Top coach question debatable
Jerry from Monroeville writes in this week with a great high school football question: Mr. Peacock, I'd like to get your opinion on something that me and my friends have been debating for years. In your opinion, who is the greatest high school football coach in the county's history? My vote is for Lee Holladay, who coached at Excel. What do you think?
Well, Jerry, this is the sort of question that's hard to answer with any real certainty, but I'll give it a shot. To come up with an answer, let's take a look at how the 59 head football coaches in the county's modern history, 1966-2004, have performed in eight different categories: state championships, career winning percentage, total wins, 10-win seasons, trips to the playoffs, playoff wins, playoff performance and longevity.
State championships: There's little doubt that Monroe Academy's S.M. "Mac" Champion is tops in this category. He won four state championships in his five seasons at MA.
Three other coaches in the county's history have led teams to state championships. Excel's Carvell Rowell led Excel to the Class 1A state championship in 1969. Gary Caldwell led MA to a state championship in 2001. Rob Kelly led MA to a state championship in 1979.
Winning percentage: Champion leads the pack in this category also. Champion posted a record of 61-3-1 during his five seasons at MA, a winning percentage of .938. Rowell follows with a career winning percentage of .864. He posted a 19-3 record during his two seasons at Excel.
Total wins: Excel's Lee Holladay won more single games than any other coach in the county's history. In his 14 seasons at Excel, he won 101 games, an average of about seven wins a season. John Wiley comes in second in the total wins category with 98 total wins during his 18 seasons at J.F. Shields in Beatrice.
10-win seasons: One of the more difficult tasks for a high school football coach is to put together a 10-win season, and no coaches in our county's history have done it better than Excel's Bo Bishop and MA's Mac Champion. Bishop put together five-straight 10-win seasons from 1987 to 1991. Champion also put together five-straight 10-win seasons from 1970 to 1974.
Ten other coaches have 10-win seasons to their credit. Lee Holladay collected four 10-win seasons during his career at Excel. Rob Kelly posted three 10-win seasons in his time at MA. Keith Cardwell and Gary Caldwell collected two 10-win seasons each. Howard Busby, Al Bowen, Carvell Rowell, Scott Fountain, K.J. Lazenby and Vance McCrory all coached their way to one 10-win season each during their careers in Monroe County.
Trips to the playoffs: No coach in the county's history took their team to the playoffs more often than Wiley at Shields. Wiley took the Panthers to the playoffs on 11 different occasions. Surprisingly, Wiley never won a playoff game, posting an 0-11 mark in the playoffs during his career at Shields. Excel's Al Bowen comes in second with nine trips to the playoffs. His predecessor, Bo Bishop, took Excel to the playoffs seven times.
Playoff Wins: Champion went 14-1 in playoff games during his time at MA to lead the county in total playoff wins. Excel's Bo Bishop follows with nine total playoff wins during his career. MA's Caldwell comes in third with six total playoff wins.
Playoff Performance: Excel's Carvell Rowell is the only coach in the county's history to have a perfect playoff record. While he only went to the playoffs once in his career, he led Excel to the state championship during that one trip. Not to take anything away from his championship or Excel's 1969 team, but it can be argued that winning a state championship was easier in Rowell's day since the playoffs only consisted of two rounds.
MA's Champion comes in second with a playoff winning percentage of .933. MA's Caldwell comes in third with a playoff winning percentage of .667.
Scott Fountain, who coached a season at MCHS and three seasons at Frisco City, follows with a playoff winning percentage of .600. Excel's Bo Bishop rounds out the top five with a playoff winning percentage of .563.
Longevity: John Wiley coached football longer in Monroe County than any other coach in the modern era. He spent 18 seasons at J.F. Shields, from 1972 to 1989. Considering that the average tenure for head football coaches in the county is 4.0 years, that's not bad. Wiley also coached more single games (183) than any other head football coach in the county.
Keith Cardwell comes in second in the category of longevity. Cardwell coached a total of 17 seasons - 13 seasons at Blacksher and four seasons at MCHS. He coached 176 total games.
Only three other coaches coached 100 or more games during their careers in Monroe County - Excel's Lee Holladay (142 games), Excel's Al Bowen (102 games) and Blacksher's Buddy Rhodes (100 games).
