Campbell hits milestone, stands alone in Ga.
400wins
By JOHNNY A. WALTON

Booster club president Tab Reed presents Coach Larry Campbell with a crystal trophy commemorating his 400th victory as head coach of the Lincoln County Red Devils.

Coach averages more wins than there are games in a regular season

Lincoln County won a football playoff game last Friday night. That's not news. The fact that it was the Devils' 400th win and 100th playoff victory in only the past 35 seasons made it big news.

Larry Campbell is the first football coach in Georgia to win 400 games, and 100 playoff games. He's the fifth in the nation to win 400 games, and the second to do so in only 35 seasons.

In 1970, Thomas Bunch hired a 22-year-old to resurrect the Devil baseball program, and be an assistant football coach. Some townsfolk thought this young redheaded coach reminded them of Buddy Bufford, who had led the Devils to their first state championship a decade earlier. Two years later, the youngster would take over from Coach Bunch as the head coach.

The first Campbell win came September 15, 1972, at home, against Warren County 27-10. The Red Devils had not defeated the Screaming Devils in 8 years. This was just a hint of what was to come. The Devils lost by 20 the following week to Louisville, but Coach Campbell said, "we'll be back." He certainly kept that promise.

Red Devil Head Coach Larry Campbell enjoyed the fireworks heralding his 400th win with his wife, Connie, and grandson, Campbell Robinson.

The Devils won only 3 games that first season under the new head coach, but each was a building block in a

foundation that would put the team in the state finals just two years later. Campbell's first team had only 1 player that weighed more than 180 pounds. Supported by the Booster Club, he had the school install its first weight machine. Campbell put together his first great group of assistant coaches, and the players started to believe.

As Coach Campbell quickly points out, one person can't win 400 football games, or even one game. Having a winning program takes good athletes that believe in their coaches, great assistant coaches, outstanding school and community support, and a head coach that can bring everything together. A celebration of Coach Campbell's accomplishments as head coach is a celebration for everyone involved in the program, as player, coach, supporter, parent, or fan.

As head coach and later also as athletic director, Larry has brought everything together extraordinarily well for the past 35 years. His leadership kept the community involved, found and kept great assistant coaches, and got the most out of his student athletes.

And that's a key point. Coach Campbell has never overlooked the fact that his players are students, in their formative years. Back in the 1970s, his players preferred showing their report cards to their parents more than they did to "Coach", standing in the middle of the high school hallway. He's still known to cruise around town looking for students that may have forgotten what time school starts.

Coach Campbell started the County's Recreation Department in the 1970's, bringing Little League baseball and church league softball to Lincoln County. That effort led to the Curry Colvin Recreation Complex that serves the County today. Being from a small town not far away in South Carolina , Coach and Connie knew what a small town was like, and should be like. Through their efforts, the County has improved in many ways during the past 35 years.

During that time, many other schools have had outstanding stretches of 3 or 4 or 5 successful seasons. But then the head coach moves on to a bigger school, or their two or three great athletes graduate. Those schools return to their break-even seasons. That hasn't happened in Lincoln County since Larry Campbell arrived. The Devils' worst season since 1973 was 6-6, and LCHS came up just short of making the quarterfinals that year (2001).

Certainly the local football program had great success before Campbell. Three state titles in the early 1960's under Coaches Bufford and Bunch, and great early success in the 1920's under W. T. Dunaway, set the Lincolnton football expectations high. Coach Campbell has taken that to a higher level sustained for over 3 decades. In the 50 years of Devil football prior to 1972, Lincolnton teams won 237 against 221 losses and 43 ties. In the 35 seasons since, the Devils are 400- 69-3. Lincoln County is now third alltime in Georgia with 637 wins, just behind LaGrange at 639. Valdosta leads the nation with 829.

During "The Campbell Years" (TCY), Lincoln County has AVERAGED nearly 11 and a half wins per season. Think about that for a minute. When the season starts, a school is only guaranteed 10 games. An average season for LCHS is 13.5 games. Thirty times during TCY the Devils have played during Thanksgiving week, winning 27 times.

