[Hoot Gibson]

Yea, that wasn't Paintsville's glory days. You said you remembered Paintsville playing Lynch back before the big mines closed down, and Paintsville getting blowed out by them, Bellvue, and Beechwood. That would have been around the mid 70's to mid 80's, which Paintsville did not get blew out by those teams. Close games, won some, lost some. As for the 2001 Pville/NCC State Semi-Final game, NCC was loaded, had their All-State RB not got injured in the game against us and missed the State Championship, NCC wins, should have won anyways. There's not one of Matney's JC teams that could have played with NCC, Beechwood, or Danville back then. I am in no way saying that with the right hire that Paintsville could compete for State, that's just not realistic. Mayfield and Beechwood are in a league of their own. Look how good Hazard has been the last few years, and look how they faired at State. Right now, I think all the Paintsville fans will be happy just to be competitive in district and region play.

I wish that the scores for those seasons were still available so nobody would need to rely on their memories. My memories of the games that I watched Paintsville play in the 70s are fading fast but I don't think that the Tigers can return to the level that they were at during that era regardless of who coaches the team. I just want to see them compete for district titles again. Anything beyond that will be gravy.