[Hoot Gibson]

Hoot, I'm sorry you have alzheimers. Paintsville was never a victom of blowouts by anyone in the mid 70's thru the mid 80's. In 76 Bellevue beat PHS 17-16 in the semis. In 78 we beat Beechwood 7-0 in the semis. In 79 Bellevue beat us 7-0 in the semis.

We regularly pasted Johnson Central and other local teams. The Pikeville game was always a good one, though.

I never said when Paintsville was blown out by Bellvue and Beechwood - it may have been the late 80s or the 90s.

The bottom line is that Paintsville may never compete for another state title regardless of who they hire because of their small enrollment and the other factors mentioned above - but that does not mean that the right coach cannot rebuild the program into one that can compete with the best small schools in the eastern Kentucky and with most small schools across the state. Paintsville's population has been shrinking and the district boundaries have not expanded. Johnson County and Paintsville may grow but the Paintsville Independent school district is as big as it is going to get.

BTW, I did find the two scores below on the KHSAA website and I think that they qualify as blowout losses, so maybe I have not developed Alzheimer's just yet.

1998 Beechwood 39-8
2001 Newport Central Catholic 59-8