Former Trigg County basketball coach Ray Maggard made his first trip back to Wildcat Gym in 28 years Thursday to watch the Wildcats beat Fort Campbell 80-62.
Maggard (seen at right from the Kentucky New Era archives) was 77-108 in seven seasons as Wildcat head coach from 1978-85. The Wildcats advanced to the region tournament in four of his seven seasons as coach, including a district title in his final season in 1985.
The 1980-81 team went 17-11 and lost to Caldwell County in the district title game. The squad, led by Rodney Vinson and Spencer Acree, knocked off Madisonville in the first round of the region tournament before falling to Todd County Central in the semifinals.
The 1984-85 team lost their first seven games and endured several player defections during the season before rallying to win six of their final nine games, including an upset win in the district tournament. That team lost to West Hopkins by one point in the region tournament.
Before Trigg County, Maggard was a standout basketball player at Lexington Henry Clay High School. He later played basketball at East Washington State.
He returned to the Bluegrass State and began his coaching career at Pineville, putting together a 51-46 record in four years.
Maggard moved on to Morgan County where he was 25-43 in three seasons. Morgan County had just consolidated several county schools and had not built a new high school gym in those three seasons.
He left Morgan County for Trigg County in 1978.
After seven seasons at Trigg County, Maggard left for Daviess County where he was 65-112 in seven years in Owensboro. During that time, he coached his son Kevin "Goose"Maggard. When Kevin graduated and went on to play at Eastern Kentucky University, Ray resigned as head coach.
Maggard came out of "retirement" in 1994 to serve as an assistant coach at Muhlenberg North, which included one region champion team, and took over as head coach in 1996, leading the Stars to a 17-14 record.
Maggard's final stop was at Logan County from 1997-99 where the Cougars were 46-38. His overall coaching record in 25 years as head coach was 281-361.
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