As the summer marches on and the clock ticks down to the start of another school year, so too does Vicksburg High’s search for a new girls basketball coach.

VHS principal Charlie Tolliver said he has narrowed the list of candidates to “seven or eight” and hopes to begin interviewing them early next week. He figures to select a new coach by the July 28 school board meeting, when the board will likely approve his choice.

“Right now I have a folder full (of applications) and we’re trying to set up interviews,” Tolliver said. “Right now we’re just trying to look at the qualifications of the individuals and screen some of them out. Hopefully we’re going to have some people who can come in and give us a good, strong program.”

Tolliver declined to name the candidates, and said no one of the ones on his short list are above the others.

“Right now we don’t have a top listing or prospect,” Tolliver said. “I have seven or eight names.”

Among the candidates is VHS assistant Deborah Brown. The 1985 graduate of Vicksburg High has been the ninth-grade coach and varsity assistant for the past three seasons, and spent another six as the coach at Vicksburg Junior High.

Brown said she felt keeping continuity in the program was important.

“The girls that are coming back, I’ve coached all of them since they were in seventh grade. Like I said in my letter of application, they know me and what I’m about, and I know them,” Brown said. “I believe it’ll be a better line of communication and we’ll get a lot done.”

The vacancy at Vicksburg opened when Mike Coleman resigned on June 15 to take the head coaching job at Quitman.

Although the Vicksburg job is a desirable one – the Missy Gators have all five starters returning from a team that went 14-17 last season – the timing and suddenness of Coleman’s departure left Tolliver and Vicksburg Warren athletics director Lum Wright scrambling to find a replacement.

Coleman’s move came late in most schools’ hiring process, after many potential applicants had already signed contracts for next year.

“I’m sure it has. I don’t know how much,” Tolliver said when asked if the timing affected the search. “But I’m sure people are in place and don’t want to be uprooted.”

Tolliver also needed to find a coach who can not only lead a basketball team, but teach a biology class. That has added to the difficulty of finding a suitable candidate.

Yet given the time and certification restraints, Tolliver was satisfied with the number of candidates the search process found.

“I guess I’d have to say I’m happy with the number of applicants,” he said, adding that there was still plenty of time before a final decision has to be made. “We have time in there before the school board approves who we recommend. So I’m not worried about it.”