High School Football Countdown: Five coaches approaching 400 wins

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Coaching high school football is demanding job. Ask any coaching wife.

It's also tremendously important. Ask any former player.

If a coach averages eight wins a year for three decades, that adds up to 240 victories. A dozen wins annually in the same span would bring the total up to 360.

These five coaching legends are all approaching 400 wins this season, which demonstrates a remarkable level of longevity and success. All should reach this plateau in 2016. Bob Milloy, Good Counsel (Olney, Md.)
Record: 399-118-1
Seasons: 46
2015: 7-5

Milloy goes for the historic win Sept. 3 at Mount St. Joseph (Baltimore). If not there, the Falcons can get it for their coach Sept. 9 at Archbishop Spalding (Seven, Md.). Milloy is a member of the National High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame.

Larry "Bud" Wright, Sheridan (Ind.)
Record: 395-184-2
Seasons: 51
2015: 3-7

Sheridan's first possible chance at win No. 400 is Sept. 16 at Eastern, a team it beat 50-21 in 2015. Wright is the winningest coach in Indiana history and has claimed nine state titles. He was inducted into the Indiana High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame 14 years ago.

Curt Bladt, Harlan (Iowa)
Record: 394-54
Seasons: 38
2015: 9-3

Bladt has led the Cyclones to 12 state titles, including their last undefeated squad in 2009. With a strong returning group, Harlan could go for win No. 7 and Bladt's 400th in Week 7 at home against Glenwood. Bladt has won nearly 90 percent of his games.

Jerry Pezzetti, Ankeny Centennial (Ankeny, Iowa)
Record: 393-157-1
Seasons: 55
2015: 9-3

The first two games on the road at Johnston and Ankeny figure to be Pezzetti's toughest games en route to 400. If the Jaguars can get by those two foes, then the historic win could come week 7 at Ames, which they beat 28-16 last year.

C.J. Hamilton, Silver Lake (Kan.)
Record: 391-88
Seasons: 41
2015: 9-2

The Eagles return their talented starting quarterback Dalton Dultmeier, so a 10-win season isn't out of the question. Before a 9-4 campaign in 2015, Silver Lake had won 11 or more games in every season since 2005 with three state titles during that era.