[EKUAlum05]

Matney produced some outstanding teams at Sheldon Clark without the benefit of a very good feeder system, IMO. He overcame that hurdle in part by encouraging heavy participation in the school's wrestling program, a practice that followed him to JC. A strong feeder system is important, but more often than not it is the product of a strong head coach.

Bill Musick was very active in building JC's system at the middle school, along with the fine coaches on the JCMS staff. However, a great coach can turn a program around in a hurry, even with a weak feeder system. Their first few teams may not go deep in the playoffs but they will consistently beat poorly coached teams with much better talent.

And this is back to the point I was making... certainly the coach is a major factor... but what is the difference in why Matney has been able to make JC title contender so quickly, as opposed to Sheldon Clark?

The coach (and subsequently the coaching stability) is the paramount factor... but that alone is rarely enough to spearhead a program's rapid success, or in the case of a coaching change, the ability to sustain success. The X factor, and the factor that most influences time, is the talent pool and feeder system at his disposal. Dudley Hilton immediately won at Bourbon because he had the talent to win... The Coach at NewCath immediately won a State Title because he had the talent to win... Coach Moore is getting railroaded at Breathitt County because he does not have the talent to win.

At JC it took less time for Matney to have the talent and pieces he needed to mold a team.. at SC he never could quite get the crop he needed... after multiple years he started to see some of the fruits of his labor but it took all those years before his talent pool rose to the level he needed.

That's why I specifically said "A Coach is a massive part of maintaining success... unequivocally I agree...but there is another aspect that is huge in a program turning around or sustaining success...something that Johnson Central has benefited from almost as much as having Matney" ...and why I balked at the notion that even if Haywood left that Belfry would certainly see a decline.