Adam Clark and Greg Meacham have achieved at least one of their goals by becoming head high school coaches.
Clark is the new head football coach at tradition-rich Hopkinsville High School. Meacham is now head softball coach at his alma mater, Russellville
High School.
Clark, who was one of the quarterbacks at Logan County High School through his junior year, transferred to Bowling Green High School his senior season
and started at QB there against Logan in the fall of 2001.
While he was still a student at Western Kentucky University, he served as an assistant coach at LCHS under Lee Proctor as the quarterback coach
and offensive coordinator for the Cougars. He spent one year as the offensive quality control and assistant quarterback coach at WKU before spending
last season as the quarterback coach and offensive coordinator at Louisville Male. The Bulldogs ran the wing-T offense while advancing to the Class 6-A
state championship game.
He was working as an EDD teacher in Louisville when he was hired to replace Dixie Jones as the Tigers coach last March. Jones, incidentally, is
back at Trigg County where his coaching career began, as was coordinator of the defense which beat Russellville in the season opener Aug. 19.
The son of Tonia Minton of Auburn and Marc Clark, Adam and his wife Mariah have a daughter, Kinley, who will soon be two
years old. Mariah is a Hopkinsville native.
I’ve known Adam (who is now called Marc) since he was playing Auburn Little League and have always found him personable and ambitious. I remember
writing a letter of recommendation for him while he was still a student at WKU. None of us could have predicted, though, that he would be offensive
coordinator for the state’s most historic and successful public school (Male) or become head coach of one of Western Kentucky’s most legendary programs
(Hoptown) before his 27th birthday.
Coach Clark recognizes the challenge of being the coach of the Tigers and he seems to be embracing it. The team website notes, “Clark said he was
attracted to the Hopkinsville job because of its tradition. ‘As soon as I walked in the door it hit me in the face,” he said. ‘I know it’s not been
what was expected the last few years, but I believe it can bust loose any time. I know people in Christian County support their athletics and I think
everyone at Hopkinsville shares the same vision of getting better.’”
Hopkinsville people are eagerly waiting to see what happens. When the Kentucky New Era
ran its annual preseason preview on opening day with profiles of six teams, including powerhouses Fort Campbell and Christian County, the cover picture
was of Adam Clark in the foreground with a background picture from the 60s of Coach Fleming Thornton and his Tigers celebrating a state
championship.
“I can’t teach a program tradition, it’s already there,” Clark said. “The administration with coach (Keith) Kelley and Miss (Demetria) Choice and the hiring committee, I knew their desire to win. I knew what they wanted in a football coach and I knew that’s what I
was. We’re just excited to be down here.”
Hopkinsville failed to reach the playoffs for the first time in 20 seasons last year and went winless in the district. New Era sports editor Joe Wilson said the Tigers’ schedule is so tough that it will be difficult to improve on it, but he predicts Clark will coach the team to a
return to the playoffs.
“Every day we have an opportunity to compete whether it’s with ourselves or the man across from us, a teammate for a position,” Clark said. “Every day
we’re either getting better or getting worse, we’re never staying constant. You can come out every day and say you’re going to win the day, you can get
better or you can get worse, and we’ll find the next guy to fill in.”
Hopkinsville got off to a rough start Saturday to open the Clark Era. The Tigers lost to Pulaski County 47-13 in Don Fuller Bowl at Lindsey Wilson
College. Their home debut at the Stadium of Champions will be Friday against Lone Oak in the second of three ‘bowls’ to start the season..
The LoJo
Greg Meacham
played all three major sports at RHS in the 1970s. He was a tough tackler and excellent field goal kicked for the football team and a steady infielder
in baseball.
He has coached many youth league teams over the years, including being the coach of the first Russellville Little League team to make it to state in
2001. He has also helped out however he can at both RHS and LCHS. He and fellow former Panther Tracey Knuckles were leaders of an adult
volunteer group who helped rebuild the backstop and infield fences on the LCHS field while their sons, Blake Meacham and Zach Knuckles, were
playing for the Cougars.
Somewhere along the line Greg decided he wanted to be a high school coach and began taking college classes while continuing to work at Logan Aluminum.
He has been an assistant basketball coach at LCHS and has assisted in a number of sports at RHS.
Greg and his wife Stephanie have two daughters who will play on his first Lady Panthers team. Meagan Woodson is a senior and was an
all-district performer last year. Macy Meacham is a seventh grader who saw action on the varsity last year as a sixth grader, including in the
district tournament.
