Coach Profiles

Slow Motion Replay: Sam Simpson, over his 27-year career at Henry Clay provided Blue Devil fans lots of shining moments @HCHSDevilsFB, @HCHS_Athletics, @MarionCoKnights, @KyHighFootball, @khsaafootball, @minguabeefjerky, @bigassfans

June 16, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

Sam Simpson went 32-years coaching at two places not easy to win ball games. Marion County was five years and the other 27 were spent in Lexington at Henry Clay High. Simpson won 193-games at Henry Clay, taking the Blue Devils to one of its two visits to the title game. Henry Clay beat St. Francis DeSales back in 1981 for the 4A title under Jack Bell. Simpson would take the team on an improbably four (4) game run through the playoffs which ultimately ended in the title game against Mike Glasur’s Tigers. Well, that ended up like matchups with St. Xavier often do, with the Tigers leaving the field with victory. Enjoy this installment of our “Slow Motion Replay” series.

Friday Night Fletch

KPGFootball’s Preseason Top-Five (6A) @bigassfans, @minguabeefjerky, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball

June 15, 2025 Fletcher Long 1

It is that time of year. It is time to start figuring which teams, entering the ’25 season, figure to factor in the title chase. We have detailed what we think here and it is based on our study of the incoming, ’25 rosters, what players return, what players graduated, and other various factors we have perfected through the years to render such predictions. We plan to do this for all of Kentucky’s six (6) classifications and there is no guarantee we will go in order from the top down, or the bottom to the top. There are good football teams in the KHSAA and there are bad ones and those teams span all of the six classes. Enjoy today’s look at 6A. Keep checking back as we may drop another class any time we feel like it.

Friday Night Fletch

Slow Motion Replay: Walter Brugh was ‘The Big Blue Legend’ at Paintsville High @PaintsvilleFB, @PaintsvilleHS, @MichaelBrughArt, @CitadelFootball, @minguabeefjerky, @bigassfans, @KyHighFootball, @khsaafootball

June 13, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

I, for one, miss the old time football coaches like Walter Brugh from Paintsville. Often the “greats” from these days end up among the all-timers. This guy here fits that bill. Brugh went to the title game twice, in 1978 and in 1985. Each trip netted him a tight ball game which pitted him against two other Hall of Famers, Marshall Patterson in 1978 and Pat Gates in 1985. We have before mused around the magazine how often two hall of fame guys find themselves pitted against the other at that level. It is uncanny. Enjoy this look at a coach who retired in 1994 the KHSAA’s all time leader in wins. He has since been eclipsed but remains pretty high on the all-time wins list. The “Big Blue Legend” himself, Walter Brugh. Try to learn a thing or two.

Friday Night Fletch

Jericho Butler, The ‘Sack Master’ of Henderson County @minguabeefjerky, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball, @HCCols_Football, @bigassfans

June 10, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

Henderson County has a long storied football tradition. We all remember a time Coach Randy Reese had the Colonels ranked at the top of Kentucky in both 1987 and 1988. We all remember his winning five (5) consecutive districts before bolting for Warren East. Coach Boston had a few good years before stepping down at the end of the 2024 season. Coach John Elliott take the reins and this isn’t his first Henderson, Kentucky rodeo having twice been on the staff at the school prior to his being named the head coach. Elliott is an inductee into the Indiana High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame so no one will be taking it easy on any John Elliott coach time, if you catch my drift. Elliott will not find the cupboard barren, as he returns last year’s “Sack Master,” Jericho Butler. Enjoy the feature.

Friday Night Fletch

Lucas Fint, 2028 Nose from Scott County is the @bigassfans Kentucky Comfort Creator of the Week @FintLucas, @cards_football, @JermaineDHarmon, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball, @minguabeefjerky

June 5, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

Lucas Flint may be the strongest rising sophomore in KHSAA history. Fling it 6’1,” and weighs 285-pounds. He has bench pressed 405, squatted 555, power cleaned 275, and runs the 40-yard dash in a cool 4.9-seconds. He’s 15-freaking-years-old. This cat had 29-tackles playing 5A football in the commonwealth of Kentucky a year ago for a team routinely in the hunt for the 5A title. He plays for one of the best coaches to have ever walked a sideline and he is perfectly positioned to turn into a very highly recruited prospect. We love his frame, right now, for where he is projected to play next level, which is nose. He could turn around and make a “Drake Jackson-type” center on the offensive side, next level too. Lucas Franklin Flint, better learn the name now because everyone will want to know it in just a couple short years. Let’s keep it comfortable out there, Kentucky, and allow us to help you out in that regard.

