As soon as the final seconds ticked off of the clock during last Friday’s Corbin win, and Boyle County win, the talk had switched to this Friday’s Class 4A state title matchup between the two teams.
But this matchup brought more to the table than just the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams playing each other.
It also out Boyle County coach Justin Haddix against his former team, Corbin, and former defensive coordinator Tom Greer.
Haddix coached at six years at Corbin, posting a 64-18 record that saw him guide the Redhounds to four region titles, and two state runner-up finishes.
After Haddix left Corbin to go to Boyle County in Greer replaced Haddix as coach in 2020, Greer took over as the Redhounds coach and currently has a 34-3 mark.
There have been rumblings during the past few years that neither Greer or Haddix got along after Haddix’s departure but both coaches put that rumor to rest during Sunday’s L4 Security 13th Region Media Network’s “In the Huddle” Show with Quincy Kreitzer and Mark Gregory.
“Who’s won the state championship the past two years? They have,” Greer said. “Justin has done a great job. I don’t know the misconception out here but Justin and I coached together for six years, and when he was at Perry County, I make a trip to Perry County, and talk to Justin about coming to Corbin to be the head football coach, and we were also neighbors.
“I’ve told our players this is not about Tom Greer and Justin Haddix,” he added. “Justin Haddix is not going to throw one pass, and Tom Greer isn’t going to make one tackle or throw the football.
“We’re going to over their (to Kroger Field) and have the best seat in the house, and watch 11 players on each team play,” Greer continued. “Justin did a tremendous job as a football coach here. I’m sure that Justin felt it was his time to move to Boyle, a good opportunity, and he’s done a tremendous job since he’s been there. This is about the Corbin Redhounds and the Boyle County Rebels, and this is what it comes down to, and really nothing more. It’s going to be a 48 minute football game, and that’s what it is.”
Haddix agreed.
“I met a lot of friends at Corbin. I took that job after being at Perry Central for years as a coach, and I was 29 when I took that job there (at Corbin). We went 11-2, felt like we should have been playing in the state championship game,” he said. “The community there (at Corbin) is great. I still have a lot of good friends there. I still have a lot of kids that I only coached one year there still reach out to me.
“Corbin was a great place for me to coach,” Haddix added. “It was a great community. I taught at school there, and had a lot of these kids that we are going to play. I know all of the seniors (now) were freshman for me. But also, I taught at the middle school, that’s where I started out my day, so I’ve really got to the teach a lot of these kids, and see them every day, and they’re a really good football team.
“Going back to coach Greer and us,” he continued. “He coached with me for five or six years — we won a lot of games there. He was the defensive coordinator and handled the defense — that was his thing, and I did the offense, and we won a lot of big games. You look at that, and probably Alcoa was one of the biggest games — big time win that we had.”