Greg and I don’t always agree on everything about sports, but I’m convinced he was the right person for this job. He will bring enthusiasm and
dedication to the role, and he won’t be out-worked by anyone. By mid-summer he was redoing the entire softball field and the area around it. He also
knows a lot about diamond sports and I expect his players to reflect that in improved play in the next few years.
When a sport or extracurricular activity has not been a priority at a school (and softball certainly hasn’t been at either RHS or LCHS), it takes
someone willing to dedicate his or her entire being to make it succeed. I learned that when I was coaching RHS tennis and speech. I see it every day in
how hard Coach Greg Howard works with his cross country program at LCHS. Logan County volleyball would not have reached its unprecedented
heights had it not been for the year-round efforts of coaches likeSteve Lyne and Rob Imlay. Logan County baseball was already good before Ethan Meguiar became its coach, but the Cougars have remained a regular at region because of his willingness to work with his players during the
offseason, far and above the time he is paid to be the coach.
Additionally, if both Russellville and Logan County softball become competitive in the region, they are going to have to play more games. Logan
finished 3-16 and RHS 1-14 in 2010. They were the only teams in the region to play fewer than 20 games. Five of the other 14 teams played as many or
more games that did the Lady Cougars and Lady Panthers combined. A dozen of those 14 teams played 30 or more.
I guarantee you that Greg Meacham will schedule a multitude of more games this year.
Logan County has yet to name a replacement for former softball coach Toby Turpin, who was granted his request to resign this time. He tried to
exit the program a couple of years ago but then was brought back.
Logan now has middle school softball playing a fall schedule. Julie McGee Belcher is the head coach. The schedule is included in the Roy’s
Sports Calendar on
The LoJo.
The LoJo
Some other coaching changes have been made at RHS. Greg Owens, who has served his beloved alma mater in a variety of ways, has been named a Game
Director for Panther and Lady Panther sports. Matt Tipton, the longest serving coach of one team in Russellville/Logan County history (starting
his 38th year in girls track), has been Game Director for all RHS sports for several years, but now Owens is taking some of that burden off
him.
Owens has been assisting Dennis Pardue as a basketball coach for almost two decades at Russellville Middle, Todd Central and RHS. He also helped
Pardue in golf coaching in past years. Now he’s giving up coaching for game directing.
Pardue’s newest assistant coach is Tyler Meacham, who played basketball for the Panthers under Pardue through 2007. He earned a teacher’s
certificate from WKU this year. A teaching job didn’t come his way, but he’s working in the school system as an instructional assistant.
The RHS staff could do very well in a three-on-three tournament. In addition to Meacham, returning are Nathan Thompson, who started on Coach Phil Todd’s 2001 Final Four team and was on two other state tournament squads, and T.C. Thomason, who played on Pardue’s first RHS team
and then had a good four-year career playing for Centre College. Thomason and Thompson have day jobs with First Southern National Bank.
Thompson also is the Russellville soccer coach. His team will play at a middle school level this year because of a lack of participation on the varsity
level.
Joining Meacham as an instructional assistant is Daniel Elliott, also a former Panther. He had an excellent four-year career on the
Campbellsville University football team and earned a degree, although he is not certified as a teacher. He is head coach of the middle school Panthers.
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association lists John Creech as Logan County’s swim coach. I haven’t had any press release on that yet.
The school also has not made any announcement on who will be assistant boys basketball coaches under Coach Harold Tackett. Popular assistant
coaches Tim Arnold and Mike Draper are gone. Arnold, who maintained his Russellville home while serving as head coach at Caverna two years ago,
has accepted a position as an assistant to new Warren Central coach Will Unseld. Draper has moved to Greenville, S. C. A graduate of Mississippi
State University with a degree in Sports Communication, he’s assistant manager of a Hibbett Sports in Greenville.
The LoJo
Another connection to Centre College athletics besides T.C.: The granddaughters of two Russellville couples have spent the last two years playing field
hockey for the top-level academic institution in Danville.
Jessica McLean
is the daughter of Lally Riley McLean and Mark McLean of St. Louis. She is the granddaughter of
Jesse and Donna Riley.
Jessica Humphries
is the daughter of Bob Humphries of Baltimore and the granddaughter of
Marion and Corrine Humphries,
The LoJo
WRUS plans to air all football games played by Russellville and Logan County again this season. In Friday’s openers, Logan at Butler County was live
and RHS at Trigg County delayed. Both teams are off Oct. 7 for fall break and the Tobacco & Heritage Festival.
Station Manager Chris McGinnis has announced the following schedule:
Live Games
(Fridays at 6:30 p.m,): Aug. 26, Fort Campbell at RHS; Sept.2, LCHS at Todd Central; Sept. 9, South Warren at RHS; Sept. 16, Greenwood at LCHS; Sept.
