Coaches Office with guest Coach Phillip Hawkins

The coaches guest is Bryan Station Coach Phil Hawkins plus the tough topic, playoff games and the Forgotten Heroes.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Coach David Buchanan coach Chuck Smith, two legendary high school
football coaches. This is the Coach's Office, a behind the
scenes look at Kentucky high school football.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Welcome to the Coach's Office, behind the Scenes with Chuck
Smith and David Buchanan. This is season three, episode thirteen.
I'm Chuck Smith. I'm joined by co host David Buchanan,
podcast editor, flashback storyteller Mike Yoakum, and our social media
manager is Noah King. Our YouTube version of this podcast

(01:08):
is at at TCOPT dot C, dot O, dot P
and when you access it, if you would hit like
and subscribe, it helps us out. We have a great
show lined up for you tonight. We have Brian Station
head football coach Philip Hawkins as our guest coach tonight.

(01:28):
Brian Station and coach Hawkins has had tremendous success since
he took over the program in twenty twenty, and we're
going to find out all about that in just a
few minutes. We'll bring you on here in just a second.
Mike Yoakum has got our tough topic for us tonight,

(01:50):
and this question is what is the shelf life of
a high school or a college at football coach. Boy,
has that changed over the years.

Speaker 3 (01:59):
With you know, the.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
Dynamic structure of restructure of college football. But we'll get
to that in just a second. And in the games
of the week, David and I are going to pick
the ones we think would be the closest score margin
in round two. This is round two of the playoffs.
You know, it's a big night, you know for high

(02:23):
school football across the state of Kentucky. So it's going
to be it's going to be an awesome night. It's
going to be a great show.

Speaker 4 (02:30):
Here.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
I'm going to tell you a little bit about coach
Hawkins before we bring you on. As I said, he
is the head football coach at Brian Station High School,
which is a six to a program. Coach Hawkins was
hired in twenty twenty to take over the Brian Station
football program. He actually played his college his college football

(02:54):
at the University of Washington, which I didn't know for
Don James, I believe, and wow, I didn't know that.
That's pretty awesome. And he was also the Coach of
the Year Kentucky Football Coach of the Year in twenty
twenty for his I think they were ten and two
that year. He was the head coach at Apollo for

(03:15):
two seasons twenty eighteen twenty nineteen, and he also was
the head coach of Dalls High School in twenty seventeen
and he led Dalls to their first district championship. And
over twenty years, wow, he's coached in multiple All American Games,

(03:36):
the twenty seventeen Adivas All American Game, the twenty fourteen
sixteen US Army All American Game, he coached in twenty ten, eleven,
and thirteen in the US Army Youth All American Game,
and in twenty twelve he was inducted into the Middle

(03:56):
School Football Hall of Fame. So coach has had a
lot of success, a lot of experience. Here's what he's
done at Brian Station. In twenty twenty when he took over,
they went ten and two and made it to the
third round. In twenty one they went ten and two
and made it to the second round, and in twenty
twenty two they were ten and four and made it

(04:18):
to the fourth round. And then last year in twenty three,
they were eleven and four and they were state runner ups.
Well I mean that, I mean, that's that's that's a
great four year run in the six A program like
Brian Station, David, you want to bring coach Hawkins on.

Speaker 4 (04:34):
Hey, I do, and you know I got to see
that twenty twenty one team up close. My son trispas
our quarterback. And you know, coach, You're probably going to
be a billing in our household for the decades to
come because that game got rough. I mean, you all
beat the nod out of Trospord. So anyway, a lady

(04:56):
in that game, I mean, he hung in there, but guys,
it was brutals. Anyway, he comes to the sideline late
in the fourth he's like shaking his head, unstabbed. He says,
I see nothing. I see nothing, And I'm like, well,
that just means we got to get better because he
took a lot of pride in and seeing things and
hey we can do this or that. That night he's like, man,

(05:17):
there ain't nothing there but the best one though, was
there at the end of that game. I don't know
if you remember that pick six. At the end he
throws that pick six, and I mean he is dying
and is high and he has just gotten the snot
be out of him. So I don't want to be
too tough on him. So your kids just run down
the sideline, touchdown and here comes Trosfer and I'm and

