David Clark surprised most of those attending the Franklin-Simpson Basketball Awards Program last Monday by announcing that he is giving up coaching the Wildcats. There had been no indication that the highly successful bench boss would hang up his whistle now, especially since his son Tanner has two more years of high school ball ahead of him.
Apparently nothing went wrong to force him into exiting a job he has done so well, however. He just decided it is time to take it a little easier after 29 years of coaching. There are no smoking guns, no mysteries to solve.
David has an impressive coaching resume. Before returning to his alma mater, he was an assistant coach on a state championship Union County girls team. He spent nine years as the F-S boys coach. His team has qualified for region all nine seasons, winning the 13^th District championship five times and finishing as runner-up the other four. His teams have won 20 or more games the past four years; he finishes with a 174-98 record.
A graduate of Franklin-Simpson High School, he was the girls head coach five years prior to taking over the boys program. He made it to region three times as the girls coach, once as champion.
One of the best tests to check a coach’s competence is if his teams improve during the course of a season. David Clark’s almost always did. This year the Wildcats lost to Logan County in December and to Russellville twice by three points each time, but when the district tournament rolled around, the Cats disposed of both the Cougars and the Panthers on the way to the championship.
David Clark is the son of new Franklin mayor Ronnie Clark and his wife Joan. The Clarks are formerly of Auburn, where Ronnie was basketball coach through 1960. The Franklin principal when the current gym was built, he helped his son during games throughout David’s days as the Franklin coach. Now the gym and David are making way for a new facility and a new coach.
Two of the possibilities to succeed Clark as Cats coach also have Logan ties. One would be Nelson Cundiff, the former Russellville star who coached in the Logan and Todd county systems before moving on to Central Kentucky where he knew much success as the Nelson County girls coach and Mercer County boys success. (His story can be found in a feature in The LoJo’sArchives in April 2010.) He was an assistant at Franklin this year and was credited for devising a game plan that took advantage of a soft spot he discovered in the Panther defense.
Another strong possibility would be a shift like the one David Clark made almost a decade ago. Lex Lindsey could give up being the Lady Cats coach to become the boys’ coach. Lex has been ultra-successful. In all eight seasons he has been at the F-S girls coach, the Lady Cats have won at least 20 games on the way to a 209-43 record. His teams have won six district and three regional championships. His 2008 team reached the state finals, losing by a single point.
Lindsey almost left Franklin last year to become boys coach at Greenwood, but decided to stay at F-S where Chastity Gooch had one more All-State season. Three other seniors are going out with Gooch, and this would be a good time to make the change.
Lindsey has learned the game assisting two outstanding coaches. He was Mike Haynes’ top assistant when the Lady Cougars upset Warren East in the 1989 girls regional finals. And he was Tim Riley’s assistant when Warren Central’s boys were starting their remarkable dominance of regional titles.
If Lex makes the lateral move, one possibility for the Lady Cats job would be promoting his long-time assistant, Stephen Guthrie¸ a former Russellville Lady Panthers head coach. My guess, however, is that if Nelson doesn’t get the boys job he can have the girls if he wants it.
Here’s hoping that one of the nicest guys I know in coaching, boys assistant Defray Holts, remains a part of 13^th District basketball.
The LoJo
Some 13^th District trivia:
*Since Franklin-Simpson moved into the district from the 14^th District in 1995, the Wildcats and Russellville have played each other in the championship game 11 times.
*Only once in the 17 seasons since Franklin’s arrival has the championship game paired Logan County and Todd Central. In the other 16, either the Panthers or the Wildcats or both have advanced to regional play.
*Russellville has won championships in 1997, ‘98, 2000, ’04, ‘05 and ’10. The Panthers were runners-up in ’95, ’99, ’01, ’06, 07, ’08, ’09 and ‘11. The Panthers have been champion six years and runner-up eight in these 17 years. The Panthers won the region three of four years between 1998-2001, reaching the Final Four at state the last two times. They were regional finalists in 1992 and 1999. All five were under Coach Phil Todd.

