Best Coaches In Kentucky Wrestling History

[CCFullerHWT 1]

Who do you all think are some of the best ever coaches?

[Cmlswrstlng 0]

Bankamper and Carr

[oldgrappler 9]

Jim Ploesser - Hopkinsville

[dad447 0]

You have to consider Gary Canter and the great job he has done in LaRue County for not only establishing a program from scratch, but making it one of the top programs year in and year out in Kentucky. 

[#1fan 0]

coach anderson does in four years what it takes many of the country schools to do in eight plus years

[tiltfor3 20]

It is obvious now that Rusty Parks was more than the figure head at Woodford.

[wolverine 0]

james willburs of simon kenton

[LOWsingle140 0]

Badida!

[possumdaddy 23]

The Carrs and Parks

[littleschool130 0]

Top 5 Coaches in the State (not sure on names, so I'll put teams down)

1. Campbell County

2. Woodford County

3. Seneca

4. South Oldham

5. Larue County

Honorable Mention: Ryle, Union, Simon Kenton

[jrp8825 0]

Coach Rusty Parks was the brains and strategy of woodford county. There should be NO argument on this post that he is THE BEST coach in the state of kentucky EVER!!!

[Who-Want-It! 0]

Hands down Coach Parks and the Carrs are a devastating combination

[bluegrassbrawler 2]

Coach Matney, formerly of Sheldon Clark, now Johnson Central, has to be listed.  He has only been around about half the time of most of the other coaches listed, but has two state tournament championships, two dual state championships, and has coached around 16-17 state champs.

[119Rider 61]

I would have to go with old grappler. Ploesser may have done some sneaky things, but the guy knew how to get talent on the mat down there in Hoptown. I can remember him and my coach, (who also should be on this list), having some amazing strategical duals back in the day. Two of the best all-time in my opinion.

[PinToWin 0]

I like that Ploesser and sneaky-how politically correct-he did have some talent back in the day.  There are several good coaches in the state and some IMO that are slightly better than others.  Canter is probably the best duals coach in the state, Matney's kids always seem to perform to their ability, i.e. if they are supposed to finish in the top three that is where they finish which says a lot when you don't have kids let you down in big meets, Parks had the ability to not let his kids get complacent which is why they are always a favorite to win another state title, and Bankamper runs a solid program at Campbell County never a team you want to face in duals meet.  Hopefully some of the young coaches and coaches of new programs will look at what these coaches do well and adopt some of their philosophies, so that the sport of wrestling will continue to grow in the state of KY.

[Zeus 117]

I think you'll are missing some details about the Carr/Parks situation.  While Coach Parks did most of the administrative work in terms of scheduling and keeping the team organized Coach Carr has done 99% of the coaching since he arrived in Woodford County.  Coach Carr is hands down the best wrestling coach in Kentucky history.  The man has forgotten more about wrestling than most of us will ever know.  I love Coach Parks to death but if you asked him I think he would agree with me.

[KnoxMeade08 0]

Plain and simple hands down Coach Cullins from Fort Knox I think. He gets wrestlers for max 3 years *most of 'em two years* and look what he does with 'em. Look at their team, only 4 guys who have past year experience under their belt (one his 2end year, 2 their 3erd year, and another one who wrestled before moving to KY not sure what year).

[grappler-of-old 44]

When talking about all time greats, most of us were not around during the golden age, but those coaches still need to be given credit.

In Nky you can ague.

Mike Bankemper---Campbell Co.

Wayne Badida-----Conner

Brother Joe--------Newport Catholic 60's-70's

other old coaches

Jim Ploeser------Hopkinsville

Coach Perrin-------Christian Co.

Tim Dentch--------Fern Creek (I think he was coach in the 80's)

Jim Matney-----Sheldon Clark/Johnson Central

Coach Canter---Larue Co.

Parks/Carr----Woodford Co.  (Maybe the greatest duo) (Parks has little success prior to Carr, we will see how much Carr has without Parks)

I agree that individually both of these are great coaches on their own, but together they complement each other greatly and make them a fantastic duo. 

Coaching is more than just showing moves, it also includes motivation, setting a schedule that is both demanding and evenly balanced, it includes people skills with the parents, wrestlers, officials, and fans, not to mention the administrative skills needed to keep a program going.

When looking at this criteria I would have to say that Canter and Bankemper would have to be at the top of this list.

[KYgrappler 4]

Parks and Carr.  Hands down.

Parks was more than an administrator, I think this yrs. team can agree w/ that.  Just look at who is known nationally as great coaches. Sure the other names mentioned are good but they can't compare to woodford of old.

[wrestling4life 0]

Even though he has not coached in KY in entire career, you have to put Coach Regiel from Harrison co in these talks.  He is a national hall of fame coach and has the most career dual wins of all time and is looking to make it 800 next season.  I believe is has been at Harrison Co for 13 yrs now and look what he has done with that team. 

[I-pinned-em-all 0]

Back in the day, Coach Badida made us practice wrestling on the gravel parking lot through the week. If we won a big tournament on Saturday he rewarded us by letting us practice on the concrete parking lot on Monday only. This style of coaching made us appreciate the soft wrestling mats. This was during the era when Conner was the only team in NKy who had state champions. Some of those state champions included 5 time state finalist and 4 time state champion Robbie Clarkston.

Coach Badida was a mentor and father figure for many of us. We wanted, I wanted to win for Coach Badida. A victory, a big smile and hand shake from Coach Badida was the only incentive we needed to wrestle hard for him. Many of us felt like we were his soldiers and it was expected by the upper classman to perform and give Coach a state title. This mentality carried on for many years when Conner was one of the dominant teams in the state. We did and still do love Coach Badida. Although Coach has 19 state champions to his credit, the success of a coach is not necessarily measured by the number of champs. It is based on the love and respect his wrestlers have for him and the coaches ability to make the athlete rise to their maximal potential. I'm sure there are many wrestlers throughout the state who have similar feeling about their coach. This is what makes a coach great. Coach Badida was a great coach for me.

[Josh_Claywell 52]

Coach Carr/Coach Parks -- Woodford

Coach Canter -- LaRue

[a d d 1 0 3 0]

Carr and Parks for sure

[EMS Coach Cardwell 17]

My top 3 would fall like this #1Parks                                                                                                                                  #2Carr 

#3Garring (St.X)     

[Just Wrestle 0]

Coach Canter is a very good coach, one of my favorites of all time.

But their is no doubt the best coach or coaches of ALL TIME in this state is Parks and Carr.  The best of all time in any sport is usually decided by numbers.  And there are a lot of stats behind that program, even though they are on the decline.

17 years in a row placing in the top 3 is AMAZING and will probably never be topped.