Column: Doughty’s search for coach heats up

Published 11:25 pm Saturday, February 10, 2007

The process for finding a new football coach at Murray County High School continues, and principal Jason Doughty believes he’s making progress toward his ultimate goal of recommedning a new coach to the school board at its March meeting.

While Doughty is not sure who that final choice will be, he’s positive that it’s going to be a “tough decision” due to the impressive resumes he’s received.

At his last count, Doughty had received 79 applications from coaches desiring to succeed Bill Napier, who resigned four days after the 2006 season ended.

From the stack of applications, including four from coaches currently on the Indians’ staff, Doughty has divided the candidates into three categories:

— Head coaches with five or more years of experience.

— Head coaches with less than five years of experience.

— Assistant coaches, including coordinators, with no head coaching experience.

The breakdown resulted in 14 coaches in category one, 11 in category two and the remainder make up category three.

“I think I’ve done a good job picking coaches to come in for interviews,” said Doughty, who is handling the selection process by himself.

Doughty has been conducting weekend interviews and, including three that were scheduled Saturday, has met face-to-face with at least seven coaches. It’s known that Doughty has interviewed three in-house candidates — Steve Sparks, John Zeigler and John Hammond. A fourth coach from Napier’s last staff in line to be interviewed is Dustin Madaris.

He has met with one coach from North Carolina, one from Alabama, one from Tennessee and was trying to schedule two from Florida and one from Louisiana, plus several from Georgia.

Doughty said at least four more coaches are on his list to be interviewed. The veteran administrator, who has refined his selection process over the years, is leaving the weekend of Feb. 24 open just in case he needs more time before trimming his list to three or four finalists.

“Overall, the talent of these coaches is very good,” Doughty said. “It’s going to be a very tough decision. Very little separates these guys. So far, on my grading system the ones I’ve interviewed are very comparable, just within a few points of each other.”

Obviously, the face-to-face interviews are vital for Doughty to make the best possible assessment of the applicants. For instance, he mentioned one coach that didn’t sound that good on the telephone but was great in person. “He blew me away when he got here,” Doughty said.

That candidate has coached at various high schools and also has college experience, Doughty said. That coach, believed to be Chuck Marrs, coached Eddie George for two years at Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy in 1989-90.

George transferred to FUMA from Philadelphia’s Abington High School and rushed for 2,572 yards in two seasons, including 1,372 yards and 15 touchdowns his senior year. He eventually signed with Ohio State where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1995 and was a standout running back with the Houston Oilers and Tennessee Titans when that franchise moved from Texas to Nashville, Tenn.

George was inducted into the FUMA Hall of Fame in 2002.

Marrs later coached at Seventy First High School in Fayetteville, N.C., until 2005, but is not now listed among active coaches North Carolina by that state’s high school athletic association.

Doughty said he ruled out head coaches at programs that showed little success. Every head coach he’s interviewed has had winning seasons with playoff appearances. Several assistants have also been involved with successful programs and appear ready to take the step into head coaching.

“So, that’s where we are,” Doughty said.