(05:40):
I'm like, I said, Hey, I said, listen, I said,
I appreciate you trying to make a plague, but sometimes
you got just throw it away. He says, I was
trying to throw it away and he just he couldn't
get it there. But coach, you do a great job.
And I've seen firsthand. And uh, and you got Harry
Lewis with with you. It is really an honor to

(06:01):
have you here. And like I said, I've seen first
ad you do a great job. Coach.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
Thank you for being here, well, thank you very much.
Of course, this is an honor for me to be
with you guys tonight. And you know, I'm always excited
to talk about Brian Station football, but I do appreciate
the opportunity. Great.

Speaker 4 (06:19):
Thanks for being here.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
Yeah, I appreciated coach. Hey, I got the first question
for you, Philip. I'm not sure that any coach in
the state of Kentucky has had a bigger impact on
their program than you have had at Brian Station since
you took over in twenty twenty. I really don't I
really don't know if another coach has had that kind
of impact. How did you get that culture change so fast?

(06:44):
And to kind of set the stage a little bit
if you don't know, before coach Hawkins took over, and
I already told you what they did from twenty twenty
all the way up to last year as the state
runner up. Prior to him taking over, Brian Station had
won six games total in the previous three years. So
that's two games a season for the previous on the

(07:06):
average the previous three years. And then he took over
and they've been tended to tended, two tended too and
then a state runner up last year. Back to the question, coach,
how did you get that culture turned so fast?

Speaker 3 (07:20):
You know? I think I think probably the most important
thing is when I got hired. You know, you have
to evaluate what the problems are, you know, and and
that takes take some time and take some hard questions
of people, and you know, you have to evaluate what
was not working. Obviously you don't want to follow that path.

(07:40):
And you know, our goal really was to my first year.
I was trying to have a winning season, be five
and five, you know, and because they had had some
struggles but what we really did was raise the bar
so high. You know, it seemed ridiculous to the kids,
you know, down to how they dressed at practice, and

(08:01):
we just we set the bar super high, and we said,
you know, the kids are gonna they're either gonna achieve it,
you know, or we're a bus And you know what,
the kids bought in because somebody told them this is
the way we're gonna do things. And and you know,
it was amazing to watch these kids respond, you know,

(08:21):
going from I think they were actually three and eight
the year before, going from you know, three and eighteen,
new guy they weren't familiar with. He's gonna convince us
that we're gonna try to win ten games, and and
we just said, this is this is where we're going
to elevate the program, and we're gonna keep kids that
want to be a part of that. And and the

(08:42):
kids responded, honestly, they you know, I think that the
more I pushed them, the more they achieved. And we
just went with it. I mean, we set a super
high bar and the expectations were extremely high. And I
don't mean just for football. It was for attendance, it
was for academics, it was for everything. Plus it was

(09:02):
in the middle of COVID. It was a super hard sell.
You know. I didn't get to interact with them in
the building as much, and because we weren't in school
and I didn't get to see any potentially new kids
that first year. We just convinced the kids that showed
up on day one that they're better than this. And
we also I made them understand that the history of

(09:25):
Brown Station football and some of the great NFL players,
you know, so the talents are there, you can be
a part of this, but we got to right the
ship and this is the way we're going to do it.
And they they bought in.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
Did you did you lose many coach with high expectations
or did they or did they want that or they
want to be challenged? Well?

Speaker 3 (09:46):
I did some extreme things.

Speaker 4 (09:47):
You know.

Speaker 3 (09:48):
We started with some basic things like if we're in
green shirt shirts and black shorts today, one percent of
you are going to be in that. And if they
showed up to practice and they weren't in those things
that I provided, so you know, I provided each kid
multiple shorts, multiple shirts. If they didn't have it on,
we just had them call their parents to come get them.

