I have lived in several of those small towns. There is also the negative side of it. The dads expect their son to start and play because they played. Some times the kids are not near as good as the dads were or remembered themselves being. I heard one guy talk all the time about how great his team was and he was in high school. When I became head coach, I was looking for records and scorebooks to see how many wins the school had in a year. The record was 11. We went 23-3 that year. Plus I looked at this guys 4 years. He did not start a game his freshman or sophomore year and they won 9 games in his 4 years combined. He batted .183 for his career. He was bragging one day and talking about he hoped his son was as good as him. I asked him later when it was just him and I if he really believed all the stuff he said. He was like we were really good. I told him their record and his stats. I had to break out the scorebooks to prove it to him. Not as he remembered.
Plus the small town schools that brag that every coach grew up there and played there. I understand that if you have won multiple state championships but if not, hire some new coaches. Some times people live in a small town with a small town mentality. It becomes to tough to live in, coach in, and pastor in. I grew up in a small town in south Georgia and I get amused at the same people who were whatever in high school still run the town as adults but want it to stay just like they remembered it growing up.