Slow Motion Replay: Ivan McGlone, from the Wing-T to wings, Russell head man an all-timer @reddevilsfball, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball, @minguabeefjerky, @CountyMustangs, @bigassfans

He taught us all the great game of football and the Wing-T… Gary McPeek

Clyde Ivan McGlone was a 1956 graduate of Ceredo-Kenova High in West Virginia. He took the job at Russell Independent High School in 1976 and would keep that job for the next 38-years. Along the way, he would win 316-games in Kentucky, lose 151-times and go 2-1 in KHSAA title games. Counting his 28-wins in four seasons in WV, McGlone won 344-games total. Along the way he road his Wing-T offense and stout defense to a fabulous career until passing and earning wings of an entirely different variety.

HB Lyon, Scouting Director, “KPGFootball”

Flatwoods, KY: Some of the stories we write have been before reported. We don’t mean to step on any toes and we try to give credit where due.

It is important for us to record these stories to forever preserve them for the coming generations of high school football yet to find the field (or us) here in the Bluegrass. Some of these men have been well chronicled, some haven’t. They all deserve to be remembered and celebrated; hence, why we do what we do!

This story we will tell you today was tremendously well covered by Mr. Mark Maynard in a digital publication he distributed (and may still distribute) entitled Mark my Words 2. This guy is quite a fantastic writer and story teller.

This narrative fits. Mr. Maynard was the Managing Editor of Kentucky Today, the digital newspaper of the Kentucky Baptist Convention and worked 42 years for The Daily Independent in Ashland, Kentucky.

Everything about Coach McGlone you could ever hope to know is in an article he first published in 2010 entitled, Coach Ivan McGlone: Friday night hero. Here is a link.

One of the more humorous stories Mr. Maynard tells about the late Ivan McGone is the following:

When Ivan McGlone took the head coaching football job at Russell High School in 1976, he told his wife they weren’t going to move from their home in West Virginia just yet.

“I had just bought a house in December ’75,” he said. “I said ‘Gloria, we could move down there but you never know…’’’

You sure don’t.

Thirty-eight (38) years later, McGlone was still working that job he took in 1976. It was also 316-wins later, two (2) KHSAA titles later, and one induction into the KHSAA Dawahares Hall of Fame later.

I don’t believe Coach McGlone, nor Gloria, ever moved to Flatwoods, Kentucky. However, the McGlones proved themselves to be Russell Red Devils, through and through.

McGlone’s teams ran the Wing-T offense. McGlone brought it with him from Wayne County where he had before run it. It would become the staple of Russell football for four decades.

Fans tend to grumble about conservative offenses. I was covering the championships one year and members of the media were complaining bout having to cover teams in Lexington who appear to have not yet discovered the forward pass.

I assured them they could come west and see teams filling the “Friday Night” air with leather. “Of course, you won’t see them here in Lexington,” I told my intrepid colleagues. “They don’t make it here.”

McGlone, and all the great ones, don’t care how it looks. They only care about what nets the team, program, and community the desired results.

McGlone told Mr. Maynard in his article, “I haven’t convinced everybody [the Wing T] is any good yet,” McGlone said. “To be perfectly honest, I know they don’t like it. (But) It’s what I know.”

“I’ve been waiting on the spread offense for 10-years but nobody knows it,” McGlone concluded. Heck, McGlone was just 100-miles from Breathitt High and Mike Holcomb’s “downhill spread” attack. Old Holc would have shown it to him, but I digress.

McGlone morphed his Wing-T over the years to include motion, a split end, and a planned sweep. In the 2005 state championship game, Kasey Clark aligned in the I-formation and gained 190-yards and scored three times on 36 carries. Clark carried his Red Devils to a 27-14 win over Owensboro Catholic and McGlone’s second title.

When asked about changing what he primarily ran offensively to accommodate such a big game for Clark, McGlone take was, “I’ve always said this: Kasey was more of an I-(formation) back,” McGlone said. “It was kind of strange in that game. We’d go into the I-formation for Kasey and the Wing-T for the bootleg run.”

Great ones change what they do to fit the personnel they have. McGlone adapted his offensive philosophy to fit the talents of Kasey Clark.

For the most part the Wing-T offense and a hard-hitting, ball-hawking defense would be McGlone and Russell calling cards. It is how his teams and he are still remembered.

All in all, McGlone took ten teams to the semifinals. McGlone won titles in 1978 (over Woodford in 3A) and in 2005 (over Owensboro Catholic in 2A). McGlone would take the 2006 team back to Lexington and lose to Marty Jaggers and his Mercer County team 15-12.

Before we leave we want to highlight a funny story about McGlone which highlights how humorous he was. Once in the playoffs, Russell’s field didn’t have much grass on it.

Coach McGlone was talking to the opponent’s head coach and pointed to a small patch of green on the field. He told this coach, “We try to get rid of this grass, but it keeps creeping back onto the field.”

McGlone was making light of the field condition to apologize to the opposing head coach about the field condition. Yessir, that sums up McGlone pretty dad-burn well!

My God, do we ever miss him!

This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!

If you enjoyed this article and wish to gain full-access to the site, then subscribe monthly to Kentucky Prep Gridiron by following the prompts!

© The information contained on this site is the copyrighted intellectual property of KPGFootball. Any unauthorized dissemination of this material without the author’s express written consent is strictly prohibited!