Alcorn State expected to make coaching hire by June 1

Published 11:26 am Thursday, May 24, 2012

Alcorn State’s football coaching search has been expanded from four candidates to “eight or nine” and is expected to be completed by June 1, university spokeswoman Clara Ross Stamps said Wednesday.

She declined to name the new finalists.

The four original finalists, culled from 48 applicants, were Vicksburg native and former Ole Miss player Jay Hopson, Northern Colorado offensive coordinator Michael Armour, former Kentucky State coach Frederick Farrier and present coordinator of football operations Todd McDaniel, who has run the program after the February firing of Melvin Spears.

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A 28-member screening committee reduced the number of potential hires to nine in April, and an eight-member search committee and Alcorn State president M. Christopher Brown whittled the list to four.

The number was further reduced on April 26 when Hopson, who would have been the university’s first white head coach, withdrew his name from consideration. Brown said the next day that he hoped to keep Hopson in the mix.

Vicksburg Mayor Paul Winfield, who is part of the search committee, said he hopes a decision is forthcoming.

“The sooner, the better,” Winfield said Wednesday afternoon. “I know they’re going through the procedures of deciding and now it’s in the president’s hands. However, the new coach is going to be behind the eight ball when it comes to interacting with the kids and installing their defensive and offensive schemes.”

The announcement has been pushed back three times since April.

It was scheduled to be made after the spring game on April 28, but the school pushed the decision back to the week of May 7, commencement week. Another delay came when Brown and athletic director Patrick Simon were out of town on business.

Brown shot down a report last week by Foxnews.com that Armour, a former Alcorn assistant from 2008-10, was set to be named as the new coach.