Doug Preston, who has been coaching Franklin-Simpson since 2012, feels great confidence in the talent of area players as well as coaches, which challenges him to rise to the top as he prepares his program and keeps them playing at a high level. He is committed to his program year-round.

“I do believe I work very hard at coaching this game and I also believe my players work very hard,” he said. “One thing that is unique about football is that we put in all of this work preparing and developing players’ skills and then, when we get into the season, we only have one shot per week to demonstrate the things we are trying to put into play in our process yearly, monthly and weekly.”

Preston draws inspiration from many coaches and players he’s been fortunate to know, watch, or read about over the years. In his younger days, he loved reading about Bear Bryant at Alabama, as well as Vince Lombardi. He has also picked up a lot of ideas about how to do things from Dudley Hilton of Bell County, Sam Harp and many others.

“I really try to learn from anyone that has had success as a head coach,” he said. “I came to Franklin as a result of my daughter attending WKU. In 2012 Franklin-Simpson was looking for a head football coach and I thought it would be a very good opportunity. Turns out that has worked out well. I have been blessed to have a lot of success here as the head football coach.”

While there are many, Preston has to say his favorite memory from his coaching files comes from last year, when his team experience the 4A State Championship win over Johnson Central.