[Football1]

If Wayne decides to leave Knox and what he has built here I and many others will be very saddened and greatly dissappointed - especially considering he told our sons he was not.

That said, I totally understand the notion that Bell is a great program where it indeed would be an honor for any coach to lead. But here is what you are not getting. In business we study markets and growth trajectory to ascertain potential. We buy companies that lead not only in current market share (Bell) but ones that show exponential growth (Knox). Everyone thinks its a great thing for Bell that they are moving the 3A but that is not the case. Frankly, it shows the decline of population in that area. It moves you to a lower class of football where there are fewer elite schools. Why leave your home town where you personally are responsible for amazing growth of a program that 2 out of the last 3 years has set records for "best ever" when the only school that really beat you just left? And if he stays, he will get to be the coach at Knox when we beat Bell next year. If he leaves, he will be the coach that is at Bell when we beat them. Which sideline would you choose?

Had Bell been promoted to 6A and go whip Trinity, sure; that would be like the coach at EKU getting an offer to coach UT. But this is more like EKU getting the offer at Georgetown. Wayne grew up around here seeing Bell own the football market. Maybe the luster of Bell will draw him but I honestly feel it will be a terrible mistake for him and his family. Few men EVER get the chance to lead their own HS football program to greatness. Even fewer, when given that chance actually pull it off; but he is! And he is well on his way to leaving a legacy of winning on the field and even more importantly - in the lives of young men here in his home town. To leave that for a program where the banners on the stadium that you did not put there will cast a shadow over your work every day you blow the whistle is a poor trade. And if he leaves, by the time he figures out he got the poor end of the trade his job will be filled at Knox and he will be left to deal with those shadows.

May God bless him to do what is right for him and his family first. The rest of us will accept that whatever it is. Just know that God has at least one fellow praying for the staying... LOL.