How big a milestone is 400 wins? Lincolnton native Dan Pitts was 346- 109-4 in his 39 seasons. Third in Georgia and still active is Robert Davis at 337-68-1 in 34 seasons; he's a great coach, first at Warner Robins and now at Westside-Macon, but with one less season, he's won 63 fewer games. Thomson coach Luther Welsh is 307-163- 5 in 42 seasons (20% more seasons but only 75% of the win total). Those are 3 of the best coaches ever, and those comparisons are intended to demonstrate how impressive and unusual the Campbell totals are.

Nationally, John McKissick, the 80- year-old coaching legend at Summerville (near Charleston SC), is 543-128-13 after 55 seasons. John Curtis is now 441-46-6 in his 38 th season at the Christian School in Louisiana his father founded. G. A. Moore of Texas is third all-time with 412-83-9 in 43 years. Pete Adkins of Missouri ended at 405- 60-4 in 44 years. Everyone but Moore spent their entire career at a single school. With another "average" season next year, Coach Campbell could move into third on the all-time win list, past the retired Moore and Adkins.

Campbell's 11.43 wins per year is second among the national all-time top 40 coaches, with Curtis first at 11.61. It should be noted that Campbell is at a public school in a small county, while Curtis is at a private school (high school tuition $5,400 per year including transportation).

Exactly 100 of the 400 wins came in the playoffs, earning the Devils 10 state titles during TCY. That's a state title nearly once every 3 years. No other Georgia coach is anywhere near the 100 total. Campbell teams have lost 22 times in the playoffs, with 14 of those 22 losses coming to the eventual state champion. Campbell has been the head coach in a Dome playoff game more than anyone else (7 times). On average during the past 35 years, the Devils have played in the state finals every other year.

Larry Campbell's teams have won the region title 28 times in his 35 seasons; they finished in the top three of their region in 6 of the other 7 years. That's an unbelievable 80% as region champs. Four of those were during the 6 years the Devils were one of the smallest schools in Class AA. The Devils are 210-17-1 in region play; 12 of those 17 losses came in what is now Class AA. Winning 92.3% of region games included a 108-game region win streak from 1983 to 1999. LCHS won 17 straight region titles.

Campbell's Devils have been in the playoffs 33 straight years. If the current playoff rules had been in place in 1973, that would be a 34-year streak. Coach Campbell always worries about Homecoming being a distraction for his team, yet he has never lost a Homecoming game. Twenty-six straight times, from 1973 through 1998, the Devils won their regular season finale; the total is now 32 of 35. Campbell teams get better during the year.

This year, the Devils have the best scoring defense in Georgia, in all classes, allowing just over 3 points per game (38). But great defense is nothing unusual during The Campbell Years. One third of the games (157) have ended with the opponent scoreless. In contrast, in only 3% of the games have the Devils been shutout (15 times in 472 contests).

"Coach" is second to Luther Welsh in total games coached, 472 to Coach Welsh's 475. However, if you exclude the 33 games Coach Welsh coached in South Carolina, Coach Campbell has the Georgia-only high school football record.

Under Coach Campbell's leadership, the Devils have beaten higher-classification schools over two-thirds of the time. He's won 97% of the games against teams from his native South Carolina, and nearly 94% of games against private schools.

Eight times the Devils have had a perfect undefeated, untied season (22.9%). Forty percent (14) of the regular seasons ended without a loss. The Devils have won over 86% of regular season games, outscoring opponents about 4-to-1.

Of the top 20 football coaches in Georgia prep history, only Nick Hyder (302-48-5) has a better winning percentage at 85.77%, compared to Campbell 's 85.06%.

Lincoln County held the longest winning streak in Georgia history record twice for a total of nearly a quarter century (1976-78 at 38, 1978-2002 at 44). Campbell teams have two of the four longest, with Buford at 47 and Parkview at 46.

The Campbell Years, 1972-2006 and counting, have accounted for around 20 state records either for the coach, team, or school.