[ekff]

Whose everyone's Top 10 Coaches in the Mountains - 13th, 14th, 15th regions
Head or Assistant Coaches....
1) Holland (Hazard)
2) Hatcher (Perry)
3) Wright (S. Laurel)
4) Spurlock (Sheldon Clark)
5) Pietrowski (Corbin)
6) Whitaker (Hazard) could be a head coach somewhere, if he wanted...
7) Morris (Bell)
8) Wright (Lee)
9) Noble (Buckhorn)
10) Hammonds (Letcher)

Not saying anything bad about anyone but this is just coaches i like....

[Hit and Run]

Dinky Phipps needs to be in there somehwere, and I'd probably add Gray or Travis from Clay if your including assistants, but all in all that's a great list.

[bluebloodedcatfan]

well we all can have favs and the coaches can win all year long. But the coach that can take nobody and make a team or win when it counts is the best. Just look at each team and and see who has what or wins in the end. As for now rank a team thats the coach.

[zone buster]

Jones (Harlan County) and Strange (Pineville) needs to be on that list somewhere as well.

[WALL2WALL]

Whose everyone's Top 10 Coaches in the Mountains - 13th, 14th, 15th regions
Head or Assistant Coaches....
1) Holland (Hazard)
2) Hatcher (Perry)
3) Wright (S. Laurel)
4) Spurlock (Sheldon Clark)
5) Pietrowski (Corbin)
6) Whitaker (Hazard) could be a head coach somewhere, if he wanted...
7) Morris (Bell)
8) Wright (Lee)
9) Noble (Buckhorn)
10) Hammonds (Letcher)

Not saying anything bad about anyone but this is just coaches i like....

Wright has a State Title, and Hatcher has an all a title. I got to put (1) Wright (2) Hatcher (3) Holland

[zone buster]

Forgot about Wright (South Laurel), he does have a State Title.

I think Jones (Harlan County) has 2 All A State Title's and some Regional Title's, with Strange (Pineville) winning the All A Region a couple of times, maybe more.

[palmer]

Anyone without Mike Jones in the top five clearly has no clue about basketball.

Four regional titles.
Two All "A" Classic state titles.
Over 500 wins.

[Hit and Run]

Totally forgot about Coach Jones and Coach Strange. Spurlock has an all a title also. I would take Eddie Whitaker off the list. He always seemed to under achieve at Bell. He had some great talent, but could never get the job done.

[palmer]

I don't know the 15th very well.
I'd go with:
Jones
Wright
Hatcher
Holland
Pietrowski

[Aslan]

Hatcher(PCC) and Holland(Hazard) are to me clearly the two best coaches in the mnts. Wright does have a state title but that team was loaded! It would have been hard not to coach that team to a state title.

[palmer]

I could see someone ranking Holland and Hatcher at the top, but I don't see how anyone can argue any coach is CLEARLY better than Wright and Jones. The records speak for themselves.

[bball_fan]

No love for Jr. Newsome of Betsy Layne? I know he isn't as big of a name as most of the one's on this list but he was the head coach that lead Betsy Layne to there two most recent region titles in 76 and 80. Last year he returned Betsy Layne to the district title and coached Betsy Layne to giving Shelby Valley a big surprise in the Regional Tournament final.

[ekff]

I know Jones is a good coach but I was just saying my top 10 favs. Not taking anything away from him, just not a big fan, but Jones has won and that's what the coaching world is all about.

[Bear_Paw]

Anyone without Mike Jones in the top five clearly has no clue about basketball.

Four regional titles.
Two All "A" Classic state titles.
Over 500 wins.

I agree.

[mcn]

just have to look at records .... Big Al - 50% of the time he wins the region. Pretty good record. At 3 different schools, took all 3 to state more than once.

[Da Horn]

We have some outstanding coaches in the mountains. I think we have a pretty good one at Buckhorn in John Noble.

[Blue-N-Gold]

We have some outstanding coaches in the mountains. I think we have a pretty good one at Buckhorn in John Noble.

I agree. Noble has done a really good job at Buckhorn.

[OrangenowBlue]

Hatcher(PCC) and Holland(Hazard) are to me clearly the two best coaches in the mnts. Wright does have a state title but that team was loaded! It would have been hard not to coach that team to a state title.

