BENTONVILLE -- The time for Bentonville to accept applications is over, and now the next step to hire the school's next head football coach is about to begin.
Athletic Director Scott Passmore said Friday afternoon he has resumes from 33 people interested in the vacancy created when Barry Lunney announced his retirement on Jan. 26. That is seven more applicants than were announced last week, and Passmore said he didn't expect anybody to be a late applicant.
At a glance
Bentonville coaching candidates
The following is a list of names that have applied for the Bentonville head football coaching vacancy caused when Barry Lunney announced his retirement on Jan. 26:
• Robert “Bob” Beatty, head coach, Louisville (Ky.) Trinity
• Mark Bliss*, former head coach, Ozark, Mo.
• Tommy Britt, head coach, Yellville-Summit
• Jonathan Brewer, offensive graduate assistant, Auburn University
• Tyler Caid, defensive coordinator, Coweta, Okla.
• Tony Cherico, defensive line coach, Bentonville
• William “Bill” Cranston, head freshman coach, Cape Coral (Fla.) Island Coast
• Aaron Danenhauer, offensive coordinator, Bentonville
• Chad E. Davis, DeBartolo Sports University, Okla.
• Howard Feggins, former head coach, Bowling Green (Ky.) Warren Central
• Jason S. Freeman, head coach, Pryor, Okla.
• Jeromy Flowers, assistant head coach, Flossmore, Ill.
• Erik Gibson, head junior varsity coach, Middleburg, Fla.
• Robert D. Gillard, defensive coordinator, Memphis (Tenn.) Ridgeway
• Jody Grant, defensive coordinator, Bentonville
• Alex Golesh, assistant coach/recruiting coordinator, University of Illinois
• Tim Harper, head coach, Mena
• Brian Hayes, offensive coordinator, Nashville (Tenn.) Hunters Lane High School
• Matt Hennesy, head coach, Locust Grove, Okla.
• Spencer Hill, head coach, Highland
• Chris Hutchens, head coach, Bentonville Black
• Mark Jackson, head coach, Obion County (Tenn.) Central
• David Kimura, co-offensive coordinator, Hastings (Neb.) College
• Mark A. King, head coach, Horatio
• Van Paschal, head coach, Monticello
• David Pollard, associate head coach, Bentonville
• Trevor Porter, assistant coach, Livonia, La.
• Bryan Pratt, head coach McAlester High School (Head Coach) McAlester, OK
• Justin Pressley, assistant coach, Nashville (Tenn.) Pearl-Cohn
• Cornelius Roberts, assistant coach, Little Rock McClellan
• Eric Redmon, assistant coach, Little Rock Central
• Toby Trotter, assistant coach, Highland Park, Texas
• Crosby Tuck, offensive coordinator, Shiloh Christian
"We had a few more that sent in resumes this week," Passmore said. "I had some private conversations with people who showed some interest in the job, but some decided it wasn't best to apply."
Passmore will be joined by two school administrators as part of a screening committee, and those three people will begin to sift through the resumes Monday morning. He said he is hopeful the committee will have a list of people in mind later that day in order to contact those they are likely to interview during the first week of March.
If all goes as planned, Passmore said he hopes to have a new coach ready to be introduced to the school board in time for its March 16 meeting.
"We have already put in some work into the entire process," Passmore said. "We've been able to research some of the people and find out information on who they are. With all the advancements in technology, we're already able to do some of that work."
Among the seven new applicants are Bentonville Black ninth-grade coach Chris Hutchens and Auburn offensive graduate assistant Jonathan Brewer, a former quarterback and assistant coach at Rogers High. They join current Bentonville assistant coaches Aaron Danenhauer, David Pollard, Jody Grant and Tony Cherico and Shiloh Christian offensive coordinator Crosby Tuck as applicants of local interest.
Also on the list are two current head coaches inside state borders -- Van Paschal of Monticello and Tim Harper of Mena -- as well as Louisville (Ky.) Trinity head coach Robert "Bob" Beatty, Livonia, La., assistant coach Trevor Porter and Highland Park, Texas, assistant coach Toby Trotter. One of the candidates originally listed -- former Ozark, Mo., head coach Mark Bliss -- appears unlikely to draw interest from the screening committee since he was named the new coach at Des Moines (Iowa) Central last week.
"I'm really excited about the list of candidates we have," Passmore said. "I'm excited about being able to screen through these applications and take a list of good candidates to our interview committee. I feel like we have some quality candidates for the job.
"I don't know how many I will recommend for interviews right now. It could be as little as eight, or it could be as many as 12 to 14."
Henry Apple can be reached at happle@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWAHenry
Sports on 02/22/2015