(10:11):
You know, we're not we're not coming inside. We're not
coming inside the fence. And we only had to do
it a couple of times. Once you do that a
couple of times and everybody says, okay, he's not messing
around about this item, then it was attendance to practice
and being punctual. And so we just if there was
a kid missing, we started counting the minutes and however

(10:31):
many minutes they were late is how many you know,
gasers we ran. And eventually that went away pretty fast,
you know, and it stayed away from the program. We
just set the standard enough to where when we did
get back in the school building, the kids did the
work for you. They knew if a kid could play
at Brin's station or not. They knew if that kid

(10:52):
could make it through all the expectations. So they started
doing the work for me, you know, they started bringing
me kids and coaches kids. These grades, got great grades.
He comes from a good family, he does the right things.
Let's bring him in, not bring him in, we teach
him how to play football. So you know that that's
really the results. I mean, we didn't have a lot

(11:13):
of kickback from some of the things we did. They
just had to do it.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yeah, detail matters, right, and sounds like you're kids. Your
kids wanted that detail, they wanted that structure.

Speaker 3 (11:24):
Sounds like yeah, And it's a hard sell coming you know.
They did have some struggles in the years leading up
to me being there, so it's a little bit of
a hard sell for a stranger. You know, Hey, this
guy thinks we're going to do this. And once they
realized that this is the expectation, and my coaching staff
that I hired, you know, they they supported me in

(11:45):
every decision, and I'm sure some of them thought he's
lost his mind. There's no way these kids are going
to do this. But then they've started believing, oh, well,
you know what, they do do it. It got to
where some kids would bring all three shorts and all
three shots make sure they had the right down and
I'm okay with that.

Speaker 4 (12:03):
Yeah. Well, hey, coach, there's no doubt your team peaks
at the right time. Each year. You go from being
good in six A, do you you're a state title
contender and that's that's significant in six A. I mean
that's that means you're playing really good football. How do
you make that happen every season. How do you how
do you peek at the right time.

Speaker 3 (12:23):
You know, I think one of the things people have
have you know, mentioned about what I do is I
schedule extremely tough at the beginning of the year. You know,
this year was no different. We started out with three
state champions in a row, and you know, from Trinity
to Boil to Bowling Green to Ballard, who we played
in the semi finals. You know, that's a tough road.

(12:45):
But I feel like I learn a lot from losses.
I hate losses, but I turn them into lessons and
we can learn a lot about our kids are Also,
our kids aren't afraid of big games because I've put
them in huge games. So we just take that information
as we go throughout the year. I'm a little different

(13:07):
about my season. I want to see what things work.
I want to see how kids react to different things,
you know, how other teams react to what we're doing,
and we just gathered that information throughout the season. It's
important to win the district championship, but you know, last
year we were runner up in the district and then
the state championship game. So we took what we learned

(13:29):
from that district loss and applied it to help us
make a run too. I mean when the playoffs came
this year, it was no different. Okay, what were we
really good at this year, Let's narrow down to that
and let's get even better at those items. And that's
the identity of the program because I do believe that
playing this high level competition early in the year, Yeah,

(13:53):
if you're chasing w's and you know you're a win guy,
you know, sometimes those successes don't last has the first
round playoffs. So you know, I think the reason we've
been able to navigate some through the playoffs is as
we've put our kids through the gauntlet, we've we've the
expectations are still the same in our early scheduling, and

(14:14):
you know, I think by the time they do get
to the playoffs, who else are they going to see?
They've seen the best programs that the state has to offer,
and they made it out of it. Might have took
that butt whipping in one of those games, but there
was a lot learned from that butt whipping. We learned
you know, this kid's ready, this kid's not, you know,

(14:37):
and we just are as a staff, we just constantly
evaluating and evaluating knowing that as soon as that last
season game is over, we may have to flip a
total different switch. We may have to recreate off the
information we gained, and that's a tough, scary thing to do.
But these are not new things to the kids. It's

(14:58):
things that we just take and that worked. This worked
in week one, This worked against Trendy, This worked against Boil,
which not a lot worked against Boil, but we did
find some things he did and we figure out how
that fits and can we make a make these things
work to push us forward, and that's really what it is.

