From the beginning of the 2016 school year, the community of New Franklin has been abuzz with the possibility that Manchester High School football coach Jim France would do it this year: Break the state record of 381 lifetime wins.
Friday night was thought to be a possibility: The game at home, against Orrville. Beat the Red Riders and the record set in 2011 by retired Ironton coach Bob Lutz falls to France.
Parties were planned, family came to town and there was high anticipation for the possibility of witnessing win No. 382.
Then came the Beacon Journal. In preparing to write about the hall of famer, popular high school principal and excitement, previous stories were reviewed, and it was discovered that the numbers didn’t add up.
If the Beacon Journal’s numbers were correct, then France, at age 73, would not break the record Friday and most likely not this year.
The research showed errors in record-keeping by the Beacon Journal and Manchester High School since France started coaching in 1970. During France’s 46-year run as a football coach, there have been many athletic directors who kept varying records, and more than two-dozen Beacon Journal reporters who covered his career.
And meanwhile, the old-school coach, more occupied by the game, hasn’t put much thought into career records.
“We have a great coach and we want to recognize him for what he has done, but we want to make sure that this is correct because it is important,” Manchester Local Schools Superintendent Dr. James Robinson said Thursday.
“We know that he is going to make the record. If he doesn’t make it now, he will make it because he isn’t going anywhere. I know that he wants to continue to coach because coaching is his love.”
A tense week
In September, the Beacon Journal was told that France had a chance at the record. In a review of stories, the Beacon Journal concluded it couldn’t happen this year, and the story was set aside.
Then, when family and friends posted on Facebook last week that France was about to break the record, the Beacon Journal called Manchester in an attempt to understand why there were conflicting numbers.
Several Manchester employees went through high school yearbooks and dug through documents in France’s basement and reached their same conclusion: The legendary coach was indeed at 381 wins.
The Beacon Journal and Manchester continued to research old news stories and records, finding more questions.
Manchester employees and the Beacon Journal met Wednesday to go over the latest numbers. The school had France at 378-111-3 in his career, 375-104-3 at Manchester — admittedly short of the record.
The Beacon Journal, however, had a record of 371-116-4 overall and 368-109-4 at Manchester, enough of a discrepancy to push the all-time record well into the 2017 season.
“In talking with Coach, his most important thing is to win the game tomorrow night and we will go on from there,” Robinson said.
Robinson said France plans to keep coaching beyond this season. France coached his son, Jason France, a current assistant, and he now coaches his grandson, junior JoJo France.
Incomplete records
The Ohio High School Athletic Association doesn’t keep detailed records for coaches. OHSAA spokesman Tim Stried said the governing body for high school athletics relies on schools for accurate records. On the OHSAA website, France appears in two different charts, one for coaching wins in Ohio, and the other for wins in and out of state, both through the 2014 school year. However, when France’s wins, losses and ties since 2014 are updated through week six of this year, even OHSAA has a discrepancy.
When Ironton claimed that Lutz was the winningest coach, the Ironton Tribune was a deciding factor. The paper went through its records and published a complete history of Lutz and his time as coach at Ironton St. Joseph for three seasons and at Ironton High School for 39 seasons. Lutz compiled a 381-91-5 overall record in 42 seasons, going 20-8-1 at Ironton St. Joseph and 361-83-4 at Ironton.
Whether or not he’s at the record number, France already is a legend. He graduated from Springfield High School in 1961, was in the Marines for four years, then went to the University of Akron for two degrees.
He did his student teaching at his alma mater, then began coaching in 1970 and went 3-7 at Coventry before going to Manchester. He’s coached ever since — except for his first year as high school principal in 1985.
The newspaper, Manchester and several schools continue to scour records to reach a consensus. One question that exists is whether Manchester can claim as wins two scheduled games that may have been forfeited by the opponent and never played. Another game was turned from a loss to a win because the opponent violated OHSAA rules.
France remains Manchester High School principal and is in his 46th season coaching football, 45 seasons as the Panthers’ leader. He has led 21 teams to the playoffs, with the 1997 squad finishing as Division IV state runner-up.
“This is important to get right,” said Robinson, who has worked alongside France in some capacity for nearly four decades. “You’re talking about a guy that has put his whole life into this, and you’re also talking about a guy that is well recognized around the state. He serves on the association for the football coaches and he is well liked in our community.”
Read the #ABJVarsity high school blog at www.ohio.com/preps.