BY TYLER CLIFTON

HERALD DEMOCRAT

A school board meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday night where the Sherman Independent School District is expected to submit its recommendation for the school's new athletic director/football coach, Superintendent Dr. Al Hambrick said on Thursday.

The number of applicants totaled 31, four more than the number received since the previous board meeting on June 22. Several were interviewed on Wednesday with more expected before the end of the day.

"We are in the process of screening our applicants and are trying to complete the (initial) interviews this week," Hambrick said. "We're very hopeful on getting a decision made."

Sherman assistant coach and defensive coordinator Jason Heath and offensive coordinator Royce Slechta are the only two in-house candidates who applied for the position and interviewed on Wednesday morning according to a source who wished to remain anonymous due to the issue's sensitivity.

Callisburg's Jerry Bomar and former Canton, Baylor assistant and Clovis West (Calif.) coach Gary Joe Kinne are two of the high-profile names to be mentioned, but it isn't known whether or not they officially interviewed.

The same can be said for other candidates, a list according to an unnamed source that includes Jeff Cleveland, Lonnie Judd, Leonard McAngus, Dave Meadows, and Kurt Nichols as well as several other applicants from at least four other states across the country.

Cleveland, a former offensive coordinator at Wylie High School, led El Paso Hanks to a 7-3 record in 2008. The Knights were 6-5 in 2007 and reached the bi-district round.

Judd, the offensive coordinator at Waco Midway, helped lead the Panthers to the Class 4A Region I final a year ago before losing 43-42 to eventual state runner-up Longview.

McAngus asked to be reassigned from Justin Northwest High School in March and was 32-40 in seven seasons at the helm of the Texans, who competed against the likes of Flower Mound Marcus, Lewisville Hebron and powerhouse Southlake Carroll.

Meadows was the head coach/athletic director at DeSoto, where he made the playoffs all eight seasons he was in charge and advanced to the area round in 2008 before losing to Skyline in the area round. He has a career record of 271-99 in 32 seasons.

Nichols most recently coached at East Central Oklahoma University before being relieved of his duties last October. He was previously the head coach at Cisco Junior College before making the move to Ada.

There is an extreme sense of familiarity with Sherman High School, as Nichols coached former Bearcats Patrick Hagan, Deveon McKinney and Jeremy Scales at Cisco as well as another former Sherman trio of David Alvarez, Daniel Inman and Matt Rome last year with the Tigers.

Hambrick said the list will dwindle with second interviews taking place if necessary. The next coach will replace Drew Young, who announced his retirement on June 1 to accept the athletic director post at Durant Public Schools.

"We plan to make a recommendation to the school board on Tuesday night," Hambrick said. "We're working hard on doing what's best for the kids and having them a coach in place a month prior to their first workout."

Two-a-days begin for Sherman on Aug. 3, as the team didn't participate in spring practice.