(15:19):
We also preach week fifteen and that was a hard sale.
That's part of the culture change. When you used to
not either not making the playoffs or being done in
the first round of the playoffs, it's a hard sale. Guys.
Our goal is to go to Kroger Field, So we
got to continue to preach that. That was our moniker

(15:40):
this year. At the beginning of the season, their shirts
all say week fifteen on it. They don't say district.
We want to win the district. They don't say they
don't say we want to be ten and oer. They
want to go to week fifteen. And then we have
to do our best job to get them there, and
that's I think it works.

Speaker 4 (15:57):
For us obviously ass coaches and very successful.

Speaker 2 (16:01):
Yeah, it certainly has worked. Hey, coach, my next question
for you is, how would you describe your coaching style?
You know, on on the field or just in general,
how would you describe your coaching style? Are you are
you a yeller or are you the calm, collective guy
or you the player's coach?

Speaker 3 (16:18):
Way?

Speaker 2 (16:19):
How would you describe your coaching style?

Speaker 3 (16:21):
Well, I think ultimately people from the outside would probably
say I'm a player's coach with the with the iron
fists sometimes. You know, I'm a guy that tells my
kids I love them every day, but also don't mind
putting the hammer down on them because I believe, really
my goal is to raise nice young men that are

(16:42):
successful when they leave football. So immediately I'm going to
tell you that that I'm a guy that wants to
grow them outside of football, and I think in the
process of that it allows us to develop them as
players as well. You know, as far as yep, you know,
I've been known to let it out a little bit,

(17:05):
but I picked shows. I'm gonna pick pick and choose
during the game. I'm pretty quiet. I'm I look, you know,
I'm I look at myself on film and I'm not
throwing anything and I'm not. So I'm pretty quiet during
the football game. And then I bring it out if
I need to bring it out. A good example for

(17:25):
me personally last year, excuse me, in the semi finals,
we were down a couple of scores at halftime the
ballot and they were putting it to us and and
I left. I left the field for halftime knowing that
that I was gonna do something different. You know, we're
gonna have to do something different, and like any coach would,

(17:46):
but but you know, I ramped it up a little
bit with our kids, and they were when you don't
do it all the time, and then all of a sudden,
you ramp it up, gets them ramped up. I feel like,
if you're yelling all the time, then there's never any effect. Yeah,
not only it's X and other issues we had, they
also saw me, you know, filling it a little bit,

(18:07):
and you know, those kids just responded to that. And
of course, you know the outcome of that game, and
I think it was because Okay, Coach Hawkins means business
today and that's okay to pull that card when you
need to. I just don't pull it all the time.
I'm more apt to be upset with these kids over grades, attendance,

(18:28):
things that are the small things that will keep us
from winning. Then streaming and carrying on about x's and
o's and making them wrong step and those kind of things.
They're in practice.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
The coach, do you call one side or the other
or do you just.

Speaker 3 (18:42):
Do I call the offense, which I'm not sure how
smart I am doing it. I mean it's worked at
this point, but you know, I don't know if I
if I do a good job. I guess I do
because I win some games.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
It went.

Speaker 3 (18:59):
You know, ever, by that he is looking at the
offensive coordinator. I mean, it's one thing they look at
you as head coach, but when you put double on
your plate, you know, if you don't score fifty points,
it's all your fault and how in the world did
that happen? And if you don't score any you're terrible.
You're the worst offensive coordinator we've ever seen. And you
know then the next week when you went and your

(19:20):
friend again. But I do call the offense, and I
think I like doing it because I manage a lot
of that information we were talking about that I see
throughout the season fairly. Well, I'm one of those guys
that just I don't forget these things, and it's easy
for me to come to the offensive staff and say, look,
this is working. We need to figure out how to

(19:41):
cultivate this. This is terrible. We need to not repeat this.
So I like being the offensive coordinator. Plus I got
a great defensive coordinator. So when you got a great
defensive coordinator, J T. Haskins seen it does unbelievable job.
He's done it. We made a deal when I hired him,
hold him to twenty JT. That was the deal and
his you know, our success. We've had a defense, so

(20:04):
it allows for some mistakes by me and the offense
to still be competitive. But you know, I just I
like calling the offense something about it.

