[Hoot Gibson]

While facilities play into it, the coach is still the most important part of a high school football program, and a hire (or a fire) makes a huge difference. Dynasties are built with coaches and collapse when those coaches are gone. (If you don't believe that, look how long it took Bell County and Rockcastle County to start crumbling when Hilton and Larkey moved on.) Nothing changed at Johnson Central except the coach in 2004. We played on the same old field. The middle school team continued to play its normal schedule. But Jim Matney replaced Bill Tom Ross. Suddenly, that same bunch of kids went from 1-9 to 7-3. We did not have talented transfers parachute in from the sky before the season. But somehow we went from winning 5 games in 3 seasons to playing for district championships and even a state semifinal - within 3 seasons. So if you think hiring the right man for the job isn't the biggest decision a program can make, I would argue the contrary. Facilities and feeder systems and administrators can't help you win if you don't have the right guy in charge.

I would only add that before Matney stopped the 3-year skid, JC had gone 10-0 in the regular season during Bill Musick's final season, before losing in the playoffs to Tates Creek, which it had beaten earlier in the year. There are no more important factors in building a good program than hiring the right man to the head coaching position and being patient enough to let him do his work.