Slow motion replay

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

Slow Motion Replay: Mark Dixon from Perry County Central is Integrity Personified @PCCHSFootball, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball, @minguabeefjerky, @bigassfans

May 30, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

Mark Dixon is among the best coaches still coaching today in the KHSAA. He is only two wins from 200 and has a title with three other trips to the title game under his belt already. He is entering his 23rd season at the helm of a football team and has won 71% of the games he has coached. Of course, what would you expect from Bill Dixon’s nephew and a former SEC college baseball player for the Ole Miss Rebels. Enjoy him while you can because his kind doesn’t come around too often.

Friday Night Fletch

Slow Motion Replay: (Article No. 3,000) Lynn Ray, paved the way for success today! @CovCathFootball, @EddieEviston, @CovCathColonels, @bigassfans, @minguabeefjerky, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball

May 27, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

You will notice we pictured Lynn Ray with his wife of many years as the “featured photograph” to this piece. There is a reason for that. Football wives suffer everything their husband’s endure and they do it without the least bit of fanfare nor credit. Well, we should say “outside credit.” Coaches know how valuable and faithful and supportive wife is to a lifetime of coaching and how quickly a poor choice, in the wife department, can derail a career. Today we detail the career of a guy who was a fine player for Roy Kidd at EKU and constructed the machine we now know as Covington Catholic. Lynn Ray was 5-0 in title games and won approximately 64% of his games at a place which had no practice field, no football stadium, and 34 wins in its 8 year history prior to Ray’s retention. Enjoy the feature.

Friday Night Fletch

Slow Motion Replay: Bob Beatty from Trinity, coaching champions, not friends @TrinityHSFB, @trinitysports, @LarryInMissouri, @MoSportsHall, @bigassfans, @minguabeefjerky, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball

May 26, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

Bob Beatty didn’t have 17-year old friends. Beatty coached 17-year old champions. Over a 21-year period at the KHSAA’s most revered, respected, and successful football programs (largely owing to him), the former OC at William Jewell College in Missouri wracked up 15-titles in 17-trips to the finals of the KHSAA’s largest classification. In 21-years, Beatty won nearly 86% of the games he coached (255-wins in 298 games played) and finished the year in the title game 81% of the time, winning the title approximately 72% of the time. That is a run of success to which no other coach in the history of the KHSAA can lay claim. This guy here may have been “The Best.”

Friday Night Fletch

Slow Motion Replay: Parlez-vous français? Oui, nous parlons parfaitement français à Middlesboro Kentucky; Larry French has Middlesboro speaking his language perfectly well @MboroFootball, @SizemoreBraylon, @BoysGirls13th, @bigassfans, @minguabeefjerky, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball

May 25, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

Larry French has one of the better “coaching trees” among the all-time greats across Kentucky. French’s tree includes Jean Rollins, Larry Mofield, Chuck Smith, Clay Clevenger, Brad Hood, David Buchanan, and Jack Robertson. Several of these guys have been featured in this magazine. At least two of them have been featured in our “Slow Motion Replay” which was designed to highlight the all-time guys. David Buchanan’s dad, John, hired Ed Rall at Boyle and Larry French at Mercer…. both guys right out of college, so French was even mentored by and all-timer and coached with several others. Enjoy this look at KY’s third winningest coach, all-time, and a guy likely to join the 400+ wins club before too much longer.

Friday Night Fletch

Slow Motion Replay: Mark Brown started his career without any guarantees, but fulfilled his contract with the kids he coached @OwensboroSports, @1027TheGame, @bigassfans, @minguabeefjerky, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball,@EtownFB, @FULLNELSONFOOT1

May 24, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

Mark Brown thought he would build a dynasty at one high school. In the end he built a dynasty which expanded across four (4) high schools and 38-years. Along the way, Brown won over 70% of his games, won 331-times against 140-losses, and took his alma mater, Nelson County, to the 4A title in 1996 in a thrilling 35-34 OT victory over Lexington’s Paul Dunbar High and its legendary HFC, Mike Meighan. It is Nelson County’s only football title in program history. We haven’t a clue what you would call such a record. We would call it a fine résumé. Enjoy this feature.

Friday Night Fletch

Slow Motion Replay: Monty Joe Lovell and his Madison Model High ‘Royal Purples’ @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball, @minguabeefjerky, @bigassfans, @MCentral_FB,

May 23, 2025 Fletcher Long 1

We have been featuring some of the greatest football coaches to ever grace a sideline in our Slow Motion Replay series. We have an entire panel of “experts” who guide and direct our selections. Not everyone appearing on this or that “All-Time” list is amongst the greatest in the coaching department as there is more to coaching than raw wins-losses. This guy here, Monty Joe Lovell, had an incredible run as both an athlete and coach in the Richmond, Kentucky area at the old Madison Model High School. He was yearly in contention for state supremacy for his 11-years and took his team to the 1A title game in 1979 dropping a heart breaker to Bellevue, 7-0. Lovell would lose playoff games to the likes of Poppa Joe Jaggers and Marshall Patterson, two all-time Hall of Famers both of whom struggled to beat Lovell and both of whom (Jaggers in ’72 and Patterson in ’78) went on to win it all. Enjoy this look at a truly remarkable former football coach.

Friday Night Fletch

Slow Motion Replay: Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf(e)? Perhaps everyone should be! @MaleBulldogs, @LMHSCoachWolfe, @Aspirationsgym, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball, @minguabeefjerky, @bigassfans

May 22, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

We don’t know ultimately who’s afraid of the big, bad Wolfe; but we know who should be…the teams having to face the Bulldogs this coming Fall. Chris Wolfe has been among the very best coaches in the business since he took his first job at Hancock County in 1997 and quickly led them to a 10-3 finish in 1998. Wolfe then went 46-25 at Waggener (1999-2004), taking them to the 2000 semis, and finally 18-16 at Pleasure Ridge Park (2005-2007) before landing at Male High as Bobby Redman’s successor. This is a pass-first, explosive play hunting, offensive innovator who recognized he would have to move the ball, through the air, and for large chunks of production to regularly compete with and overcome the teams in Louisville he would have to schedule. Enjoy this feature, Tra la la la la.

Friday Night Fletch