[honestjchsfan]

I agree that football was rare among county school systems back then. Schools like Letcher County Central and Harlan County have had an easier time building football programs than schools like Johnson Central did because their consolidation came after most county schools already fielded their own teams. They also saw the benefit of hiring good coaches and giving them time to build a program.

It took Johnson County's administration a long time to develop the patience it takes to build a strong football program. It was probably a good thing that Steve Trimble came along when he did. As you know, Steve played for JC in the early years of the program, and later struggled as a JC coach himself. I think that experience gave him a good perspective of what JC had done wrong with its program over the years. If Bill Musick had gone winless in his first season a few years earlier at JC, that season would probably have been his first and last. Steve stuck with him and Musick built the best feeder system in eastern Kentucky, IMO.

I totally disagree, Steve Trimble was a thorn in the side of JC football for many years! When Ronnie Wells was fired so Trimble could be coach it set back JCHS football 15 years! Wells was 2-1 in Apple Bowls. The 86 JC schedule that Wells played IMO is still the toughest ever in JC history. They played 3A State runner-up Belfry, beat Ashland, lost a close game to a district Champ Clay CO who lost to Belfry 7-6 in the playoffs (Clay had a ALL- State QB who's name slips my mind) , throw in 85' class 1A runner up Paintsville lead by Joey Coach and the 86' class 1A runner-up Cumberland lead by Fred Maggard, throw in good Dudley Hilton coached Breathitt Co team and a Ivan McClone Coached Russell team, then top it all off with Archbishop Alter of Ohio team who's option QB was former Steeler WR Jeff Graham. Wells had some bad luck, his last year at JC, he played a Whitesburg team at JC that had a LB (who's name also slips my mind) but this LB was a wrecking ball and 7 or 8 JC starters were lost for most of the season. I later found out that Whitesburg LB went on to Morehead and later played 4 or 5 seasons in the NFL. A coach doesn't play a schedule like unless he thinks he has a pretty good team. FYI Steve Trimble didn't hire Musick. All Trimble did was lose a Bunch of games as coach, and it didn't take a lot of brains to hire Matney!