hulaw94
New Member
Huh???? I thought this was resolved. -----------
Football coach still in limbo
By Josh Moon
Montgomery Advertiser
1-28-04
One week before National Signing Day, Alabama State University isn't close to naming its next head football coach.
That word came Monday from ASU President Joe Lee, who indicated that the school is still in the early stages of the search process.
"A search committee has been formed and will be going through applications we've received," Lee said. "Once they have gone through their process, they will then forward the top three candidates on to me, and I will interview each one and determine the best man for the job."
Lee gave no indication of when the new coach might be named or when he expects the search committee to finish its work.
However, three weeks ago, Lee said that the school already had received several applications for the job and that interest was high.
One of those applicants is current interim head coach Charlie Coe.
Coe was instructed several weeks ago to submit a resume and an application for the job and was told that he would be going through the same process as everyone else.
"I turned in my application like I was supposed to, and I'm just waiting on word from someone over there," Coe said Tuesday afternoon. "No one has told me anything."
Coe took over the ASU program as interim coach the day fall practice began. He led the Hornets into the Southwestern Athletic Conference championship game in December. The team's performance made Coe a front-runner for the position.
"I didn't know what extent they would be going to with this," Coe said. "I knew they were going to have a process that they would go through but I didn't know it would be to this extent."
Like ASU, Coe said he now is considering his options.
"I know what my status is at ASU," he said. "If something better comes my way, I have to take a look at it. It works both ways."
The fear for many ASU fans is that the coaching search is having a detrimental effect on recruiting. Longtime ASU fan and alumnus Charlie Hudson was pushing for a resolution three weeks ago.
"They need to get this thing settled and move on with whatever they're going to do," Hudson said. "It's going to be tough enough on the coaches to recruit with all that's happened. If they can't even tell the kids for sure that they're going to be there next year, it will be devastating."
Coe said the situation isn't as bad as it seems.
"We've got 15 commitments already and are hosting another 13 players this weekend," he said. "It's going well so far. We've got a bunch of kids that say they want to sign with us."
Offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic said the ongoing turmoil surrounding the firing of former coach L.C. Cole isn't well known outside the state of Alabama.
"I'm down in Tallahassee (Fla.)recruiting and the kids down there don't really know anything about it," Kapilovic said. "All they know is that we beat (Florida A&M) in a televised game and played in the conference championship game."
"(The situation at ASU) doesn't seem to be hurting us, but you never know," Coe said. "Until these guys sign, it's not a done deal. It's not official until it's official. Kind of like this job."
