[14th region fanman]

I have a question and I was hoping that someone could help answer it for me.
In looking at Powell County scores this Season. They have lost 3 out of their 4 games by a combined 94 points.
My question is, how is a school like Powell ever this bad in a region like the 14th.
They are one of the 4 biggest schools in this region. And could get kids from Madison,Clark,Montgomery if the situation is right.
How is it even possible for things to get like this for them?
And they have 9 seniors on their roster and a below average Jv team this year. So it’s not like they are gonna turn it around in the next couple of years.
Was hoping someone could explain this to me.

They should be a top 5 team every season in the 14th and should never be a bottom 5 team.

[Craze JACKET man]

Losing to Jackson Co that bad is not good. Jackson Co is in the bottom of the 13th .
Long year could be in stored if things don’t change for you guys.

[Strikeout King]

Lost a lot from last year.

[LOOKAYANNER]

Lost a lot from last year.

I think the point of the thread is with a school that’s 3rd biggest in the region at 700 students they should be in the top portion of region rankings every year.
Knott County has around 650 students and also lost a lot from last year but they just seem to reload every year and are generally competitive.

I also think one thing that has really helped increase and improve the basketball talent in Knott and surrounding counties is the Sportsplex Center that they built about 10 years or more ago. A fellow at a Knott game last year told me that place is packed year round with kids playing basketball from Knott and the counties close by. They have leagues and club ball, etc, pretty much non-stop.
I would love to see something similar to that facility built in the northern section of the 14th region in a location that would be fairly close for 5 or 6 county’s youth. It would also give kids something to do in their idle time, which is never a good thing because bored kids with nothing to do is a recipe for laziness or trouble.

Just a suggestion.

[Conductor]

I’m not completely sure but I believe Powell County’s best player may be out right now nonetheless, a comparison to Knott may be a bit of an apples to oranges example. Yes the sports Plex has definitely been a positive factor in the development of players in that area but knott county has generated more good basketball players and teams than almost any county in the mountains. Hindman ,Carr Creek , and Knott Central, have been competitive at the state level and especially at the regional level throughout the history of high school basketball. To say that Powell could draw from Montgomery or Clark basically says they are Close enough to bigger counties to recruit players?
Is that considered “building a program”? I do know that Powell has a pretty big gap in the talent level of their younger high school players right now..
All that being said, there were a couple of losses this year that seem to be excessive blowouts which are indeed head scratchers

[14th region fanman]

I just don’t understand how you can have the 3rd biggest school in the region and not be able to field a top tier team year in and year out.
Here is a crazier stat, according to their banner on their wall.
They went from 1977-1994 without winning the 56th district title. In a district where they were almost as big as Wolfe,Lee,Owsley combined.

I was just curious, is it coaching? Feeder system? Etc

Year in and year out they always field a top of the region baseball team.
So what’s the difference?

[rawlingsfan]

I just don’t understand how you can have the 3rd biggest school in the region and not be able to field a top tier team year in and year out.
Here is a crazier stat, according to their banner on their wall.
They went from 1977-1994 without winning the 56th district title. In a district where they were almost as big as Wolfe,Lee,Owsley combined.

I was just curious, is it coaching? Feeder system? Etc

Year in and year out they always field a top of the region baseball team.
So what’s the difference?

56th district was very competitive during the 1980s, early 90s. Owsley County was regional runners-up in 1983 and 1985. Lee County was a favorite in 1984 led by future 6'9" UK walk on Jeff Ginnan. Wolfe County was a favorite in 1986 and 1987 (lost to state final 4 Hazard in 86). Johnson played at D1 Cornell, and Bird was tough. Lee County was regional runners up in 1987. Owsley County was a contender from 1988-1992, reaching the regional semi finals 4/5 years. Lost to regional champions Buckhorn in 88 and 89, and literally on last second shots in 91 and 92. Class A state runner-up in 1990. Duncil, Turner, Sparks, Morris, and Creech were excellent coaches.

[14th region fanman]

Yea it was competitive between 3 small class A schools. So why wasn’t Powell competitive in this same era with twice the kids of those 3 schools?

[dkrude]

There is a couple of issues facing Powell County in multiple sports. They don’t have a competitive developmental program for their Grade Schools. It use to be a very competitive rivalries between Bowen, Stanton, and Clay City. Then they brought in Jr Pro and got away from School ball. Every Kid doesn’t need a trophy, they need to be earned. Some years we were the best team and others we had to fight to just be able to get the ball down the court. It made us better.

Powell County has always played upperclassmen and held back kids that have greater potential to satisfy the politics with the County. If little tommy is in the 8th grade and as good as little Timmy that is a junior then bring Tommy up and get him some time on the floor.

High School coaches don’t communicate or work with any of the grade schools or middle coaches to ensure a common message is being given to the kids. No plans in place to start fundamentals and continue them through the athlete’s career.

Powell doesn’t have but one middle school. So on a middle school team in basketball you have 5 starters. Knott County goes from k-8 in one building and has 7 Schools that play middle school ball which means they have 35 starters in basketball every season. And it is a very competitive school league that they play. Traveling in and out of county to play.

Blake is from Knott County and in Powell he cant wait for the middle school to dump him a large amount of players each year. He is going to have to help in making changes at the grade school level and be a bigger voice at the middle school level or his time here will be short. Blake is a great guy but he doesn’t have the same luxuries that he had in Knott County.

Again this isn’t just a boys basketball problem in goes across other sports, like softball and girls basketball.

[rawlingsfan]

Yea it was competitive between 3 small class A schools. So why wasn’t Powell competitive in this same era with twice the kids of those 3 schools?

The gap in population wasn't as large between Powell County and the other three in the 1970s and 1980s. Powell County and Lee County absolutely dominated in baseball, with Powell winning 8 or 9 district championships during the 1980s, and hosting the regional tournament every year. Lee County won region in 1988. IMO basketball was the priority at Wolfe, Owsley, and Lee. I think it's safe to say that several communities in Powell County embraced baseball during this time. And you could argue that it was the number one sport there. They had the only field with a grass infield and lights until MC Napier (Perry County Park) and Knott Central in the early 90s.

[Conductor]

I think it’s a good point about having multiple k-8 schools in the county. There is a lot of evidence for that setup being effective in many sports AND other aspects of schools..There were also some other good points about the enrollment fluctuations. Powell wasn’t that big of a school Comparatively speaking in the 60-80s.. and it’s also true that the 56th district was quite strong from the mid 60s until around 1990..

[Craze JACKET man]

How many head coaches have you had in the last 6 years?