[cherokee]

Woolum will be the new coach if he decides to come back to Kentucky.

[pjdoug]

No body is going to Corbin... No one going to Pinevile.. We would love to have Greer back at Bell, but that's not happening either.. Our asst coaches will get on board with new head coach and everything will be fine on Log Mtn..
It amazes me how so many are so jealous of Greer.. He's a great guy and there's not one on here that can say he stab them in he back.. This thread is a joke!!!!
Start a new one: Wh is the next head coach on Log Mtn?

Which players and coaches are going to Whitley County?

[Bobcat4years]

Possible Frazier and the only reason is because he and Chappell has worked together before and made a good combination. That's JMO

[Flicka]

Woolum will be the new coach if he decides to come back to Kentucky.

First let me say , we know what Bell is going through. Now let me say if Larkey want this job he is a perfect fit. No one will work harder, he is working for 300+.
He should be hired now. Someone said his offense, what did your great one run.

Woolum will be mediocre hire at best. What does anyone know about his mannerisms on the side line, what kind of coach is he, players coach ? This is another political hit at a place politics are killing sports. Those that hire better hope it works. If he is like his older brothers , well enough said. His record is what they have . .500 .

Larkey speaks for himself.

[Bobcat4years]

Tom Larkey is not interested in the house that Dudley built..

[NextGeneration]

Where will Mills go or will he stay at Bell?

[RunItUpTheGut]

^
I see him in red.

[Trashtalker]

SEKC the other Night Humfleet put on a social media site he was going to be a mtn. Lion!!! If others join Bell is in deep trouble

[Pineville Pride]

Humfleet and about 5 other Bell players have already said that they were coming to Pineville if Bell didn't hire the coach that they wanted. If this happens then this will be THE most talented team Pineville has ever had. See you guys in Bowling Green! 🏆 😏

[pjdoug]

Humfleet and about 5 other Bell players have already said that they were coming to Pineville if Bell didn't hire the coach that they wanted. If this happens then this will be THE most talented team Pineville has ever had. See you guys in Bowling Green! 🏆 😏

You wont be watching Pineville play in Bowling Green.

[William Muney]

They maybe going somewhere but it will not be pineville! Bell is getting ready to hire coach that is barely over .500 in his career. So I would say some people will be relocating.

[RunItUpTheGut]

^
Interesting.

Please, do tell.

[redrocket]

Haha...Maybe if it all works out this will make for a good pineville team. There is no chance pineville will ever be in a state championship though.

[Madness]

Mark Woolum to Bell, does this mean Tuck and Tucker to Bell as well? Pineville may be losing players here.

This is not going to work well for Bell County. Politics and Papa John makes a hire that will never be forgotten. Someone said the day Bell football fell, they may be right.

We need to start all over, fire everyone in central office and the High School principal and Ad. Start getting pizza at Little Caesars, and let us have a fresh start. We are done.

[ArchieAdams]

Mark Woolum to Bell, does this mean Tuck and Tucker to Bell as well? Pineville may be losing players here.

This is not going to work well for Bell County. Politics and Papa John makes a hire that will never be forgotten. Someone said the day Bell football fell, they may be right.

We need to start all over, fire everyone in central office and the High School principal and Ad. Start getting pizza at Little Caesars, and let us have a fresh start. We are done.

Whoa. That doesn't sound good for log mountain. Surely the admin has a better plan than this??? It is really turning comical. A new start maybe in order.

[RunItUpTheGut]

Woolum is in.

[KyBoy24]

If he decides to take it, the head coach will be Woolum 100%. If he doesn't take it, no other candidate at this time is the from runner.

[PRIDE101]

Never thought I would see the day that a Pineville guy would take over at Bell. Never thought old timers at Bell would would go for it. This is not going to work out well for a lot of people. Including the new coach. Whoever they hire.

[Running Back]

Well well the political drama thickens. Lets hire a Pineville alumni which has a prominent Pineville family in the heart of the Pineville school system. This way we keep our city neighbors out of all Bell Co school business. They won't dare touch us if one of their own is in the mix. A lot went into this plot it seems. You say you can't believe the old timers would let a Pineville person have his hands on the Bell job? Believe me we old timers have been chewed up spit out and eliminated. We had no say in releasing Mills. Although we tried they don't want to hear our opinions as the doors have been slammed in our faces. A lot of anger runs through Bell Co right now. This is not about the kids. This is not about a good group of coaches and their families who depart. This is not about the loyal supporters of a football program who travel near and far. This is about the next political move. It has been this way from the start firing Coach Mills and his whole staff and it continues. A few stirring the pot and the rest of us including the players may be the ones to pay. Hope Woolum will weigh out what he is getting into IF he accepts the job. Some excellent coaches have turned it down in the past two weeks prior to his call for good reason. No support. Just politics.

[AnswertheBell]

Someone please explain why other than buddies, what on his resume stands out? Just above .500 and last year 3-7. My understanding this was the year he had all his kids in his program, year number 4. Sad day for Bobcats. I agree clean house now.

[BGCAT1]

Did you notice that the district champion in his district won the State Championship in 5A? He was the district runner-up and played top teams in his non-district schedule this year. He went 8-3 last year and lost some good talent. Finally, he was the OC that set the central florida record for 34 consecutive regular season wins.

[Future]

Was the job posted? just wondering if there was an application process or deadline?

[4ThePlayerz]

Posted 12-11-15. Deadline is 30 business days. January 22. Forgive if I am wrong

[Bobcats 9108]

Posted 12-11-15. Deadline is 30 business days. January 22. Forgive if I am wrong

I don't think there is a 30 day deadline for coaching just teaching positions I could be wrong.

