By Gary Fauber
West Virginia Sports Writers Association
John H. Lilly appreciates the opportunities he had to visit with Woodrow Wilson coaching legend Jerome Van Meter at the assisted living community where he spent his final days before his passing at the age of 102 in 2003.
“I think when I went over there it was right before he (turned) 100, and he knew who I was, went through names in the area and he knew who all the coaches were,” Lilly said.
The “Gray Eagle” certainly earned the legend descriptor. The Illinois native eventually landed in Beckley, where he coached the Flying Eagles to six state championships in basketball and three in football, and won 869 career games between the two sports. He was later inducted into both the West Virginia Sports and National High School Sports halls of fame.
In 2016, the West Virginia Sports Writers Association renamed its High School Coach of the Year Award in honor of Van Meter. Now Lilly, a 32-year head coaching veteran in Raleigh County, can add his name to the list of recipients.
Lilly, who coached Independence to its first football state championship in December, has been named the 2023 Van Meter Award winner as West Virginia’s top high school coach.
Lilly beat out Fairmont Senior boys basketball coach Dave Retton (Class AAA state champions), Wyoming East girls basketball coach Angie Boninsegna (Class AA state champions) and James Monroe boys basketball coach Matt Sauvage (Class A state champions) in statewide voting by the WVSWA.
Lilly is the first Independence coach to win the award and first in Raleigh County since Woodrow Wilson boys basketball coach Ron Kidd in 2008. Van Meter himself was coach of the year three times (1948, 1951, 1952).
“God works in mysterious ways, that’s for sure,” said Lilly, who is also the Athletic Director at Independence. “He put me in a place where I really liked and hopefully I can make an impact here before the end of my career.
“I think I appreciate (the award) more toward the end of my career, a little more humble about it toward the end of my career than I would have when I was younger. And the second part of it, getting an award that’s named after Coach Van Meter … because I’m from this area, it also means a lot.”
Lilly’s head coaching career began in 1991 at Shady Spring. He spent nine seasons there before moving on to Woodrow Wilson for 16 seasons.
Both were successful stops for Lilly, but it is in Coal City where he has been able to make his biggest impact.
After two seasons out of the high school game, Lilly was hired to fill the vacancy at Independence. The Patriots had moderate football success since the school opened in 1976, but were 1-10 all-time in the postseason before Lilly’s tenure started.
That didn’t stop him from making his goals clear.
“We (the players and coaches) have been together the whole time, and when I met them, we told them when they were in the seventh and eighth grade — this is a true story — I told them, ‘If you stay with me, we’ll win a state championship,’” Lilly said. “They looked at me like I was stupid, but I was a hundred percent confident that this group of kids that we had were very, very talented and if they could stick together, they were going to be special.”
It took some building, but everyone delivered. The Patriots lost the first four games of the Lilly era but finished that 2018 season with a 4-6 record and followed it up with a 6-4 record in 2019.
Then came the Covid year of 2020. Through arguably the most difficult football season state teams ever faced, the Patriots made their playoff debut under Lilly that fall and advanced to the Class AA state quarterfinals after a forfeit over Frankfort, which could not play because of its status on the Covid color map.
Indy faced eventual state champion Fairmont in the quarterfinals and played the Polar Bears tough in the first half before they pulled away for a 43-15 win. But the foundation had been placed and Independence went on to put together a remarkable two-year run.
The 2021 team ran the table on the regular season and secured homefield advantage through the state semifinals. The Patriots cashed in and set up a rematch with Fairmont, this time at Wheeling Island Stadium. The Polar Bears again came out on top but in much tighter fashion, 21-12.
The puzzle was solved last fall. Indy ran roughshod in the regular season, winning its nine games by an average margin of 54.1 points and again went 3-0 through the state semifinals. The quarterfinal win came at the expense of Fairmont, 42-7 as the Patriots got their revenge.
That set up a return trip to Wheeling, which turned out to be much of the same. Indy defeated Herbert Hoover 42-7 to cap a perfect season and secure the school’s first football state championship.
And the first, finally, for Lilly. A longtime goal was realized, but he keeps it in proper perspective.
“The life part of it is, I want to be a good husband and good father,” Lilly said. “In the professional part of it, (a state championship) is the top of the game. If you can win, it’s very important as far as your personal goals.”
Lilly coached back-to-back Kennedy Award winners during those two seasons — Atticus Goodson in 2021 and Judah Price in 2022. Independence had the state’s most prolific offense during that time, amassing 8,789 rushing yards combined (338.04 per game) and 11,948 yards of total offense (459.5). They scored 140 rushing touchdowns in 26 games (25-1 record), an average of 5.4 per game.
Lilly said surrounding himself with not only good coaches, but proven winners was an integral part of building the championship program. So, too, was getting the players fully invested in the system.
And perhaps the biggest key of all was the support he has received from the beginning.
“This coaching award is a reflection of the coaches that we have on the staff,” Lilly said. “I can honestly tell you, I’ve got a huge advantage in the aspect of the guys I’m surrounded by. I’m surrounded by Kevin Grogg, who’s won a state championship (at Wyoming East). Larry Cook’s been in semifinals. State coach of the year Scott Cuthbert (baseball). Dave (Scotty) Cuthbert being so welcoming as the former head coach. Day 1, he made me feel like I was part of the Independence family. Chad Perkins, the basketball coach (at the time), first one to meet me at the door and say, ‘Welcome aboard. We want you here.’
“When you’ve got everybody pulling for you to be successful, it’s easy to be successful. If you’ve got everybody fighting each other and arguing about it all the time, you’re never going to win.
“God put me in this place for a reason, and hopefully it’s to make an impact. I hope I can and continue to.”
Lilly, Price and all other individual award winners will be honored at the 76th annual Victory Awards Dinner May 7 at the Embassy Suites in Charleston.
All-state honorees can obtain state-shaped, wood plaques with name, school, year and honor at wvswa.org or bearwoodcompany.com.