(by Don Meador, The Citizen-Times, March 13, 2007)
Almost 14 years after stepping aside as the coach of the Allen County-Scottsville Lady Patriots, David Young will step back into the girls’ basketball spotlight this week. No, he’s not returning to the sidelines where he roamed for 16 seasons but he will be on the court, receiving an honor from his peers for his success as the coach for the Lady Patriots.
Friday afternoon during the fifth session of the KHSAA state tournament at Western Kentucky University, Young will be inducted into the Kentucky Basketball Coaches Court of Honor. Nominated by fellow coaches and selected by a committee of coaching colleagues, the honor recognizes the on-court achievements of Kentucky’s most successful coaches
Young’s path to the girl’s basketball arena was not without several twists and turns. Born and raised in Tompkinsville, Young played football, basketball, and baseball and ran “some” track for the Tompkinsville Bears. Ironically, Young actually played as a Bear in games against the Scottsville Pointers in the gym that sets a few feet from his present office at the Old Scottsville High School. The school has been reborn and today serves as the new home of Daymar College, where Young now serves as campus director.
I found employment for a while in Tompkinsville where my father worked. In the spring, I began to apply for jobs.
I was originally hired to teach physical education at the middle school and help coach football with Coach Bob Driver and Coach Royce Hood for the high school.
Young’s first season in the system coincided with the Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s mandated reinstatement of girl’s basketball as a sanctioned sport. Across the commonwealth, high school began girls basketball programs were put into place. Locally, Sandra Williams was hired as the first girls basketball coach for the Patriots, the nickname Lady Patriots arrived a few years later.
In the fall of 1974, Young found himself working with the high school football program, teaching PE at the middle school and planning to coach the middle school boys in basketball during the winter. One day, the young coach received a visit from his principal.
“Middle school principal Paul C. Foster asked if I would be willing to start a middle school girls program,” Young recalled. “I said yes and I guess you can say the rest is history.”
When football
season finished, Young found himself coaching boys and girls at the middle
school as well as joining Coach Williams
There is no
difference. I approached both the same, coached both the same and gave the kids
the same respect. I expected the girls
to learn the fundamentals just like I expected the boys to do.
We had several
middle school players that made the varsity team that first year. It was a
natural blend between the middle school program and high school program
especially starting fresh. The blend was unbelievable and the way the girls
worked together was unbelievable since we had kids from seventh grade to
juniors and seniors
With the Patriot varsity featuring a mixture of high school and middle school players, the program obtained instant success. On November 14, 1974, ACS defeated Butler County in Morgantown for the program’s first win. Over three months later, ACS completed their first regular season with an unblemished record, 14-0. The team’s winning ways caught the attention of Allen County’s rabid sports fans.
ACS’s first loss came to Barren County in the 15th district championship. The following week, Bowling Green knocked the Patriots out of the regional tournament ending the ACS season at 15-2. With Young continuing to shape the middle school program while assisting at the high school level, ACS girl’s basketball quickly climbed the ladder of success. The 1975-76 season saw ACS post a second undefeated regular season with a sparkling 19-0 record. The win streak reached 20 before Barren edged ACS to take the district tournament. The following week, the Patriots turned the tables defeating Barren County to advance to the state tournament. ACS loss to Sedalia in the first round to close the year at 23-2.
The following year was almost a “carbon-copy” of the 1976 season. Young coached the middle school Rebel program and assisted at the high school level. The ability to do both was helped in that in those days, middle schools were allowed to use a class period for basketball, freely Young to help in the afternoons with the high school. At the varsity level, ACS loss a regular season game for the first time as Glasgow defeated ACS in February. In district play, the Patriots got by the Lady Scotties before again following to Barren County in the district championship. Once gain, the tables were turned as ACS beat Barren in the 1977 regional final for a second appearance in the state tournament. Assumption knocked ACS out of the state tournament leaving the Patriots with another great record, 22-3.
Young was prepared to settle into his continuing role as coach and assistant coach until one afternoon when school supertindent Jimmy Bazzell came calling.
“I was on the stage at the old middle school when Mr. Bazzell walked in and told me that Ms. Williams had resigned,” Young recalled. He said that we would love to have me apply for the job.”
Young accepted the heading coaching job and the additional coaching duties. However, for a few years, Young found himself with the task of not only leading the varsity and junior varsity teams but continuing to coach the middle school program.
“I think for about two of three years, I had the whole program,” Young noted. “From starting a Little League program to middle school and high school. I did have Ann Brown that helped with the girls as a sponsor at the high school. Linda Brown came along a few years later to help with the middle school program.”
The combination worked as the middle school teams won on the court while learning the game and the varsity program becoming a program mentioned among the state’s elite.
