St. Aloysius athletic director Jim Taylor isn’t ready to start calling anyone who’s ever picked up a basketball in an attempt to find a coach.

At least, not yet.

As school starts today, and the clock starts ticking toward the start of basketball practice on Oct. 15, St. Aloysius has yet to fill either of its basketball coaching positions. Despite the short time remaining to find a coach, Taylor said he wasn’t worried.

&#8220I feel confident that we’ll have somebody in place by the time practice starts,” Taylor said after jokingly offering the job to several visitors and assistant coaches who walked into his office.

St. Al’s basketball program has been in a state of flux since last summer. Drew McBrayer, who coached the team from 2004 to 2006, left to take an assistant coach position at New Hope and St. Al was unable to find a full-time replacement before the start of school last August.

St. Al hired two part-time, para-professional coaches in Penn Majors and Kyt Bonner, both of whom enjoyed great success. Majors led St. Al’s boys to a 21-9 record, while first-time coach Bonner went 22-9 with the Lady Flashes. Both coaches won The Vicksburg Post’s Coach of the Year award.

While successful, however, the part-time coaches put a strain on St. Al’s other staff. A full-time faculty member was required to attend every game, home and away, and monitor practice. Taylor said the school wanted to find a full-time teacher to coach, and parted ways with Majors and Bonner.

The two coaches also had business interests that strained their own resources. Majors lives and owns a printing company in Clinton and was commuting every day during the season. Bonner worked around her regular job as a physical therapist. The long, often 13- or 14-hour days had both coaches ready for a break by the time it was over.

This summer, however, St. Al’s search for new coaches did not go according to plan. Taylor said three different people were offered the boys and girls jobs, and all three turned it down. Several other candidates were interviewed, but it didn’t go further than that.

&#8220Different people had different reasons. I thought every one of them was going to take the job,” Taylor said. &#8220One was family reasons. I think another was cold feet because he didn’t want to leave where he was. Another one, I don’t think he thought the money was good.”

So St. Al is back where it started – trying to find a part-time coach. Mississippi High School Activities Association rules normally prohibit teams from hiring para-professionals as coaches of the &#8220big three” sports of football, basketball and baseball for more than one season. Taylor said he has gotten permission to do it again, but only as a &#8220last resort.”