Belfry football coach Philip Haywood suffers multiple injuries in Saturday car wreck

Posted by author January 18, 2025 Football

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Belfry High School’s Philip Haywood, the all-time winningest high school football coach in Kentucky, suffered multiple injuries in an automobile accident Saturday morning in Pike County.

Todd Cassell, an assistant football coach at Belfry, said Haywood was driving “and hit a patch of black ice and ended up in a small creek. It was just one of those wintertime accidents.”

Cassell said Saturday afternoon that Haywood was in the process of being transported from a hospital in Pike County to the University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington. Cassell said Haywood suffered broken ribs, collapsed lungs “and some other internal injuries.”

Cassell said Haywood “is stable enough to make the trip” to Lexington.

“They were trying to get a helicopter into Pikeville, and the helicopter wouldn’t fly because it’s icing,” Cassell said. “So they finally got an ambulance to transport him to Lexington. …

“He’s a tough old bird. We just don’t know right now.”

Haywood, 73, has a career record of 491-160 in 50 seasons as a head coach.

He was the head coach at Prestonsburg, his alma mater, for nine seasons (1975-83) before taking over at Belfry in 1984. He’s led Belfry to 14 state championship games, posting an 8-6 record.

Haywood’s 2024 Belfry team finished 11-3 after falling to Union County in the Class 3A state semifinals. Haywood has been named The Courier Journal’s High School Football Coach of the Year five times, most recently in 2016.

This story may be updated.

Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @kyhighs.