Mike Holcomb

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

May 23, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

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: Justin Haddix, whether playing or coaching, is just a freaking winner! @CoachHaddix11, @BCRebelFootball, @BreathittFb, @minguabeefjerky, @bigassfans, @CountyMustangs, @KyHighFootball, @kyhighs, @khsaafootball

May 13, 2025 Fletcher Long 2

Justin Haddix is a mountain legend. Much like Jay Cobb at Trinity, people from outside the mountains tend to forget from where Justin Haddix comes. The important thing is the former WKU QB-ing great hasn’t forgotten. As the Appalachians would be proud to claim, “Justin is one of ours.” Haddix has had a Hall of Fame run both as a player and coach. He still talks with the great Mike Holcomb regularly and the two of them run a QB camp together which convened on Joe MacDaniel field at Andy Frye stadium a year ago. Enjoy this look at a guy who, like Mark Spader, is a future Hall of Famer.

Friday Night Fletch.

Slow Motion Replay: Dixie Jones may have been among the best defensive coordinators the KHSAA has seen and was dad-burn competent in the head job too @bigassfans, @minguabeefjerky, @KyHighFootball, @TriggFootball, @TriggCoAD

May 6, 2025 Fletcher Long 0

We were compiling a list once of the men we thought were the finest five defensive coordinators the KHSAA has ever known. On our list was Jeff Hester, Chuck Smith’s DC at Boyle County; John Paul Chapman, Mike Holcomn’s DC at Breathitt; Mark Spader, Kevin Wallace’s DC at BGHS and now its head coach; Jim “Red Dog” Daughtery, the DC for several years for Dale Mueller at Highlands, and (of course) Dixie Jones, who was the DC for some of Craig Clayton’s more formidable teams in his first run at Hopkinsville High. If we were compiling a list of powerlifting coaches, we might list Dixie five times, as he is the best the sport has ever known. Enjoy this look at an all-time “lifer” in this sport we all cherish and love.

Friday Night Fletch

Slow Motion Replay: Dudley Hilton, the unadulterated King of Log Mountain @BellCountyFB, @SportsOT, @n8_johnson_, @KyHighFootball, @khsaafootball, @minguabeefjerky, @bigassfans, @BCHSNewsGossip

April 1, 2025 Fletcher Long 2

Dudley Hilton was reared by a woman who imparted to his sibling and him the “right stuff.” He has spent 51 or so years imparting that same stuff to the young men he has coached, the young men whose lives he has changed. Enjoy this slow motion replay about a man who may well be in the top two-three coaches the KHSAA has ever known. He makes for a mighty fine friend too. Take a bow, Coach Dudley Hilton! It is your time to be featured.

Friday Night Fletch

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

March 31, 2025 Fletcher Long 1

Ivan McGlone brought the Wing-T offense and stout defense to Russell High in 1976 and translated into 316-wins against 151-losses in 38 years with two KHSAA titles spaced 27-years apart. McGlone would win 344-games total, between his native West Virginia and our beloved Kentucky. A Dawahares KHSAA HOF inductee, McGlone his now wearing a different set of Wings than the wings which define the Wing-T offense. McGlone left behind a legacy of character, success, humor, guidance, and fidelity to his ideals, his family, his team, and his school. Enjoy this look back on an extraordinary life and career.

Friday Night Fletch.

Slow motion replay: Old Coach Holc, revolutionized mountain football @bigassfans, @minguabeefjerky, @BreathittFB, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball, @MCentral_FB, @ChiefSmoke10, @HalMumme, @coachtf

March 29, 2025 Fletcher Long 2

Sometimes the featured photo with our articles is a bit fuzzy. We will never sacrifice the image which best captures our story for “a clear picture.” We are a magazine which focuses on “the written word.” We’re story-tellers, not photographers. We just use any old photograph. There isn’t a darn thing fuzzy about Mike Holcomb and his ability to coach a high school football team. This guy is a coaching genius who was running Mumme-like offense in the Appalachias, where power run schemes go to die, before Hal Mumme ever got to UK. This guy’s inside zone play, out of the spread, hits the line as fast as a fullback belly dive. Enjoy this feature.

Friday Night Fletch

Slow Motion Replay: Hoover Niece, walked 14 miles out of Cane Holler straight into the KHSAA, Dawahares Hall of Fame @EstillAthletics, @LCC_Football, @mjholcomb24, @minguabeefjerky, @bigassfans, @khsaafootball, @KyHighFootball

March 22, 2025 Fletcher Long 2

There were counties in Tennessee where winning a criminal defense case as an attorney was next to impossible. There were counties where the defendant enjoyed a perceived advantage over the government as the constitution intended. The difference between a sway back mule and a thoroughbred was “geography” in most instances. The same may be said about football. There are places where you get good talent and you routinely contend. Then there are places where exceeding .500 is near miraculous. Homer Niece coached at such a place and his efforts there, over a 27-year span, put him in the Hall of Fame and rightfully. Enjoy the feature.

Friday Night Fletch.

Slow Motion Replay: Dan Goble from Christian County High @minguabeefjerky @PrepSpin @KyHighFootball @Christian_Co270 @CountyColonels @BentzelChris @KHSAA @MaxPreps @kyhighs

March 11, 2025 Fletcher Long 9

Dan Goble deserved to be inducted into the KHSAA Hall of Fame for what his teams did on the football field. We helped spearhead this push for his induction and successfully. It is one of the noblest callings for which we have ever been summoned. We were honored to be invested in the search for justice and propriety.

Friday Night Fletch

Blast from the Past: Mike Holcomb, from @MCentral_FB, Wins No. 300! @KyHighFootball @kyhighs @HLpreps @1776Bank @minguabeefjerky @PrepSpin @MaxPreps

February 16, 2025 Henry Lyon 2

Coach Holcomb is a quirky, unique guy who deflects praise and criticism like its the Covid or the “Monkey Pocks.” However, “Old Holc” as we call him around the magazine has gone and accomplished something we aren’t willing to ignore. Congratulations Coach, from your friends at KPGFootball.

Friday Night Fletch