23, RHS at Franklin-Simpson; Sept. 30, Fulton County at RHS; Oct. 14, Barren County at LCHS; Oct. 21, RHS at Mayfield; Oct. 28, Cougars at Panthers
Delayed Games
(Saturdays at 2 p.m.): Aug. 27, South Warren @ LCHS; Sept. 3, Hopkins Central @ LCHS; Sept. 10, Metcalfe County @ LCHS; Sept. 17, Todd Central @ RHS;
Sept. 24, Edmonson County @ LCHS; Oct. 1, Bowling Green @ LCHS; Oct. 15, Fulton City @ RHS; Oct. 22, LCHS @ Warren Central; Oct. 29, replay of Cat
Clash
Coaches’ Show:
This has moved to Thursday at 6 p.m. at Roy’s Bar-B-Q. Andy Woodall and John Brett Reynolds will interview RHS coach John Myers and new
LCHS coach Dain Gregory about the past week’s game and the upcoming games.Zach Woodall will join his dad on Logan games while Alex Watkins will be on the Panther broadcasts with his former tennis doubles partner, Reynolds.
The LoJo
Two of the school websites in the Logan County system don’t have the volleyball schedule or the roster, at least that I can find. Adairville does: The
Lady Cardinals are coached by Jan Stevenson-Laurent, who is one of the most successful middle school basketball coaches ever here. Team members
are
Hannah Mimms, Amanda Crutchfield, Taylor Ward, Brook Barnes, Kassidey Gibbs, Karina Holloman, Grace McLellan, Brianna Wooden, Jenny Colbert, Emily
Crutchfield, Alana Hallman, Tori Mills, Sydney Mimms, Haley Reid, Maddison Thaxton, and Princess Yates.
Olmstead lists both its roster and its schedule. Varsity team members are
Rachel Barnett, Maddie Bruner, Erin Jenkins, Molly Latham, Jaclyn Batchelor, Paige Brow, Shannon Bryant, LeeAnn Coots. Kailee Moore, and Miranda
Wright.
On the B team are
Bethany Pearson, Cori Taylor, Lydia Manley, Caylyn Brooks, Leah Crossley, Taylor Haley, Kiley Rager, Blayke Bingham, Tyra Boisseau, Rylee Warden
and Evett Young.
Coaches are
Buddy Nash and Danny Benson.
Chandlers lists its schedule and coaches Kristi Porter and Kelly Carpenter. The roster is not named, at least not where I could find it.
The Olmstead and Chandlers schedules are on the Roy’s Sports Calendar on
The LoJo.
The LoJo
Our family has enjoyed this year’s Little League World Series, as we always do. The Kentucky team from Oldham County represented us well, winning a 1-0
game against a home team from Pennsylvania in front of the largest crowd ever to see a Little League game.
This, of course, is a reminder of the Logan County team which thrilled us all at Williamsport two years ago. So whatever happened to those guys?
Most of them played on their high school baseball teams this spring. Barrett Croslin started for Russellville for the second straight year, and Zach Denney was a starting outfielder for the Panthers. Both are freshmen. For district champion Logan, freshman Ian Woodall and eighth
grader Matt Harper were not only starters but also played big roles in winning that title.
Now Croslin is the starting quarterback for the Panthers, and Woodall is a starting defender for the Cougars, as well as being the backup quarterback.
The LoJo
Another Logan County Babe Ruth season is in the books. Every kid who plays at that level here now should be thankful toArtis and Renee Stratton
for refusing to let the league die a few years ago when most of us had given it up for dead.
The following is a list of the league’s all-stars for 2011:
13 Year Olds:
Hunter Crafton, Matt Guinn, Jordan Campbell, Travis Collins, Garrett Strickler, Hunter O’Dell, Kaleb Coursey, Jacob Decker, Jarred England, Conner
McColpin, Noah Bicksler and Luke Woodall; Manager Mark Coles, Coach Dustin Epley
14 Year Olds:
Rooster Stanley, Hunter Anderson, Colby Nichols, Josh Stratton, Jordan Hendrix, Wesley Stratton, Dalton Clark, Trent Deberry, Ben Wright, Dillon
Brown and Cole Aquirre; Manager Artis Stratton, Coaches Jay Wright and Lonnie Brown
15 Year Olds:
George Collins, Cole Hyde, Arik Haynes, Blake Pittman, Austin Dukes, Corey Wright, Jacob Shannon, D.J. Lee, J.R. Morrow, Lucas Dean, Blake Gettings
and Crewsdon Kemp; Manager Eric Cole, Coaches Jeff Kemp and Tommy Hyde