At the high school level, Young’s first team finished the season 18-3. ACS won their first ever district championship with a win over Barren County only to see the Trojanettes turn the tables with a 38-36 regional championship win before a packed house on a Saturday afternoon at Patriot Gym. The next season would be truly special.
The 1978-79 season featured a senior class that had, in essence, been the building blocks of the ACS program. Seniors Angel Bonds, Vera Hall, Tammy Lyles, Marla Williams, and Donna Smith had sweated hours and hours and hours in hopes of making their senior year special. After a loss at home to Assumption in December, the program’s first loss ever before Christmas, the team regrouped for a stretch run that took the programs back to the state tournament.
Winning the 1979 regional championship was the program’s third title in four years. In the state tournament, ACS made history with a 15-point win over Owensboro. Two days later, Paris eliminated ACS 52-49 in overtime. For the seniors, it was the end of an era. For Young, it was the beginning of a rebuilding project or—as it turned out---a reloading project.
Led by four seniors, the 1979-80 team overcame an early season loss by accomplishing arguably the greatest feat in ACS girl’s basketball history. Young took the team to the 1980 Louisville Invitational Tournament, a mid-season tournament that was “THE” in-season tournament, second in prestique only to the state tournament.
This year, things were even more interesting as Laurel County, the three-time defending state champions, had---for the first time---accepted their invitation to the LIT. Laurel County came to Louisville perfect on the season and perfect since a night in January of 1978. The Lady Cardinals sported a winning streak of 71 games.
ACS had little trouble in a 61-38 over Stuart in the opening round. In the quarterfinals, the Patriots eased by Holy Rosary. Laurel County won their first two games, pushing their record to 73-0, heading into Saturday, January 26, 1980.
Hundreds of Patriot fans were in Louisville Saturday morning to see Allen County-Scottsville and Laurel County battle. In reality, the Patriots were in control the entire game. ACS would win, 47-40. Images of the streak-stopping event included the picture of Laurel Coach Roy Bowling, gently walking to the ACS bench to shake Coach Young’s hand ten seconds before the final horn sounded. The Patriot supporters began to chant, Laurel County 73, doesn’t mean a thing to me.”
“We stopped a record that may never be approached,” Young told The Courier-Journal following the game. “In time, we will realize the gravity of this accomplishment.”
Young’s words have proven true as the state record of 73 consecutive wins remains a state record.
Oldham County waited in the title game that night. The old saying that “defense wins championships” was never truer. ACS held the Lady Colonels to 26 points, winning 41-26. The Patriots’ dream season—including attaining the number one ranking in the state, came to a shocking end, with a 46-44 upset loss in the regional championship game. ACS finished the season 29-3. Young was honored for his leadership later that spring receiving Coach of the Year honors from The Courier-Journal.
The following season, ACS overcame expectations with a solid 20-6 season. The 1981 year laid the foundation for a 1982 season that would see the Lady Patriots go 20-10, win the first of 11 consecutive district titles and advance to the regional championship game for the fourth time in Young’s brief career. The following year, ACS featuring a pair of future Western Kentucky Lady Toppers in senior Laura Ogles and sophomore Susie Starks, started the season with an impressive 18-0 record. That accomplishment propelled the Lady Patriots to number one in the state and a number 16 national ranking by USA Today. Atherton ended ACS’s win streak in the LIT yet the team went on to finish the season 28-3. The final loss was a 44-38 setback to Warren Central in the region semi-finals in what some labeled as the “state championship game.” Central won the state with a 39-1 record---their only loss was to ACS.
After going 22-8 in 1984 and reaching the regional finals again, Young coached the 1984-85 Patriots back to the state tournament. Led by Starks, ACS closed the year 23-5, losing to state runner-up Atherton in the first round. For his coaching efforts, Young was selected to coach the 1985 Kentucky All-Stars in their two game series with the Indiana All-Stars.
The last eight years of Young’s career at ACS was an era of consistency that is seldom seen in basketball circles now. Year after year, the Lady Patriot program was always listed among the regions best boasted by the fact that Young’s colleague’s recognized the fact that Young was able to get the most from his players as he stressed fundamentals.
“People remember the defense,” Young said. “We were good defensively but every clinic I was ever asked to speak at wanted to me to speak on offense. We were not real flashy on offense but we were fundamentally sound. We set the screens, we move the ball well, and we shot the ball well.”
Young’s teams posted records of 15-12, 22-9, 18-12, 19-11, 25-7, 20-9, 19-12 and 17-10. Even in the years when the team was “down” in some views, the team seemed to make things interesting at season’ end. In 1986, the Lady Patriots loss in overtime in the regional semi-finals to a Franklin-Simpson team that went on to finish as the state runner-up. It was the third time in four years that ACS loss to a team that appeared in the state championship game. The 1987 season ended in an overtime loss in the regional semi-finals to a very talented Logan County club and then there was 1990.