In the end, to answer Jerry's question, here's my personal ranking of the 10 best head football coaches in the county's modern history:
1. S.M. "Mac" Champion
2. Bo Bishop
3. Carvell Rowell
4. Lee Holladay
5. Gary Caldwell
6. Rob Kelley
7. Al Bowen
8. Howard Busby
9. John Wiley
10. Keith Cardwell
Well, Jerry, this is the sort of question that's hard to answer with any real certainty, but I'll give it a shot. To come up with an answer, let's take a look at how the 59 head football coaches in the county's modern history, 1966-2004, have performed in eight different categories: state championships, career winning percentage, total wins, 10-win seasons, trips to the playoffs, playoff wins, playoff performance and longevity.
State championships: There's little doubt that Monroe Academy's S.M. "Mac" Champion is tops in this category. He won four state championships in his five seasons at MA.
Three other coaches in the county's history have led teams to state championships. Excel's Carvell Rowell led Excel to the Class 1A state championship in 1969. Gary Caldwell led MA to a state championship in 2001. Rob Kelly led MA to a state championship in 1979.
Winning percentage: Champion leads the pack in this category also. Champion posted a record of 61-3-1 during his five seasons at MA, a winning percentage of .938. Rowell follows with a career winning percentage of .864. He posted a 19-3 record during his two seasons at Excel.
Total wins: Excel's Lee Holladay won more single games than any other coach in the county's history. In his 14 seasons at Excel, he won 101 games, an average of about seven wins a season. John Wiley comes in second in the total wins category with 98 total wins during his 18 seasons at J.F. Shields in Beatrice.
10-win seasons: One of the more difficult tasks for a high school football coach is to put together a 10-win season, and no coaches in our county's history have done it better than Excel's Bo Bishop and MA's Mac Champion. Bishop put together five-straight 10-win seasons from 1987 to 1991. Champion also put together five-straight 10-win seasons from 1970 to 1974.
Ten other coaches have 10-win seasons to their credit. Lee Holladay collected four 10-win seasons during his career at Excel. Rob Kelly posted three 10-win seasons in his time at MA. Keith Cardwell and Gary Caldwell collected two 10-win seasons each. Howard Busby, Al Bowen, Carvell Rowell, Scott Fountain, K.J. Lazenby and Vance McCrory all coached their way to one 10-win season each during their careers in Monroe County.
Trips to the playoffs: No coach in the county's history took their team to the playoffs more often than Wiley at Shields. Wiley took the Panthers to the playoffs on 11 different occasions. Surprisingly, Wiley never won a playoff game, posting an 0-11 mark in the playoffs during his career at Shields. Excel's Al Bowen comes in second with nine trips to the playoffs. His predecessor, Bo Bishop, took Excel to the playoffs seven times.
Playoff Wins: Champion went 14-1 in playoff games during his time at MA to lead the county in total playoff wins. Excel's Bo Bishop follows with nine total playoff wins during his career. MA's Caldwell comes in third with six total playoff wins.
Playoff Performance: Excel's Carvell Rowell is the only coach in the county's history to have a perfect playoff record. While he only went to the playoffs once in his career, he led Excel to the state championship during that one trip. Not to take anything away from his championship or Excel's 1969 team, but it can be argued that winning a state championship was easier in Rowell's day since the playoffs only consisted of two rounds.
MA's Champion comes in second with a playoff winning percentage of .933. MA's Caldwell comes in third with a playoff winning percentage of .667.
Scott Fountain, who coached a season at MCHS and three seasons at Frisco City, follows with a playoff winning percentage of .600. Excel's Bo Bishop rounds out the top five with a playoff winning percentage of .563.
Longevity: John Wiley coached football longer in Monroe County than any other coach in the modern era. He spent 18 seasons at J.F. Shields, from 1972 to 1989. Considering that the average tenure for head football coaches in the county is 4.0 years, that's not bad. Wiley also coached more single games (183) than any other head football coach in the county.
Keith Cardwell comes in second in the category of longevity. Cardwell coached a total of 17 seasons - 13 seasons at Blacksher and four seasons at MCHS. He coached 176 total games.
Only three other coaches coached 100 or more games during their careers in Monroe County - Excel's Lee Holladay (142 games), Excel's Al Bowen (102 games) and Blacksher's Buddy Rhodes (100 games).
In the end, to answer Jerry's question, here's my personal ranking of the 10 best head football coaches in the county's modern history:
1. S.M. "Mac" Champion
2. Bo Bishop
3. Carvell Rowell
4. Lee Holladay
5. Gary Caldwell
6. Rob Kelley
7. Al Bowen
8. Howard Busby
9. John Wiley
10. Keith Cardwell
posted by Lee Peacock at 2:20 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home