LOOKING BACK

 The decision by Coach Steve Wright to leave South Laurel High School to accept the head-coaching job at Southwestern High School in Pulaski County could set off vibrations felt in many quarters throughout the state.

A huge window of opportunity is now available to those who will choose South Laurel’s new head man.

Coach Wright took over a program 21 years ago that has been on the rise and continued to grow the situation.

Former Hazel Green and Boone County Coach Sam Karr, who himself was a very good coach and a good friend of mine advised me that he felt Wright was a very good young coaching prospect at that point in time.

Sam passed away a few years back, but his prophecy was accurate. Wright achieved a good amount of success during his tenure in the Laurel County system.

South Laurel High School is a large high school in student numbers with around 1,300 students and should be able to be competitive with strong teams on the court each year in the 50^th District and 13^th Region.

In this not so perfect world, however, it has not been the basketball the fans of South Laurel have come to expect and their attendance dwindled over the last two years.

It was inevitable, the old question “What have you done for me lately?”

So, now Coach Wright has taken his talents to Southwestern and the next move is South Laurel’s.

To whom do they turn next to lead their potentially fertile program?

If I were the one to make that decision, my choice would be Tony Pietrowski, thereby solving two problems. The Corbin Redhounds’ coach has beaten South Laurel ten of the last 11 games they have played, and he is one of the brightest young coaches in the game.

Coach P, however, I feel is comfortable in his current situation and has his program where he wants it.

My number two choice would be Coach Billy Hicks of Scott County, respected by many as the best high school coach in the state, Coach Hicks is known to like the fishing in Southeast Kentucky, but on the second hand he would probably say no, why” They could never talk the Toyota plant into moving to London.

A third possibility would be yet another outstanding coach in Wayne County’s Rodney Woods. Woods can coach with anybody and it may appeal to him to coach at a school the size of South Laurel.

A dark horse might be Alan Hatcher of Perry County Central whose slow style of play may not be attractive, but he wins everywhere he goes.

Jason Booher of Covington Holmes should be suffering from the culture shock of going from Shelby Valley to Covington and he certainly could be interested in such an opportunity.

And lest we forget South Laurel has a pretty fair coach already in their system in Roscoe Denny.

Whitley County and coach Chris Baker also decided to part ways and now like South Laurel, Whitley County must look at selecting the right man to lead their program.

Whitley County’s situation is more of building project and would likely recognize a different type of coach from South Laurel.

Next week I will go into the window of opportunity available to Mike Campbell, the Whitley County Athletic Director.

By the way, I hope both schools understand that Coach Tony Pietrowski is a Redhound to the bone.