Alcorn State should have a new women’s basketball coach soon, athletic director Dr. Darren Hamilton said Thursday.

Hamilton, speaking to the Port City Kiwanis Club, said the search committee would narrow the list of applicants to a handful at its next meeting on Monday. After that, interviews would be conducted over the phone and in person and he hopes to have a new coach in place by the time the recruiting season starts on July 7.

“They’re permitted to go on the road on July 7, so I want somebody by then,” Hamilton said.

The new coach will replace Shirley Walker, who retired from the program in May after 30 seasons. Hamilton said Walker was not fired, but she and the school could not agree on a new contract and Hamilton decided to go in a different direction.

“She wanted two or three years, and we did not want to give her that,” Hamilton said.

The next coach will have a tough job. Since its last trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2005, Alcorn has gone just 38-43. Walker went 492-332 overall, with 11 Southwestern Athletic Conference regular-season titles and seven tournament titles.

The program also has one more year of NCAA probation ahead of it because of violations committed under Walker.

Hamilton said finding someone who can run a clean program was a top priority.

“Any time there is an infraction, you’re under scrutiny. We want to make it where integrity is never a question, and that’s why we want somebody to run a clean program,” Hamilton said.

The new coach will be Hamilton’s third major hire in less than three months. Since taking over as Alcorn’s athletic director on April 1, he has hired Ernest Jones as the new football coach and Larry Smith as the men’s basketball coach.

Hamilton said the rash of coaching vacancies happened to coincide with his arrival, and was not part of a housecleaning plan.

“Part of it wasn’t by my design. Part of it is timing. A couple said it’s time to move on and part said it’s time to call it quits,” Hamilton said. “Some were frustrated by the facilities, and I commend them for their honesty.”