Mullins, the fifth-year Wildcat coach, is putting the final touches on a series with one of the most storied high school football programs in eastern Kentucky - the Belfry Pirates.
Logan will take on Belfry next season.
Well, sort of.
Strike that.
Logan will most likely take on Belfry next season.
As the Wildcats search for new teams to play on the gridiron Belfry High School and Logan High School have found each other.
And only being 35 miles or so from Logan - just across the Tug in Goody, Ky., Mullins will also be saving the Logan County School District a lot of money in gas.
Mullins said he's expecting to have Belfry, a traditional state powerhouse, on Logan's 2009 football schedule.
"Right now, we are expected to play Belfry next year. We just don't know when," Mullins said. "We can't sign a contract until we get our Triple-A teams on there but me and (Belfry) Coach Philip Haywood have talked to each other and we're going to play JV this year. We know that we are going to play but it is just not 100 percent final. It's looking very promising that Logan and Belfry will be playing each other starting next year. It's not a 100 percent done deal but I would be stunned if we weren't playing them at some point next year."
Belfry is currently 4-0 and in first place in its five-team district which consists of Sheldon Clark, Pike Central, Magoffin County and East Ridge. The Pirates have outscored their opponents 174-39.
The Pirates won back-to-back state championships in 2003 and 2004 as Belfry beat Elizabethtown 33-27 in OT in the '03 title game and then took a 28-21 victory over Owensboro Catholic in the '04 state championship.
Belfry went for a third state championship in school history last fall but were turned back, 27-17 by Louisville Central in the finals and finished with a 14-1 record.
The Pirates played in three other Kentucky state title games in 1979, 1985 and 1986 but lost all three.
Current head coach Philip Haywood has led the Pirates to both state championships and to five of their six state title game appearances. The legendary Haywood has coached Belfry for 33 seasons and has an all-time record of 306-109. He ranks second in all-time wins in state history behind Rob Schneider (Newport Central Catholic).
"They have a very good program and they will be back in the hunt this year," Mullins said. "They are definitely one of the top programs in the state over there in Kentucky."
Belfry is a Triple-A school in Kentucky but would be considered 2A in West Virginia.
Even with Belfry possibly on the schedule, Logan would still have to get two more Triple-A teams on the slate in order to get to the minimum of five.
The WVSSAC requires each football team to play a minimum of half its games against teams that are in the same classification or higher.
Logan only plays two Triple-A teams this season (Winfield and Lincoln County) but were given a waiver by the WVSSAC because in Logan's jump back up to 3A this fall it still had many Double-A teams that were in the second year of two-year contracts.
"They (Belfry) are Triple-A there but that would be like Double-A here," Mullins said. "If they were Triple-A we would have already signed the contract and would be playing them."
Triple-A schools Lincoln County, Winfield and Hurricane have already been signed to play Logan next year.
Logan needs two more 3A teams.
"We've got three Triple-A teams already lined up for next year. We've got Lincoln County, Winfield and Hurricane right now," Mullins said. "We've still got to keep our options open next year because we have to get to five Triple-A teams."
Getting two more Triple-A teams has been very difficult for Logan.
Since many of the state's 3A squads have conference affiliations such as the multi-team Mountain State Athletic Conference, having room on the schedule to play non-league games is not always on option.
So far, Mullins said he's not had much luck.
"Coach (Roger) Gertz and I have contacted about every Triple-A school in the state of West Virginia. We checked every one of them on line that needed games and none of them say they need games anymore," Mullins said. "We called a bunch of Kentucky schools and we're not having very much luck right now. There might be some drops that we could take advantage of. We're hoping that something opens up and we get an opportunity to play two more Triple-A teams to make us playoff eligible."
Mullins said Logan could look to other states.
But how far would you want to go in order to find two more Triple-A foes?
Ohio?
Virginia?
"We called a couple of those schools and they basically said that they couldn't believe for them to expect to have to travel two hours or more to play a football game," Mullins said. "Some of those schools said that their superintendents wouldn't let them travel over a certain amount of miles to play football. We'll do what we can. We'll get this schedule worked out one way or another."
It would have been nice for Logan if Belfry had been a Triple-A team.
That would have left LHS just one school away from reaching the minimum.
But playing Belfry will give Logan another stern test as it rebuilds its program back to Triple-A.
Logan didn't have much success the last time, however, in its out-of-state adventure with a Kentucky team. Earlier in the decade, the Cats lost 69-40 and 35-8 to Paintsville, Ky.-based Johnson Central High School, a Triple-A school.
Belfry plays its home games on FieldTurf at Central Appalachian Mining (CAM) Stadium, generally regarded as one of the top prep facilities in the Commonwealth.
"It will be a big challenge for us but it will be great for us to be able to go over there and play at their facility which is so good," Mullins said. "They have one of the best facilities that you will see around. We like to challenge our players. If you want to be a good program you have to beat good programs like that."
Belfry has an enrollment of more than 700 students in grades 9-12.
The new school building opened in 2005.
The Pirates own wins over Louisville Holy Cross (49-14), Lawrence County (20-13), East Ridge (58-6) and Shelby Valley (47-6) this season.
Belfry High School has some athletic history with Logan County's high schools over the years.
Belfry played Logan, Man and Chapmanville in recent years in baseball and Belfry's girls' softball team has had previous matchups with Ronnie Ooten's Chapmanville Lady Tigers in the past.
Tim Cunningham's Logan Lady Wildcat basketball squad has scrimmaged at Belfry in years past.
The old Man Junior High School also played against Belfry's football team.
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