Speaker 4 (20:13):
Yeah, well, hey, you know, coach, and I like you
got into why you like being the OC, which sort
of takes me into my next question. As a veteran,
what lessons have you learned over the years that have
helped you be so successful at Brian's station.

Speaker 5 (20:31):
Well, I think I think one thing for me that
that sort of swung the pendulum in my coaching career
is you know, although I would say I'm a big
picture guy, people used to say, don't sweat the small stuff.

Speaker 3 (20:46):
You've heard that before. I start sweating the small stuff
because I figured out that it's the small stuff that
allows you to win. You know it, so you know,
and we preached that to the kids. It's all that,
it's all the small things. Yesterday today at practice on Mondays,
I usually speak to the team about, you know, where

(21:07):
we came from, where we're headed, and you know, I try.
I try to get them to be as perfect as
they can throughout the week. But I explained to them
that your grade report, if that's not right, we're not perfect.
If their attendance is not right, you're not perfect. If
the locker room's a mess, we're not perfect. All those

(21:28):
little small things keep us from being perfect. I believe
that it's something I feel like I've learned once I
started concentrating on these small things. I think my ability
as a coach to to motivate and to manage games
change as well. You know, I don't get caught up
and it's some things that I did in the past

(21:49):
and and you know, I've sort of got our program
to where the culture piece is done, it's self operating.
This is the way we do things at Brin Station.
Eighth grader comes in as a freshman. He understands that
this is how we got to do it. They got
to adjust to it. But it's really all about the
little small things, and I think with some maturity, and

(22:11):
you know, I'm like these kids. I've had some success,
but not the kind of success they've had.

Speaker 4 (22:17):
You know.

Speaker 3 (22:17):
I've had the opportunity to coaching all American Games and
those kind of things. Have been very fortunate in my
life to do those things. But being at the state
championship was just as big for me and just to learning,
just big of a learning opportunity it was for our
kids because I didn't know how to be in a
state championship. So I've learned all the little small things
that go along with it. But there's a lot that

(22:39):
you don't imagine that are different than the normal Friday,
you know. So I'm learning things and you know, I'm
marking those, you know things, this is something small. We
only got forty five minutes to get ready, if we
got that meaning to warm up, so you got to
make adjustments. That's a small thing to do, but once
you learn that, it's gonna help me next time I go.
You know, I'd like to say I'm going again soon,

(23:02):
but it's really I've become a small, detailed guy and
the big picture happens.

Speaker 4 (23:10):
I got you. That's ersen wisdom, their coach. I think
that will help our listener. And I really appreciate you
sharing that.

Speaker 3 (23:16):
It's my pleasure. It's my pleasure and.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
We got we got a good idea of how rind
Station has been so successful with your information. Coach, we
appreciate you and appreciate you joining us tonight.

Speaker 3 (23:29):
This this is an honor for me to spend some
time with guys that have been been in this profession
and understand it. And and you know, I'm probably not
telling you anything you didn't already know, but but it's
it's worked for us. And you know, anytime I can
talk about bron Station football, I'm gonna do it because
I think it's just an important piece of our program

(23:49):
is winning games well.

Speaker 4 (23:52):
And when you get to practice tomorrow, give old Harry
Lewis a big hug. Tell him his old high school
coach loves Emon missing him all right, and telling I
will do that because I know and tell him. We
could have told a whole lot of Harry Lewis stories tonight,
and we took it easy on him, so.

Speaker 3 (24:09):
He did I can tell you. But now he's a
great guy and I'll tell him. And again, I hope
y'all have great weeks. And you know, I appreciate you
even thinking of me for this opportunity.

Speaker 4 (24:22):
Well, thank you, glad to have you, coach. Thank you
so much.

Speaker 3 (24:24):
Thank you coaches, y'all have an awesome day you too.

Speaker 2 (24:29):
What is the shelf life of a high school or
college hit football coach?

