EXHIBIT 31.1

                        Certification of CEO Pursuant to
                 Securities Exchange Act Rules 13a-14 and 15d-14
                             as Adopted Pursuant to
                  Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002

I, Jon Nix, certify that:

         1. I have  reviewed  this  quarterly  report on Form 10-QSB of National
Coal Corp.;

         2. Based on my  knowledge,  this  report  does not  contain  any untrue
statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact  necessary to make
the statements made, in light of the  circumstances  under which such statements
were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report;

         3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
information  included in this quarterly  report,  fairly present in all material
respects the financial  condition,  results of operations  and cash flows of the
small business issuer as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

         4. The small business  issuer's other  certifying  officer(s) and I are
responsible for establishing and maintaining  disclosure controls and procedures
(as  defined  in  Exchange  Act Rules  13a-15(e)  and  15d-15(e))  for the small
business issuer and have:

                  a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused
such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to
ensure  that  material  information  relating  to  the  small  business  issuer,
including its  consolidated  subsidiaries,  is made known to us by others within
those  entities,  particularly  during the period in which this  report is being
prepared;

                  b) Evaluated the  effectiveness of the small business issuer's
disclosure  controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions
about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end
of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

                  c) Disclosed  in this report any change in the small  business
issuer's  internal  control over financial  reporting  that occurred  during the
small business  issuer's most recent fiscal quarter (the small business issuer's
fourth  fiscal  quarter  in the case of an annual  report)  that has  materially
affected,  or is reasonably  likely to  materially  affect,  the small  business
issuer's internal control over financial reporting; and

         5. The small business  issuer's other certifying  officer(s) and I have
disclosed,  based  on our  most  recent  evaluation  of  internal  control  over
financial  reporting,  to the small  business  issuer's  auditors  and the audit
committee  of the  small  business  issuer's  board  of  directors  (or  persons
performing the equivalent function):

                  a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the
design or  operation  of internal  control over  financial  reporting  which are
reasonably  likely to adversely  affect the small business  issuer's  ability to
record, process, summarize and report financial information; and

                  b)  Any  fraud,   whether  or  not  material,   that  involves
management or other employees who have a significant  role in the small business
issuer's internal control over financial reporting.

Date:  May 14, 2004
                                       /s/ Jon Nix
                                       -------------------------
                                       Jon Nix
                                       President and Chief Executive Officer