Document text
AHS still looking for grid coach By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings After further review, Ashland High School will not hire a new head varsity football coach until late next week at the earliest, AHS Athletic Director Jim Nagel said Friday. Nagel, who coached the Grizz gridders to three state championships in 20 years before resigning following the 2002 season, hoped to name his successor by Friday, but now is shooting for an April 25 announcement. Nagel declined to name any of the remaining candidates, but said it's a tight race. "Let's just say we've got three still in the running," he said, "two that we've already interviewed and one that we haven't interviewed but looks good on paper." The one they haven't interviewed was scheduled to be drilled Friday, but missed the appointment after his car broke down en route. The interview has been rescheduled for Tuesday. After that, Nagel said, Ashland's six-member interview committee will either eliminate the third candidate from consideration, or name him a finalist and go from there. "Right now, it's looking like it's a tight race," Nagel said, "and rather than just making a guess, what we've proposed and we've decided for sure is taking the top two or three and just visit their schools and just talk to people and get a better idea of what they're about." According to Nagel, he and AHS principal Jeff Schlecht will be the ones making those visits. Both Nagel and Schlecht are also on the interview committee, along with community member Vance Littleton, Grizz football player David Morris, assistant football coach Dave Kitchell and AHS physical education teacher Stephanie Santos. In the coming days that committee will recommend "a couple" finalists to Ashland School District Superintendent Juli Di Chiro, who will make the final decision. The school stopped accepting applications for the job April 1, and Nagel said then that the response was strong. "I'm real pleased," he said April 3. "I'm probably more pleased with the quality that I've talked to. Some (applicants) have got considerable head coaching experience and there's just some people with some good backgrounds. I get a good feeling from a couple that I've talked to on the phone." LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -