[Bull got out!]

Now that JH has "Hurleyed" Corbin ,  let's talk about who will be the Mark Pope hire. I'm gonna go out on a bit of a limb and say Steven L. Bird will take over the reins of the Corbin head man. Like Pope, who led UK to a title in '96, Bird led the Hounds to the '76 AA state title over Mayfield. Steve is a Corbin legend, has a NFL resume, and has a long history as assistant coach, with stops  at Kentucky, Tennessee, EKU, Pitt, West Virginia, Tulane, Middle Tennessee, Kent State, Bowling Green, South Florida, and South Carolina State, where he has been for the past 11 years. On the down side, Bird was a classmate of the evil Cox.

 Steve would be a fine choice, for the short term. He will be 64 in October and I think Corbin needs to look for someone younger for the future. I could see them bringing in Steve for the next couple or three years, until the human obstacles to Haddix' return are removed and then we'll be hearing the Haddix talk again. If not Bird, who are some of the other "Pope" candidates?

Talking about a Mark Pope Hire, how about Mark Payne. His name is Mark and he has ties to Corbin..... Here is a write up about him to give some insight...

Mark Payne has been named the new head football coach at Madison Southern High School.

School officials announced the hiring Thursday evening with a social media post.

"Madison Southern is excited to announce that Mark Payne will be the new head football coach at Madison Southern! We will release more details soon! Go Eagles!," the post stated.

Payne takes over for Jon Clark, who stepped down in October after 11 seasons.

Payne has spent the past three seasons as the defensive coordinator on Jason Foley's staff at Southwestern High School in Somerset. The Warriors had a combined record of 28-10 from 2019 to 2021, including three-straight trips to the regional title game.

Southwestern allowed just 195 points this past season — the fifth-fewest among all Class 5A teams. The Warriors posted an 11-2 record, including a win over Madison Southern, and lost to Frederick Douglass in the region title game.

Payne previous worked with Foley, when he was the head coach at Taylor County, as a defensive coordinator.

In 2018, Taylor County fell to Franklin-Simpson in the Class 4A State semi-finals.

Clark won 66 games and five district titles at Southern and also led the school's to its first-ever region championship and an appearance in the 2017 Class 5A State title game.

The Eagles, however, were 2-9 in 2021 and lost in the first round of the playoffs to Woodford County.

Payne started his career under Brent Jackson at Corbin Middle School and credits much of his success as a coach to Jackson's mentorship.

"I learned more about how to a be coach in my time with Coach Jackson than I could get anywhere else. He's a great leader and role model and huge reason for Corbin's continued success," Payne said.

Payne also spent six years coaching with FBU, including four years as a head coach.

"We've had a lot of success with our FBU Kentucky groups and we have been fortunate to see many kids come through the program and reach their collegiate aspirations," Payne said.

Payne's 2020 FBU team reached the national championship, but lost to Georgia. It was the first time FBU Kentucky had competed in a national championship game.
https://www.richmondregister.com/sports/...613ee.html