine at Pburg. He inherits a program that's at the lowest it's been in my lifetime because of administrative turnover at the school, Derossett is no longer the football coach, kids are transferring, etc. Just lots of negativity surrounding the program and honestly it wasn't until this past season that we finally seen folks excited about Blackcat football again. They beat county rival Floyd Central, they played excellent against East Ridge and Powell County. They struggled down the stretch and lost by 1 to Bath County to miss the playoffs.

Now is finishing the season with a losing record and missing the playoffs at Prestonsburg acceptable? No. It's not acceptable to anyone, but you have to look at what all has taken place and see the progress that's being made. Brewer didn't bring anyone with him from Powell. He's had coaches come and go at Pburg. I think this past season he's finally finding the right coaches to surround himself with. I still think there's some improvements that can be made, but you can only work with the guys that are willing to show up and coach. Derek Newsome is young and he's done a great job with the offense and offensive line. Brewer has developed a lot of relationships with former Pburg greats and as of right now I don't know of any parents wanting to move their kids to another school. Like I said in a earlier post, there's some talent in the 2027-2030 classes. Those kids together at the high school level could be something special.

The culture at Prestonsburg is trending in the right direction with all sports and academics. It may be hard to see from a distance and it may not be trending fast enough for some folks standards, but I trust principle Thacker and his staff and I trust coach Brewer to grow as a coach with the program and see this thing through.