According to an article we once read in Sports Illustrated, the origins of a “Red Dog” referring to a player, slotted in either the defensive second or third level, making an all-out assault on the backfield, commonly referenced as a “blitz,” dates to 1959. It is believed the first “Red Dog” strategy was employed by a LB christened Donald Nesbit Ettinger. Ettinger’s nickname was (you guessed it) “Red Dog.”
Ettinger played both collegiately at the University of Kansas and then later in the NFL for the New York Giants. Notwithstanding his fame, folks around Northern Kentucky will steadfastly tell you Ettinger is far from the most famous person ever nicknamed “Red Dog.”
In Kentucky football circles, that distinction would be entirely the claim of the late and great Jim “Red Dog” Dougherty. Coach Dougherty won a Class 3A State Football Championship as a head coach in 1976 for Erlanger Lloyd, which had also won a title in 1965, in Class A, under another coaching legend in his day, Jack Turner.
There are stories aplenty about “Red Dog” Dougherty, who passed away afflicted with cancer on October 4, 1996. He was the Highland’s defensive coordinator at the time and, the day he perished, Highlands downed Conner 48-19 on it’s way to winning the 1996 State Football Championship in Class 3A over the Hopkinsville Tigers. The Bluebird players and coaching staff dedicated the championship season to the memory of Coach Dougherty immediately after the season.
My favorite Jim “Red Dog” Dougherty story was one from when he was still coaching, though afflicted with the cancer which would ultimately place him at eternal rest. Coach Dougherty didn’t want his players to see him laboring to make it either up or down the hill to Death Valley, a.k.a. the Highlands’ practice field. Coach didn’t want his players to know how very sick he was.
He had someone drive him down the hill in a golf cart before any players had come out for practice (which would have been very early in the morning). After practice, Coach Dougherty would stay down on the field, until the last player had left, so he could be carted back up the hill to his vehicle.
You readers may be wondering how any of this is related to one of Kentucky’s finest ILB’s, Brycen Huddleston, whose father would have played for “Red Dog” Dougherty when his father was a “money,” left-footed, side-winder of a kicker in the early 90’s at Highlands.
Well, you see, Huddleston will be just fine with us high-jacking his feature to spend time remembering one of Kentucky’s most fabled and accomplished football coaches to ever stand on a sideline. His being fine with it is born from more than his playing a position mostly charged with “Red-dogging” the offensive backfield too.
Huddleston is the son of a player who both loved and played for the Highlands’ legendary coach. Dougherty lives on, even today, both in the hearts and minds of Northern Kentucky football fans and in every spirited charge Huddleston, or any other Bluebird defender, makes into an opponent’s backfield.
Brycen is a 6-0, 220-pound missile who is mostly projected to play “Mike” or MLB in college but who presently plays ILB in the 3-5 base defense employed by the Bluebirds. Huddleston had two fumble recoveries for 52 recovery yards in 2018, including a scoop and score, and forced a fumble. Huddleston also recorded an interception in 2018 on his way to a spot on the All-NKY first-team.
Huddleston was a finalist, a year ago, for the TriState Football Defensive Player of the Year. Most importantly, Huddleston both received an offer to play and, has in fact, committed to play collegiately at Eastern Michigan University, as the feature photograph to this article supports.
The Bluebirds look to be back to approaching the prominence of a program which is among the winningest traditions in Kentucky High School football history. Highlands was 10-3 a season ago and lost in the Regional Finals to Covington Catholic.
We predict Huddleston will be “Red-Dogging” Bluebird opponents, in 2019, all over the place. We also predict the next time you see Huddleston coming up the A-gap on a “Red-Dog” you will not only think of him but will also think about the famous coach for whom his own father played, in addition to many other Northern Kentucky fathers, and even grandfathers, Jim “Red Dog” Dougherty.
For that reason, we believe young Brycen will forgive us for spending much of his feature talking about a man who was like an entire area’s granddad. After all, Coach Dougherty had a tremendous impact on generations of Bluebirds, and now lives on in players like Brycen.
This is Coach HB Lyon, reporting for KPGFootball, and we’re JUST CALLING IT LIKE WE SEE IT!
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