[Fly Like a Duck]

I don't think there is a 30 day deadline for coaching just teaching positions I could be wrong.

But most all of these coaching jobs are tied to a teaching position, thus the 30 days.

The only time it doesn't go 30 days is if a para-pro (non teacher) is hired and/or if the hire is made from within and the new HC is currently a teacher in the school district.

[Fly Like a Duck]

Someone please explain why other than buddies, what on his resume stands out? Just above .500 and last year 3-7. My understanding this was the year he had all his kids in his program, year number 4. Sad day for Bobcats. I agree clean house now.

I get being frustrated with all of this, I do..and, I hate it for a program like Bell.

But, apparently those on the wish list have already shot it down.

It's been posted on another site, and while harsh, it'a true for the most part. But, who out there is going to up and move their families to an area as rural as Bell without having some kind of ties/familiarity with the area? It's not just Bell, but all of EKY and even areas of SCKY.

Most wives of these coaches (again, unless from there or familiar) aren't going to move to a place thats an hour from an interstate, a 2-3 hour or more trip from towns like Lexington, Louisville, NKY, BG, etc? Heck, I know a lot of coaches that don't want to be that far removed from the perks that those towns (and, even others like Owensboro, Paducah, Elizabethtown, Ashland, Danville, Bardstown, Etc) offer. How far is the nearest mall? Restaurants? What, 30-45 minutes from Corbin to go eat at Applebee's..have a decent meal & a drink with your wife?

Other than being an hour/hour and a half from Knoxville and 30 minutes-hour from different spots on Norris Lake, what really makes the area attractive?

I personally love the mountains and all of rural KY, so don't take this as me slamming the area...instead, I'm just bringing up real life questions that are going to be a factor in this coaching search.

My grandpa always told me, "You can't have champagne taste with beer money." Which kind of goes a long with the whole, "Beggars can't be choosers". I mean, what is there to offer? Not only do you have the above logistics going against you, but the pay for head and assistants aren't exactly stellar (here is guessing the teaching salaries are about par for the course).

I think both of those (unfortunately) are very true right now for Bell.

Forget overall record; you, nor others know the struggles that might have been at those places. Look at IF the person has WON, at all...if they have, wish for the best.

[RunItUpTheGut]

^
I think this is the biggest challenge schools like Bell face now.
I expect to see the city Schools in rural areas snatch up all the athletes for better chances at winning which is a complete flip flop from a decade ago.

[Fly Like a Duck]

^
I think this is the biggest challenge schools like Bell face now.
I expect to see the city Schools in rural areas snatch up all the athletes for better chances at winning which is a complete flip flop from a decade ago.

I've long said that consolidation in some of these counties across our state were the worst thing to happen for football.

In many of these rural county schools, you often had one football playing school (usually the biggest town/county seat) that had a football program & then one to a handful of other community schools in the county that didn't have football (either due to lack of numbers, agricultural communities and/or there was just no real care for the sport....often due to the time of when football was played interfering with the growing and harvest seasons).

So, what you get is here we are years later and the football programs at the new "_____ County High School" is a bigger, more populated school...BUT.....the football program is still largely made of from boys in town. In short, you have a lot of these 3A, 4A and even some 5A schools that are just that in size, but in terms of where they draw their football players from, it's actually a 1A MAYBE 2A school. 1A football program in a 3A, 4A, 5A school.

Now, I don't think this has effected Bell (not much agriculture going on there) and it doesn't effect "county" schools in populated areas much (Jefferson, Fayette, NKY, Warren, Hardin, Pulaski, etc)...BUT....your independent schools within those counties (programs that have been around for 100 or more years where has LONG been part of 'the way of life' are usually the best programs.

Jefferson and Fayette don't have any independent-city programs, but NKY (Beechwood/Highlands), Warren (BG), Hardin (Elizabethtown. They aren't the best football program, but top to bottom athletic programs they are and it's not even close), Pulaski (Somerset. They aren't the top dog right now, but they aren't going anywhere). The list goes on and on (Owensboro and O'Cath dominate Daviess County programs, Mayfield is still king of Graves County, Russellville is king in Logan County, Bardstown> Nelson County schools, etc.)

I don't know if it will shift, because where there are Independent schools within the county, they are still (in most cases) the flagship program within the county...but, I definitely don't see them going anywhere; that's for sure.

[HCS]

I don't know about flagship programs in eastern Kentucky.

Even Pikeville is second to Belfry in Pike.
Hazard has been better than Perry in most years and Williamsburg has had a nice run of late, ahead of Whitley, but other than that:

Letcher is miles ahead of Jenkins
Harlan County has had more success than Harlan
Pulaski and Southwestern are much better than Somerset, especially the last few years
Johnson has been much better than Paintsville, even though the Daniels effect gave Paintsville a boost for a couple of years
Jackson, Barbourville and many others don't even try to compete.

[HCS]

As for consolidations hurting eastern Kentucky counties:

Harlan County has won four district and two region championships since consolidation and had won one playoff game between the three schools in the 15 years before consolidation
I don't think Bell had ever won one playoff game before consolidation and won two state championships after
Letcher had very little success before consolidation but won a regional title three or four years later
Pike, other than Belfry, never had any success in football since, I guess, Elkhorn City in the 1960s
Floyd, other than P-Burg, has been bad in football forever
I don't think Whitley even competed in football before consolidation