I would agree that they are the two best coaches in the 14th region at this time until proven otherwise but winning a state title is much harder then winning a region. It is much harder to win the region in the 13th then the 14th. I love the 14th region but we haven't had a single team in the championship game since Carr Creek in the Fifties. That school has been closed for 36 years. Since 1985, there are two 13th region teams that have been crowned state champions, Clay County and South Laurel(They may have been in the 12th at the time) and in the 15th you have Paintsville and Shelby Valley. We do have some good coaches but saying they are superior to coaches in other regions when after they win a weaker region(most years but not every year) and never get past the second round of the tournament is a little extreme.

[theflash]

Nice list.

[MVP2]

I would agree that they are the two best coaches in the 14th region at this time until proven otherwise but winning a state title is much harder then winning a region. It is much harder to win the region in the 13th then the 14th. I love the 14th region but we haven't had a single team in the championship game since Carr Creek in the Fifties. That school has been closed for 36 years. Since 1985, there are two 13th region teams that have been crowned state champions, Clay County and South Laurel(They may have been in the 12th at the time) and in the 15th you have Paintsville and Shelby Valley. We do have some good coaches but saying they are superior to coaches in other regions when after they win a weaker region(most years but not every year) and never get past the second round of the tournament is a little extreme.

I'm a 14th Region guy, but you are absolutely right and I agree.

[Aslan]

I would agree that they are the two best coaches in the 14th region at this time until proven otherwise but winning a state title is much harder then winning a region. It is much harder to win the region in the 13th then the 14th. I love the 14th region but we haven't had a single team in the championship game since Carr Creek in the Fifties. That school has been closed for 36 years. Since 1985, there are two 13th region teams that have been crowned state champions, Clay County and South Laurel(They may have been in the 12th at the time) and in the 15th you have Paintsville and Shelby Valley. We do have some good coaches but saying they are superior to coaches in other regions when after they win a weaker region(most years but not every year) and never get past the second round of the tournament is a little extreme.

Some coaches have some very talented players on there team that make them look like better coaches than they really are. That SL group that won the state title was a special group of players. Since that group graduated we've not heard much from Wright and SL. BMR had a special group of players too when he won it. I really do believe he was a great coach though. Maintaining success at a small school like Paintsville over a long period of time is quite an accomplishment. Well see how JB does now that he's coaching in one of the toughest regions in the state.
BTW Perry did beat SV last year because Hatcher out coached JB

[OrangenowBlue]

Some coaches have some very talented players on there team that make them look like better coaches than they really are. That SL group that won the state title was a special group of players. Since that group graduated we've not heard much from Wright and SL. BMR had a special group of players too when he won it. I really do believe he was a great coach though. Maintaining success at a small school like Paintsville over a long period of time is quite an accomplishment. Well see how JB does now that he's coaching in one of the toughest regions in the state.
BTW Perry did beat SV last year because Hatcher out coached JB

With a little assist from the officiating Perry beat SV. In 2002, Danny Bates outcoached Al Holland all over the floor in Whitesburg's semifinal upset win over Perry Central at Perry in the 14th region tourney but that doesn't make him a better coach then Al. Hatcher may have won the battle but Booher won the war as he brought home the biggest trophy of all. Something Hatcher nor Holland have been able to do in Kentucky.

[zaga_fan]

I'm still of the mindset that Hatcher and Holland are the class of the mountains.

[Aslan]

With a little assist from the officiating Perry beat SV. In 2002, Danny Bates outcoached Al Holland all over the floor in Whitesburg's semifinal upset win over Perry Central at Perry in the 14th region tourney but that doesn't make him a better coach then Al. Hatcher may have won the battle but Booher won the war as he brought home the biggest trophy of all. Something Hatcher nor Holland have been able to do in Kentucky.

That game was called down the middle.
Yes, Booher won the state title because he had a great team, special group of kids. Well see how he does at Holmes. He'll probably have more talented teams there but in a much tougher region.
IMO Hatcher and Holland are the two best. But this is my opinion and I could see why you'd disagree :Thumbs:

[OrangenowBlue]

That game was called down the middle.
Yes, Booher won the state title because he had a great team, special group of kids. Well see how he does at Holmes. He'll probably have more talented teams there but in a much tougher region.
IMO Hatcher and Holland are the two best. But this is my opinion and I could see why you'd disagree :Thumbs:

Agree to disagree. I have no problem with that.

[NEXT]

No love for Raymond Justice?

3 region titles, a couple of runner-ups, and an injury to Jim Dotson, in 92' I think, away from possibly winning a title......