The three times Russellville didn’t make finals: Coach Phil Todd’s team lost to Logan County and Coach Chris Souder 71-42 in 1996, Coach Greg Shelton’s Wildcats beat Coach Todd’s Panthers in 77-54 in ’02, and Coach Dennis Pardue’s Rebels defeated Coach Todd’s team 68-61 in ’03 in the days before Pardue succeeded Phil Todd at RHS.
*The Wildcats won championships in 1995, ’96, ’02, ’06, ’07, ’08, ’09 and ‘11. They were runners-up in 2000, ’03, ’04, ’05 and ’10. They have been champion eight years and runner-up five in 16 years.The four times F-S hasn’t make the finals: ’97 Coach Ray Maggard’s Cougars edged Tris Kington’s Cats 69-68; ’98 and ‘99 Coach Todd’s Panthers won over Shelton’s Wildcats 63-47 and 74-57, and in 2001 Pardue’s Rebels eliminated, Shelton’s team 65-55. Shelton, a Lewisburg native and a state baseball coaching champion, took his Wildcats to the finals in 2000 and 2002, beating Pardue’s Rebels in the final finals before Clark moved over from the girls’ bench.
*Logan was runner-up three years, 1996, ’97 and ’98. Todd has been champion three years and runner-up once. In Logan’s three trips to the finals, Kington’s Cats beat Souder’s Cougars 67-59 in 1996, and Coach Todd’s Panthers won over Maggard’s teams 75-70 in ’97 and 76-64 in ’98.
*Since Logan County High School was created in 1982, the Cougars were champs in ’83, ’84, ’88 and ‘93. They were runners-up in ’85, ’87. ’94, ‘96, ’97 and ’98. Gerald Sinclair was coach the first two years, Barry Reed in 1988 and Dick Webb in 93. The ’84 team won the region (and the state) while the Cougars coached by Reed and Webb were regional finalists.
*As a head coach, Dennis Pardue is 29-0 against Logan County. He has twelve regular season wins over the Cougars at each school, plus four district wins and then this year in the finals of the FSNB/Roy’s Christmas Classic. Pardue graduated from Auburn High School 15 months before LCHS opened.
The LoJo
Box scores for the 13^th District Tournament follow:
BOYS
FINALS
Score by Quarters: 1) F-S 28-13, 2) 38-26, 3) 53-38 Final) Franklin-Simpson 65, Russellville 62
F-S (65) Andrew Howard 17, Ryan Randolph 12, J.T. Curtis 9, Devin Fox 8, Jerrell Wickware 8, Airion Tellmer 5, Tanner Clark 4, Drew Tingle 4, Marcus Doaks
RHS (62) Da’Vonte Bryant 13, D.J. Quarles 11, Davis Pardue 10, Zach Hines 9, Jordan Kennedy 9, Victor Hampton 6, Derion Calloway 4, Travez Hampton. Darion Quarles

Opening Games
Score by Quarters: 1) F-S 15-10, 2) LCHS 25-24, 3) F-S 38-31, Final) Franklin-Simpson 53, Logan County 38
F-S (53) Andrew Howard 17, Jerrell Wickware 13, Ryan Randolph 7, Devin Fox 5, J.T. Curtis 4, Drew Tingle 3, Marcus Doaks 3, Aaron Tellner 1, Tanner Clark, Drew Talley, Demarcus Payne
LCHS (38) Twin Lancaster 12, Torin Graham 9, Troy Graham 6, Watkins 4, Aaratan Martin 3, Tyler Davenport 2, Luke Bailey 2, John Richardson

Score by Quarters: 1) RHS 20-6, 2) 40-13, 3) 57-30, Final) Russellville 72, Todd Central 51
RHS (72) Jordan Kennedy 19, Kevin Temple 16, D.J. Quarles 10, Davis Pardue 8, Da’Vonte Bryant 8, Victor Hampton 7, Zach Hines 4,
TODD (51) Nathan Fort 14, Jonmicahel Brown 12, C.J. Broderick10, Gary Moore 9, Case 3, Michael Rager 3

GIRLS
Score by Quarters: 10 RHS 15-14, 2) 28-28, 3) Final) Todd Central 65, Russellville 61
TODD (65) Ariel Johnson 18, Kalisha Rose 17, Taylor Snardon 13, Claire Hart 12, Maggie Simons 5
RHS (61) Amber Sydnor 15, Brittany Hampton 13, Kesi Neblett 10, Tameeka Rippy 10, LeAndra Hoosier 7, Khalia Hamption 5, Davonna Sydnor 1, Passion Townsend

Score by Quarters: 1) F-S 14-13, 2) 26-21, 3) 37-35, Final) Franklin-Simpson 60, Logan County 43
F-S (60) Chastity Gooch 22, Shanice Williams 13, T Chatman 12, Covington 4, Smith 3, Savage 2, Curtis 2, Babb 1
LCHS (43) Miranda Rone 18, Jaylin Jones 10, Kayla MacAllister 9, Meagan Williams 4, Victoria Elliott 2, Shannon MacAllister, Meg Brown, Polly Cowan, Kate Brooks