Philip Haywood, longtime Belfry football coach and KHSAA wins leader, dies at 73

Posted by author January 22, 2025 Football

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Philip Haywood, Kentucky’s all-time winningest high school football coach, died Wednesday at University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington. He was 73.

Belfry athletics director Matt Varney confirmed Haywood’s death four days after the coach suffered multiple injuries during an automobile accident in Pike County.

“He was a pillar of our community,” Varney said. “Belfry doesn’t have a mayor, but if we did he would be it.”

Haywood posted 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 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.

Todd Cassell, an assistant football coach at Belfry, said on Saturday that 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 Haywood suffered broken ribs, collapsed lungs “and some other internal injuries.”

This story will be updated.

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