
Spader has won over 75% of his games and three 5A titles at Bowling Green Senior
🎶...'Cause you're amazing/Just the way you are...🎶
Bruno Mars, "Just the Way You Are," 2010
It is difficult to follow a legend. There are numerous reasons for that. One is the fact legends are frequently passed down orally which leads to variations over time. Another reason is the likelihood a story may be embellished or exaggerated. Well, Spader followed a coach, in Kevin Wallace, who in 22-seasons at the helm of the Purples, went 254-41, won Class 5A state titles in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2016, and were state runners-up, three (3) straight seasons from 2005-07. Hard to exaggerate that record. Still, what Mark Spader has done in his years at the helm is no less amazing, at least not to us. Spader hasn’t put in 22-years; however, in his seven (7) season as the HFC at Bowling Green (Senior) High, “Bruno” (as we called him in HS) has won over 75% of his games, won three 5A titles (2020, ’23, ’24), and has been runner-up in 2022. That record stacks up with anyones over that period of time especially. We don’t say this lightly, but this guy looks to us to be putting together a Hall of Fame résumé.
HB Lyon, Scouting Director, “KPGFootball”
Bowling Green, KY: Personal disclosure here, I grew up with Mark Spader. I went to high school with Mark Spader. I went to church with the Spader family.

I grew up, attended church, and attended high school with a ton of people I have never featured on this particular forum. I promise you, I report facts and try hard not to let personal biases, or even personal animus, color any of what I write for you, the reader.
When I tell you someone is among the best high school coaches in either today’s or yesterday’s game, you can take that to the bank. Like I have before said (many times), how I feel about anyone I feature doesn’t color the truth, at least not for me.
Now, I am very fond of Mark Spader. I always have been. That shouldn’t be taken to mean I feel the same way toward the subjects of every feature.
I endeavor diligently to dispassionately report to you what I feel to be true. That is why our publication enjoys its spotless reputation for credibility. That and we know how to write a good story.
In high school, we called him “Bruno.” Not every 5’8,” 180-pounder gets to be called “Bruno” by his classmates and comrades in arms. It is a distinguished name with a proud bearing and history.
Bruno is a name which creates the perception of strength and reliability. It was the name of famous wrestler, Bruno Sammartino. It was the name of philosopher, Giordano Bruno. It is a German name meaning “brown,” or “dark.”
Spader played his prep football at Hopkinsville High School and was a huge part of the Tigers’ improbable run to the state title game in Class 3A, in 1984, losing to Danville. Mark Spader started on both sides of the football for HHS, first entering the line-up as a sophomore.
According to his former teammate, Chuck Hughes, who was, himself, a first-team All-Stater and high school, honorable mention, All-American in football; Spader may have well been destined for his adult vocation. Our Chuck Hughes is the same Chuck Hughes who went on to start two years at WKU.
According to Hughes, Spader showed early signs he would, one-day, round into a formidable and accomplished head coach. Hughes told KPGFootball the following:
“The most impressive thing about Mark Spader was Spader’s ability (as a player) to combo at offensive guard and defensive linebacker in spite of his not having an ideal frame to play either.”
Mark [Spader} is the embodiment of toughness and grit
Former WKU OG and All-Stater, Chuck Hughes, on Mark Spader
Hughes continued, “Mark is the embodiment of toughness and grit.” When asked for a particular anecdote demonstrating this characteristic from Spader’s playing days, Hughes provided the following:

“During our senior year, our starting tackle went down with injury. Spader, all 5-8, 180 pounds of him, seamlessly moved out to handle the edge blocking responsibilities at offensive tackle. Here Spader was, consistently out-sized and, even more particularly, out-weighed; but, still able to help his team to advance all the way to the KHSAA championship game.”
Hopkinsville played in the 3A classification during Spader’s senior year which was, at the time, Kentucky’s second largest classification of competition. Hughes summed it up by saying that, “Spader was a smart football player, even then; a real student of the game. These characteristics both have, and will continue to, insure Spader’s ability to succeed at any coaching position, at any level of football.”
Spader has succeeded and mighty well. Spader has been coaching high school football since 1991 with stops at Bowling Green, Warren East, and Warren Central. Spader returned to BGHS, in 2004, and has been there ever since as either an assistant football coach and Athletics Director or its head football coach, a position he assumed beginning with the 2018 season.

Sporting Times
In his seven years as head coach, Spader has won 71-games, lost 23, and won three (3) KHSAA football championships (2020, 2023, 2024). Spader has a winning percentage, at Bowling Green, slightly higher than 75%. Spader’s Purples have played for a fourth title (2022).
In 2022, Spader led his Purples to a 12-3 finish losing in the title-game to Frederick Douglass from Lexington. “Freddy D,” as they are commonly called, was realigned into the 6A classification the following season.
Spader was awarded the Kentucky Football Coach of the Year for 2023-2024 by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Coaches Association. That isn’t the only distinction Spader has garnered as a head coach. Spader won the Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year while at Warren East (2001).
During his time as the Purples’ defensive coordinator, the program won Class 5A state championships in both 2013 and 2015. For building a dominant defensive unit, Spader was named, in 2016, a finalist for the National High School Athletic Coaches Association’s Assistant Football Coach of the Year Award.

Spader, upon his hire, was interview by Mr. Tyler Mansfield with The Sporting Times. Spader told Mansfield, ““I called [Coach Kevin Wallace] today and thanked him once again,” Spader said of Wallace’s influence. “[Wallace] included me on a lot of things — and he didn’t have to. I appreciate him for putting me in that position.”
Regardless of what position Coach Spader believes he was put, Bruno has taken the ball and run with it, full throttle. Spader has assumed a place among the commonwealth’s elite high school head coaches. We believe Spader isn’t many years in the future from assuming another place among the KHSAA’s pantheon of “greats.”
Another “Bruno,” this one with the curious surname of “Mars,” might well remark that Spader is 🎶Amazing/ just the way [he is].🎶 We might well agree.
This is Friday Night Fletch, reporting for KPGFootball, reminding you to PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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