Speaker 4 (24:35):
All right? Uh, well, you know I've actually I've heard
this quick course. You know we're old, all right, so
we've heard all this stuff by now. I've heard five years.
I've heard seven years. I've heard ten years. I don't
really think there's a time frame on it. I think
that it really boils down to two things. I think

(24:56):
at the high school level, as long as you and
your administration are on the same page, I don't think
the time matters. I think if if you're still working
together and you're progressing and the program is improving, I
think you need to be there and to be honest
with you, I don't think there's a whole lot of
situations like that. And if you find a situation where

(25:18):
your administration continues to want to be on the same
page and build a program, shoot, I wouldn't leave. I'd
be there. The other thing I would say, though, for
a college program, I really sort of think it boils
down to this. It's so and that I feel really
unqualified to discuss the college part with you sitting here.

(25:40):
I mean, you've coached in the SEC, you've been the
recruiting coordinator, you sent guys to the NFL. So I'm
gonna preface this by saying this is from an amateur
from the outside looking in. To me, college football looks
like it is so driven by money, whether it be
ticket sales or whether it be donors. I think your

(26:02):
shelf life as a college coach is tied to money,
and if if the money is flowing in, you're probably okay.
If the money is not flowing in, I'm not even
sure how much wins and losses matter. I'm not even
sure how much your relationship with the administration matters. I
think if the money's not there at the collegiate level,

(26:26):
you probably have run out of time, so hey, that's
my best shot at that. And but that is a
great question by Mack.

Speaker 2 (26:34):
It was, And yeah, I agree with a lot of
the things that you said. I think the shelf life
of a college coach probably used to be, you know,
four to six years, you know, long enough to recruit
a class and then see that class through is what
they used to give college coaches. But you know, we
all know those days are gone, especially with the transfer

(26:57):
portal and the nil and the astounding uh pay that
these guys are currently receiving lots of you know, lots
of money in these contracts. I mean, they're getting paid
a lot of money these days, and and and it's
it's I think it's become more like two to three
years at these high profile jobs and probably four to

(27:19):
five years at a lesser profile job. But the fans
with with all that investment in money and in i L,
you know, they're the fans are asked to not only
to pay higher ticket prices, but also to donate towards
the n i L. So they're they're they're asked to
invest a lot of money. And for that reason, the

(27:41):
fans want immediate results, and if they're not getting those
immediate results, then they're putting pressure on the athletic director
to you know, to get rid of the coach and
and and turn that job over. I think a high
school hit football coach. I believe it's somewhere between, you know,
two to five years, with factors like their win loss record,

(28:04):
community support or lack of community sport, the school administration,
turnover pressure, low pay and long hours, and also dealing
with today's entitled kids. I think are turning these coaches over,
you know, probably you know, sooner than they normally would

(28:28):
have I think. And the reason I say two to
five years is if you look on list Serve, and
list Serve is that group email that all of the
coaches across the state of Kentucky you know, are tied to,
and that's how they get information. If you look at
that at the end of the season, you'll see twenty
to thirty jobs every year, twenty to thirty jobs advertised

(28:51):
every year. Well, there's only two hundred and twenty football
playing schools in Kentucky. And if you're turning twenty to
thirty jobs over every year here, you know that's not
a very that's not a very long shelf life, you know,
you know, I'm sure you know there's exceptions to that,
you know, with Philip pay Wood and and the coaches
that are in these nice programs that are that are

(29:11):
getting all of these uh administrative support and community support
and and you know, and money, extra money to run
the program. They're they're not leaving. But those are rare
jobs in the state of Kentucky in there, and so
I'll say on the average, I'm saying two to five years.
If you look at list, sir, and the jobs that
are advertised every year, that's hard to argue with. You

(29:36):
raised a lot of good points. And definitely on the
collegiate level, Uh, you know you're you're going to have
first hand a lot more experience. So I again, I
agree you said a lot of good things. That all right, So,
I don't know what you think we should have made
this a tough topic. Maybe we make it for next week.

(29:57):
What is a better week of high school football in
Kentucky at round two or is at round three?

Speaker 4 (30:01):
I'm gonna put you on the spot. What do you
think is better?

