Coonhounds

There are some threads, but really this needs to be done. Compare and contrast please.

Are the breeds more like Labs and Goldens where they're pretty interchangable as far as different breeds go, or more like Goldens and Chessies where they are very different?

Why so many variations for what seems like a rather uncommon sport (at least now it seems bird hunting is more common than hound running by 100-1). Say that I lived somewhere with raccoons, where do you even start picking which breed to run?

I don't know the answer to your first question, so I'll let someone who is more familiar with the different coonhounds answer it.

But the answer to the second question is, in the south, where the breeds were developed, coonhunting was a very popular sport. (they're also used for possum, and some breeds are also used on bear and cougar) Maybe still is (certainly still plenty of people participating in their hunting competitions), but definitely in the time of development, very popular. And part of subsistence living in the rural south. And different people, and different regions, were going to develop their own "flavor" of hound.

More like goldens & chessies.
First in regards to the history of hounds, they are & always have been hunted on a great variety of game. They are popular enough to support at least three dedicated tree dog magazines: American Cooner, Coonhound Bloodlines & Full Cry. Although mostly British, French & Irish in origin, American hounds have blood from all over Europe. As to the differences well B&T & red bones seem to come from a more bloodhoundy background. Treeing walkers, running walkers, red tick & blue tick were all English Fox & Coonhounds until the 1940s. And yet there are dramatic differences in typical performance.
The English or red tick is typically medium to cold nose, medium speed & not especially gritty
Treeing Walkers tend more toward a medium nose, a lot more speed & also not especially gritty
B&T & blue ticks tend to be either slow, cold nosed & soft or medium nose & speed and gritty
Red ones tend toward medium speed, cold nose & not very gritty
Leopard hounds (American leopard cur) originate from walker catahoula crosses & tend to be more like a walker with more grit & abetter handle

Keep in mind these are generalities & there are whole lines exactly opposite of what I wrote for each breed