It’s back to square one — again — in the search for a new boys basketball coach at Warren Central.

Vicksburg Warren School superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Duran Swinford said Thursday that former New Hope coach Robert Byrd decided against taking the job because of family reasons.

Byrd is the second coach who initially agreed to take the job, then pulled out before the recommendation was presented for a final vote by the Vicksburg Warren School District Board of Trustees.

Last month, Lanier coach Thomas Billups did the same thing when he and the school district could not agree to financial terms.

“Coach Byrd withdrew his candidacy for the Warren Central position,” Swinford said Thursday, just hours before the monthly Board of Trustees meeting. “We’re very disappointed. But, at the same time, we’ll move on.”

The Warren Central boys basketball position has been open since March when Jesse Johnson was fired after the Vikings finished 9-17 in the 2010-11 season. Johnson has since been hired to coach at Forrest AHS.

The search, meanwhile, goes on for Warren Central. Complicating matters for Swinford, she said, was that Byrd made his final decision after WC principal Rodney G. Smith left for his summer vacation in Mexico.

“I had to contact principal Smith by phone in Mexico to let him know about Coach Byrd,” Swinford said. “He left here thinking we had found a coach.”

When Smith returns, the search will have to begin anew. Billups, Byrd and Petal’s Tori Harris were the top three picks by the district’s search committee, Swinford said. Billups, who retired in May, has returned to Lanier as a coach only. Harris has taken a job at Horn Lake.

Swinford said that when Smith returns, the committee will review the resumés previous applicants. The next meeting of the Board of Trustees is on July 28 and is the last before the school year starts.

“Yes, this has been very frustrating. But I think we will get a very good coach for this job, because our kids deserve it,” Swinford said.

Swinford also hopes to have a recommendation for a new boys soccer coach at Vicksburg High in time for the next board meeting. Jason Bennett, the school’s coach since 2004, took a sabbatical to pursue his master’s degree.