Speaker 2 (30:04):
That is a really good question. I think that most
of the upsets across the state coming round two, I
think that I think that's where most of the upsets come.
With the way that with the way the playoffs structure
is right now, I think most of those upsets are
coming in round two. I think round three, I think

(30:24):
there's less upsets because I think that's the regional championship.
There's more hype around that game. Players are starting to
see are able to see the you know, I don't
know the light at the end of the tunnel. The
state championship go it is closer, you know, round two,
it's still pretty far away, so I think they turn

(30:47):
their game up, you know, for those reasons. I think
most of the upsets coming round two.

Speaker 4 (30:52):
I got you, ay, I'll let you go first. What
did you think? What are the games you think are
going to be the closest this week?

Speaker 1 (31:00):
Can?

Speaker 4 (31:01):
I ended up? I had a pretty long list. I
think there are some great games this week, But what's
your list?

Speaker 2 (31:06):
There are there are some really good games this week,
and like I said, there's there will be some upsets
along the way, and I think, uh, you know, looking
at it was hard. I don't know the one A,
the two A as well as I do the other
classes and but but I think Woodford and Highlands is
going to be a great game. I think that'll be

(31:27):
a really good game. I think Cooper and Scott and
these are five A games. I think are is going
to be a really good game. I think Rale has
had a great year and been very successful. They're playing
Saint X. I think that's going to be a good game.
I think Madison Central, who's had a really good football
team this year, is going to play Brian Station. We

(31:49):
just we just interviewed coach Hawk Hockins Hawkins, and I
think that's going to be a great game. Covington Katholic
and Johnson Central is Johnson Central Strong got another good
team this year and coming to Catholics always pretty good.
And I might have to throw Graves in South Warren
in there now. That's going to be a tough game

(32:11):
for South one.

Speaker 4 (32:13):
Yeah. Hey, that's a good list. A few that I
would add to that list, and the ones I'm adding
are Eastern Kentucky games. I think Williamsburg and Hazard is
going to be a great game. Betsy Lane and Prestonsburg
are in the same district. Prestonsburg won the first one
thirty nine to thirty two. I think that's going to

(32:34):
be a great game. There'll be a rematch Belfrey and
rock Castle. I mean that should be an absolute physical game.
And then I think Lawrence and Bell will be a
really good game. So I had a lot of the
same ones you had, but but I had four in

(32:55):
eastern Kentucky that I think in particular will be good games. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
I think there's a lot of good games across the
state as we've if we've pointed out, I don't know,
it'd be a good week to watch football high school football.

Speaker 4 (33:10):
Absolutely, yes, sir well David, Uh, that's right. Hey, So
this that's on me. Hey, Our next guest will be
a former player of coach Chuck Smiths. It'll be Braxton Kelly,
who is a head football coach high school coach in
Georgia also went on to play in the National Football League.

(33:31):
So we're really excited about about having him next week.
That's gonna be He'll be a wonderful guest. He'll be good, yeah.

Speaker 2 (33:39):
Practicing, will be a great guess for us, and he'll
give us some insight on Georgia football.

Speaker 1 (33:44):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (33:44):
He played his high school the football and Georgia at
Lagrange high school, played with Wesley wood Yard and they
all come from the same school and a great football
pro program. They played for Steve Pardue there at at
Lagrange and now Braction is a head football coach in Georgia,

(34:05):
so he's gonna be able to share some of that
insight with this. It be a good it'd be a
good show.

Speaker 4 (34:10):
Yeah, we're looking forward to it. And uh, hey, just
to give our I don't know how much I should say,
but we've got We've already got all of our episodes
playing out from h after Braxton through Thanksgiving, the state finals, Christmas. Uh,
but but we I just I just want to let
our listeners know we have really invested a lot of

(34:33):
effort and time into planning out the remainder of this year,
in this season, and uh, we we want to do
a great job for our listeners. We appreciate the way
our numbers are doing. They're going up, uh quite a
bit actually, and uh, you know, I just I want
to I want our listeners to know we're we're not
taking our foot off the gas. We're just we're gonna

(34:55):
keep trying to make it better. We're gonna try to
keep looking for new ideas to you know, take a
different approach and to keep our listeners engaged. And and
we appreciate our listeners and and thank you all, thank
you for being here.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
And if they got any suggestions to help us make
it better, because you know, the show is we do
the show to provide information for our listeners, and got
any information on how we can make it better, you know, shoot.