Friday Night Fletch

Slow Motion Replay: Allan Cox, from war hero to football coaching icon @pths_football, @westkystar, @Doug_Preston1, @LCAEAGLESFB, @MSUEaglesFB, @minguabeefjerky, @bigassfans, @KyHighFootball, @khsaafootball, @UTM_FOOTBALL

June 4, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

Often times you can tell a lot about one legend with how well or poorly he fairs against another legend or legends. For Allan Cox, he owned a 7-3 record against Jack Morris and “Mighty Mayfield” in 10-appearances against him as the head football coach of “The Blue Tornado.” That is really remarkable. Cox posted 106-wins over an 11-season run with five trips to the title game, winning the whole enchilada in 1985. On top of all of that, Coach Cox was a war hero in Vietnam, returning home with his entire platoon alive and being awarded “The Bronze Star” with a “V” device for valor in combat. This guy was a football coach’s, football coach. Enjoy the feature.

Friday Night Fletch

Slow Motion Replay: Jack Haskins rode off into history, like one tin soldier @McCrackenStangs, @pths_football, @TCEonSGPN, @KyHighFootball, @khsaafootball, @minguabeefjerky, @bigassfans

June 3, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

This may prove to be the longest article of the series. This is already the longest series in magazine history. It is something else too. It is the most important undertaking we have ever before attempted. It is critically important we remember this guys before they fade into the dustbin of our collective memories. Jack Haskins did something in WKY we thought we would see. In a sea of “ground and pound” offenses and steady, “crowd the run box” defenses, Haskins filled the Friday Night air with leather. Of course, when you have 1989’s “Mr. Football” at QB, Pookie Jones, you have to incorporate an offensive system which complements your personnel. That is what Haskins did at Calloway County and the landscape, out west, has never looked the same. Enjoy this installment of this series featuring a guy who was a revolutionary, offensively, to the KHSAA game.

Friday Night Fletch

Slow Motion Replay: Noel Rash built a tremendous legacy at Beechwood @BeechwoodFB, @beechwood_tiger, @PikevilleHSFB, @bigassfans, @minguabeefjerky, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball, @CentreFootball

June 3, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

Noah from the Bible’s Ark isn’t the only famous “Noah.” He wouldn’t be the first famous “Noel” either, which is slightly more germane. The biblical “Noah” is just the most renown, “Noah.” Our “Noel,” not to be confused with “Noah,”the one with the surname “Rash,” who was pretty obviously NOT named for the original “Noah” is pretty famous too. Noel Rash helped construct the Ark of powerhouse football being captained around the Northern Kentucky area and the KHSAA. Rash won 200-games and eight (8) titles run 17-years before riding off into the sunset. Rash is missed, but they were winning championships at Beechwood before him and they will win titles after him, as they have in fact done. Still, we should take a moment to recognize and remember a coach who did it as well as anyone has before or since. Enjoy this installment of our “Slow Motion Replay” series as we look back at Noel Rash.

Friday Night Fletch

Slow Motion Replay: The Pride of Haggerhill, Kentucky, Jim Matney @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball, @bigassfans, @minguabeefjerky, @jcfootball2025, @TTChilders, @ChrisStapleton, @JRVanHoose

June 2, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

Jim Matney was simply among the best high school football and wrestling coaches the Appalachias has ever produced. I had the privilege of getting to interact with him on several occasions as a newspaper editor of a 135 or more year old newspaper in Jackson, KY. Matney always made me feel like I was a big shot. Of course, I was sort of a big shot because I was hanging around him. Enjoy this look at an all-timer in the estimation of just about everyone.

Friday Night Fletch

Slow Motion Replay: Paul Rains; Lord he was born a rambling man @coachpaulrains, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball, @minguabeefjerky, @bigassfans, @GCwarhawksfball, @LCAKYEagles, @LCAEAGLESFB

June 1, 2025 Fletcher Long 2

Paul Rains won a title at LCA over Mayfield in 2009, two years after coming up just three points short to Beechwood. Rains had these guys yearly in discussion. Rains, over 29-years, won 209-games and a title while journeying all over Kentucky and competing at various classifications. No doubt in our mind Paul Rains is among the greatest of all-time football coaches across this great commonwealth. Rains was the consummate “Rambin’ Man.” Enjoy this feature and remember, in the end, we’re all just trying to make a living doing the best that we can.

Friday Night Fletch