A senior-laden ACS squad was the favorite to take home the regional title. In the regional final, an upstart Logan County team edged ACS 34-32 on a last second shot. ACS finished the season 25-7 but stopped one game short of returning to the state tournament.
Young’s team was upset in the first round of the 1991 regional tournament, the first time he had failed to take a team to at least the regional semi-finals. A year later, Young’s 1992 team won their 11th consecutive district tournament before dropping a very highly contested semi-final game to Metcalfe County.
Away from the court, things were changing for Young. His professional career took a turn when he moved from Physical Education to administration, accepting a role as assistant principal at the high school. He continued to coach but the demands were ever increasing, starting with the new trend in girl’s basketball of teams spending the summer engaged in team camp play.
“Back in the 1980’s, we would go from October to March,” Young said. “The families and kids could have summers’ off. If they wanted to go to summer individual camps that was fine but we would not come back with team work until the fall.”
For several years, Young believed that his teams would be fine without an overwhelming summer schedule.
“I thought we could stick with fundamentals and be okay but we could not,” Young added. “I started to go to team camps because you could use the summer to see what you needed to start working on October 15th.”
Basketball became
a year round activity and combined with his new duties as assistant principal
and his desire to spend time with his family led Young to step aside after the
1993 season.
“At that point, I was torn between what I thought I wonted to keep doing and what my career was telling me to do,” I was beginning to get worn out in the back of my mind you sort of know. Was I giving everything I could to Lady Patriot basketball? At that point, I could honestly say no”
Young added that walking away seemed to be in the best interest of the program and his family.
“With the job stress of the being assistant principal and the demands of going in the gym and keeping the program at the elite status it was at was just too much,” Young recalled. It wasn’t good for the program, for my family or for David Young.” for David Young
His final team went 17-10 and, for the first time, lost in the first game of the district tournament. Young finished his 16-year career with a 337-125 record, a winning percentage of 72.9. Ten times Young’s teams won over 20 games. Young guided the Lady Patriot to 14 district championships, two regional titles, and five regional runner-ups.
Reflecting back on the successes and failures, Young remembers the regional titles and also the five times his teams missed the state tournament by one win.
“The runner-ups stick in your minds,” Young noted. “But, that’s part of basketball. It doesn’t matter how good you are or where you are rated you still have to step on the floor and make baskets and stop the other team. A break here or a break there, a free throw made or a free throw missed, a call going one way or the other. So much to consider and to expect 15-16-17 year olds to do. Sometimes, it’s amazing what they are able to achieve.”
Young’s teams are remembered for being fundamentally sound offensively and defensively.
“People remember the defense,” Young said. “We were good defensively but every clinic I was ever asked to speak at wanted to me to speak on offense. We were not real flashy on offense but we were fundamentally sound. We set the screens, we move the ball well, and we shot the ball well.”
Young is quick to point out that his success has come due to the outstanding players he had the opportunity to coach.
“Players make the coach,” Young said. “I was blessed to have outstanding players that loved to play the game.”
Young also feels that the Lady Patriots “winning tradition” was established from the beginning, a fact that helped his program reach the remarkable level of consistency.
“We set the stage early because we started the program on a winning note,” Young explained. “Winning breeds winning. People like winning and they hate losing I am the same way. Once we started winning, people expected winning and our players expected to win.”
Each year, Young’s teams had two simple goals.
“Our goals each year was to be district champions and be playing our best come regional tournament time,” Young said.
Young admitted that as a young coach he envisioned his teams playing at the top of their game from November when the season until March but as the years passed realized that the “real season” started in March. That’s when you wonted your team to have worked out the clinks and be peaking.
“In our early years I wonted to be playing the best from day one,” Young explained. “. But, I came to realize that March is when you wont to win.”
Young candidly admits that through the years, the opportunity to leave ACS did come. In each situation, Young and his wife Karen weighted the options but, in each case, decided to remain in the community.
“The timing never was right,” Young pointed out. “Once I got down to it and weighted the pros and cons, the question was would I be leaving for a better program or are you moving just to be moving. I could never find a better place than Allen County-Scottsville.”
Friday afternoon, Young will be at E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green to be inducted into the Coaches Court of Honor. Young will be representing the third and fourth regions in this year’s classes. It is an honor that the retired coach never expected and is humbled to receive.
“I was surprised when I found out about this,” Young added.
After several years as principal at the high school, Young accepted the role of Safety Director for the system, a position he held until he retired last August. Today, he works for Daymar College. Would he consider a return to the sidelines?
“You never say never,” Young said. “But, I don’t think so.”