[pjdoug]

You answered your own question.  The population decline and lack of resources make it very difficult to rebuild simply because there really aren’t any people or money available to rebuild it. In the scenario you described I can’t see a rebuild being possible because of the poor economic conditions which in turn led to the talent drying up.

Coalfield and Raceland are probably similar?

Raceland is closer to areas with more job opportunities than Coalfield.  The majority of people in this area work in Ashland, Huntington, or in Ohio.  If Raceland wasn’t close to areas like that then they wouldn’t be successful and wouldn’t be able to pull kids from other districts.

Majority of people in Coalfield probably work in Oak Ridge and Knoxville. I don't see the disadvantage.

Raceland also recruits heavily so that helps too.

surely not. lol