Speaker 4 (35:20):
It to us.

Speaker 2 (35:20):
Well, we'd love to hear from you. Thank you guys
very much for tuning in. And hey, don't forget to
listen to Max's. Historically, it starts as soon as we
sign off here a great show.

Speaker 6 (35:38):
Sports and in particular, high school sports, are woven into
the fabric of Americana. High school sports are part of
the DNA of communities across the country, and that is
certainly true in Kentucky. Fans know the stories of the
big names, but there are many names and many stories
that have been lost to history. This series highlights those forgotten.

(36:03):
He Rose. Welcome to Forgotten, he Rose. I'm your host,
Mack Yoakam in this the what have you done for
Me Lately? Era of coaching, where a coach's shelf life
keeps getting smaller and smaller, We're going to take a
look back at a coach who was the dean of
high school coaches, not just in Kentucky, but across the nation.

(36:25):
Preston was a four sports star at Murray High, graduating
in nineteen twenty four. He stayed in town for college,
attending Murray State Teachers College, where he played football, basketball,
and baseball. After graduating from Murray State in nineteen twenty eight,
he started his legendary coaching career as a basketball coach
at tiny Almo High, and all Preston did was take

(36:49):
Almo to the Sweet sixteen. Preston took off the nineteen
twenty nine thirty season and worked at a Murray drug store,
and in his spare time that year, he played a
lot of baseball, which was actually his best sport, and
that's where he got his nickname. Because of his baseball prowess,
his friends thought he reminded them of Ty Cobb. In

(37:13):
the fall of nineteen thirty, Preston Tye Holland took over
coaching duties at Murray High and his album mater Coach.
Holland coached all sports at Murray. His basketball team had
success in his twenty eight seasons as coach. His early
baseball teams had some success. He also coached golf, was
the athletic director, taught government, and was the assistant superintendent.

(37:37):
But it was on the football field that Preston Tye
Holland became a Kentucky legend. His first two seasons as
football coach were less than stellar, but by season three,
Coach Holland and the Tigers had turned the corner. They
were nine to zero to one in that third season
and were West Kentucky Conference champions. Coach Holland would go

(37:59):
on to win ten more Western Kentucky Conference titles, seven
district titles, two regional titles, and he led the Tigers
to the nineteen sixty Class A state runner up, and
in nineteen sixty one, coach Tye Holland and the Tigers
won their first state title, a fourteen thirteen win over Lynch.

(38:22):
He was the nineteen sixty one Coach of the Year,
and he coached the West All Star team in the
East West Game. In nineteen sixty seven, the National High
School Coaches Association gave him the Distinguished Service Award, and
he spent eight years on the KHSAA Board of Control,
including one year as president. When coach TYE. Holland retired

(38:43):
in nineteen seventy two, he was Kentucky's all time winning
his coach with two hundred forty nine wins, one hundred
and fifty nine losses, and twenty eight ties for all
forty three seasons. He patrolled the sidelines. He ran one offense,
the single wing. One season he ran the tea to

(39:03):
start the first game, but after a series of bumbles,
he went back to the single wing and never changed again.
His logic was, at a small school, you usually only
have a couple of good players, and you'd better get
them the ball. Murray Stadium is a WPA stadium built
in nineteen thirty nine. It's now known as ty Holland Stadium.

(39:27):
The week before Christmas in nineteen seventy two, coach ty
Holland announced his retirement and ty Holland Stadium saw the
end of the single wing. Coach Holland and his ever
present cigar and hat would no longer rule the east
sideline in the stadium bearing his name. At the time
when he retired, he was the longest tenured coach in

(39:51):
the United States. In December nineteen eighty nine, coach Preston
Tye Holland, member of the Murray Hall of Fame and
the KHSAA Hall of Fame, passed away the state's former
all time winning This coach was eighty three years old, said.

Speaker 2 (41:05):
To the side to side to Stadt

Speaker 1 (41:26):
Stutt