SYRACUSE - Basketball changes aren't the only thing Wawasee athletic director Mary Hurley is dealing with now. She's also trying to find a head football coach to replace Gene Mitz, who resigned Oct. 28.

Hurley has received 30 applications and plans to continue accepting more, for the time being.

She likes what she's read on the first 30. "Excellent people," she said. "Two individuals (in-house) have indicated they may have an interest."

But a unique predicament has slowed Hurley and her search: No teaching openings. She needs one to bring in a football coach.

"Last year, we ended up with three we knew about immediately, teachers who were retiring and getting married and moving out of state," she said. "This is an unusual situation. Even now, we haven't had a teacher come in and say they're going to move or get married or go back to college.

"If you know that, you can immediately earmark, for example, a math position for a football job. You interview the people who qualify there."

Hurley eyes spring break as the time she hopes to make serious headway in narrowing the candidates down.

What will she look for in a football coach?

"To make our final list, I want our person to be an exceptional teacher," she said. "I believe you have to teach fundamentals. I believe a man who's a football coach also has to be an excellent motivator, so the kids work on football other than the 10 weeks we're playing football.

"For us to be playing in the 11th, 12th and 13th weeks of the season, we have to take our football offseason to another level."

Mitz was 15-33 at Wawasee, including 4-6 last season. [[In-content Ad]]