TENNERTON – A few weeks ago, I brought up Granville Zopp’s name in my column. So, I began to think, who are the top five football coaches in the history of Buckhannon-Upshur?

B-U has had great eras, good ones and some lean ones. This is my list. Let me know what you think.

5. Eddie Vincent (33-30 record from 2000-2025)

4. Mike Michael (59-47 record from 1986-1996)

3. Jack Pack (21-7-3 record from 1967-1969)

2. Joe Michael (29-2 record from 1964-1966)

1. Granville Zopp (87-31-4 record, 1961-63 and 1972-1980)

The fifth spot was toughest. Cebe Ross won a state title in 1924 and had a 12-2-2 record in two years. Freal “Red” Crites navigated the team through the World War II era, and the current stadium is named after him, but I settled on Eddie Vincent. Vincent had three playoff seasons and went 9-2 in back-to-back seasons in 2004 and 2005.

The fourth spot goes to Mike Michael, the man who coached the team while I was in high school. One of my proudest moments as a B-U fan was with his 1989 team, my senior year. Capital High School was in its first year of consolidation, No. 1 in the state and nationally ranked. (Just eight teams made the playoffs that year.) The Bucs were 7-3, the eighth seed, and went to Charleston to face the Cougars.

B-U was supposed to lose that game 65-0. Instead, led by quarterback Jeff Martin, Michael’s team nearly pulled off the upset of all upsets, dropping a 9-6 decision to the Cougars. If Michael coached under the current system of 16 teams making the playoffs, it’s hard to tell how many times his teams would have made it.

The third spot goes to Jack Pack, who wrapped up the golden age of Buccaneer football in the 60s, taking the team to the state finals, where they lost to Charleston in 1969. He only spent three years at B-U but had a winning season every year, and that 1969 team went 10-1. It would be hard to leave him off the list.

The second spot goes to Joe Michael — the man who followed Zopp’s first tenure. Like coach Pack, he was only the head coach for three seasons, but what a three-year run it was. He won the state championship in 1966 with a team that went a perfect 11-0 and posted 9-1 seasons in his other two years. Not many coaches will have a better winning percentage than 93.5 percent.

That leaves the top spot, of course, for Granville Zopp. He won the first state title for the Bucs in the modern era (after WWII) and is undoubtedly the most revered coach in B-U history. His 1963 team went 10-0 on their way to the state title, and after leaving the program in 1963, he came back in 1972 for a nine-year run. Between 1973-75, his teams went 29-3.

Again, if they had taken more teams to the playoffs back then, he might have had more than one state title, as it seemed like Victory High School was a thorn in the Bucs’ side, keeping them away from some playoff appearances and some state titles. In 1972, the playoff field for each class was expanded from two to four teams and remained this way until 1978, when the top eight teams in the ratings earned berths.

Zopp will forever be the benchmark by which other B-U coaches will be judged.

There you have it. I would love any feedback on my list. Is it spot on? Is your list different? Let me know by sending me an email at sports@mybuckhannon.com.

Now onto the important stuff, the My Buckhannon staff contest. The standings look like this.

STANDINGS (WEEK 8)

Name     Week      Overall

Duane     6-1           43-13

Brian       5-2           39-17

Katie       5-2           36-20

Monica   6-1           34-22

Monica and I shared the lead this week with 6-1 records, while Brian and Katie finished with 5-2 records. I picked up another game on Brian, with my lead now at four games. I hold a seven-game lead over Katie and nine games on Monica.

When it comes to our readers, we had six post 6-1 marks (Dave Marple, Sandra Kimble, Peter Jougras, Marsha Lee, Danny McCauley and Jeremy Harsh), but it was JEREMY HARSH that won the tiebreaker with the WVU-UCF game (58 points) as Jeremy picked 55 points. He will be receiving a $20 gift certificate from My Buckhannon. Thank you for your support, and keep those submissions coming in.

You still have time to get your picks in for this week, as we accept them until Friday at 6:59 p.m. prior to the high school kickoffs. (One submission only.) Please click here to make your picks this week.

Now onto our games:

Buckhannon-Upshur (1-6) at Lincoln (3-4)

Watching Buckhannon-Upshur jump out to that 15-0 lead last week, it did indeed feel like old times. The Bucs couldn’t keep it going, dropping a 34-31 game to East Fairmont. It was disappointing for sure. It will be interesting to see how the Bucs respond this week. The Lincoln game isn’t going to be as easy as I thought it was a few weeks ago.

Duane: Lincoln; Brian: Buckhannon-Upshur; Katie: Buckhannon-Upshur; Monica: Lincoln

West Virginia Wesleyan (0-8) at Concord (2-5)

Sighs… the losing streak is now up to 32 games for Wesleyan, and Concord has won seven straight in this series. Wesleyan’s last win against Concord was in 2017. Maybe Saturday will be a good day for the ‘Cats as Concord enters the game with just two wins.

Duane: Concord; Brian: Concord; Katie: Concord; Monica: Concord

TCU (5-2) at West Virginia (2-5)

Rich Fraud was full of excuses this week for the UCF loss… now we don’t have enough money to compete. My idea — how about we just raze Mountaineer Field and make it parking for the hospital? Folks, it isn’t going to get better for a long, long time at this rate.

Duane: TCU;  Brian: TCU; Katie: TCU; Monica: TCU

The Final Four:

Brooke (3-5) at Elkins (5-3)

Duane: Elkins; Brian: Elkins; Katie: Brooke; Monica: Elkins

Philip Barbour (5-2) at Lewis County (1-6)

Duane: Philip Barbour; Brian: Philip Barbour; Katie: Lewis County; Monica: Philip Barbour

North Marion (6-1) at Robert C. Byrd (4-4)

Duane: North Marion; Brian: North Marion; Katie: North Marion; Monica: North Marion

Texas A&M (7-0) at LSU (5-2)

Duane: Texas A&M; Brian: Texas A&M; Katie: LSU; Monica: LSU