Jackson moving on in pair of searches
DAVID HARPSTER
Christmas has come and gone, but Jackson athletic director Terry Peterson has his lists and he's undoubtedly been busy checking them twice.
In this instance, Peterson isn't looking for gifts, but he's in the rather unusual position of trying to fill two coaching jobs at once.
The Jackson football position came open when veteran coach Thom McDaniels, who had been at the school two seasons, unexpectedly stepped down the first week of December. Volleyball coach Julie Kovick, who completed her 26th season as the Polar Bears' mentor last fall, resigned her position a week later.
The Jackson administration then allowed a month to let interested candidates submit their résumes, with the deadlines for both positions arriving this past Monday.
Peterson, along with a search committee consisting of five administrators within the district, will now get down to business by interviewing selected candidates from lists that include 11 names for football and seven for volleyball.
"As of right now we're going to be doing a first round of football interviews this weekend and into early next week," said Peterson, who said the committee with seek interviews with six of the 11 football candidates. "That's in addition to doing first-round volleyball interviews as well this week. Hopefully we'll be able to have all those done by this time next week.
"From that point on, a lot of it depends on how the first round of interviews goes. Do we eliminate some? Do we pull someone else in? Do we already have a decision? Those are things that we're going to have to play by ear."
While small, the list of football applicants includes some familiar names. Former Jackson football standout Jeff Morris, who spent the 2006 and 2007 seasons as head coach at Timken, applied after serving as an assistant at McKinley last season. Beau Balderson, who played at Mount Union from 1996-99 and has head coaching stints at Parma (2006-07) and Ravenna Southeast (2004-05) is also among the pool of candidates. Triway coach Doug Haas, who led the Titans to an 8-2 regular season finish, a share of the Principals Athletic Conference title and a berth in the Division IV playoffs last season, also threw his headset into the ring.
Two notable candidates for the volleyball position include Mike Sweitzer, the head coach at the University of Akron (1991-2007) and former Tallmadge head coach Jeff Walck, who led the Blue Devils from 1989-2002 and was an assistant at Walsh Jesuit last season.
Peterson was prepared to choose from a smaller pool of candidates considering some extenuating circumstances, a key one being the current economic climate.
"Two years ago we had quite a few more applicants in football," Peterson said. "We haven't had a volleyball opening in 25 years, which is a good thing, so I really have nothing to compare that to.
"As far as football, we have 11 applicants this year and obviously times are a little different now than they were two years ago. The failure of our last levy, the pay to participate ... all those things go into play when a coach decides if he wants to put his name out there. He's got to think about moving and relocating and all those things.
"I wouldn't say I'm disappointed because I was sort of expecting a lower number because we're in a different situation now than we were two years ago."
Matching a coach with a teaching opening could present a challenge since the Jackson district has seen its share of teachers accepting buyouts in recent years.
"There's not as many openings as we've had in the past," Peterson said. "That's a little dilemma. Also, at this time of year, some of the openings we may have we eventually we don't even know about. That's an issue, but you don't want to wait until April or May to find out what openings you have to hire a coach. It's a tricky situation.
"We're going to try to pick the best football coach and if the coach happens to be a teacher then we'll worry about that at that time."
Rather than trying to find the next McDaniels or Kovick – a difficult to impossible task, most likely – Peterson said he and the search committee are committed to finding coaches who are the best fit for both the current and future student-athletes within the district.
"Just as a coach takes it season by season, and they might not compare their teams from the past to their current one, we can't compare these coaches to the ones who just left," Peterson said. "When we're going to hire a coach we need to not only think about those kids who are going to be seniors, but also those kids who are freshmen, who are sixth graders and those one who haven't even started to play football or volleyball yet.
"Out of the candidates that you have, you want to try to find the best one who fits your kids and the one you feel can be here for a long time."