By CAROL STUART
For Brentwood Home Page
Ravenwood has conducted 10 interviews in 10 days for the re-opening of its football head coaching position and would like to have someone in place when students return March 28 from spring break.

Athletic director Patrick Whitlock said the school wouldn’t rush its decision but wanted to make sure a new coach could direct spring practice, currently scheduled for late April.

The position became vacant again when new coach Del Smith of Virginia resigned March 1, just over six weeks after being named to replace Tom Shuman. Whitlock said Friday that school officials understand “that we probably need to come to a decision pretty quickly.”

“I think in a perfect world we would like to have this all sewn up by the end of next week so whoever the new coach is can hit the ground running when the kids come back from spring break,” the RHS athletic director said.

Whitlock, who said one more interview might remain, called it a “pretty ambitious timeline.”

“I think as an administration we feel that's in our best interest, but we're also not going to rush to judgment just to get somebody in,” Whitlock said. “It's a very important hire.”

Some of the candidates interviewed are within the county, some within Middle Tennessee and a handful are from out of state, he noted.

A couple of those interviewed were also among the finalists before Smith’s Jan. 19 hiring, but Whitlock said some had to move on and seek other opportunities.

More than 100 applied for the Raptors’ position previously but the number was smaller given the circumstances and timing of the re-posting, with some applicants new and some reapplying. Whitlock called it “a very competitive candidate pool,” saying some of the coaches contacted the school and others were pursued by Ravenwood.

“The beauty of being in a situation at Ravenwood is that word travels fast and you don't even have to officially post the job” before people were applying again, Whitlock said.

Ravenwood, originally under recently named Centennial football coach Brian Rector, won the 5A state championship in 2005 four years after the school opened and was runner-up the following season. Shuman, Rector’s offensive coordinator, resigned following campaigns of 5-5 and 3-7 after Rector departed for a graduate coaching post at Western Kentucky University.

Dr. Mike Looney, the Williamson County director of schools, and other officials met with Ravenwood football parents recently after Smith’s sudden departure to explain their goals and answer questions about the situation.

Whitlock called the abrupt resignation a “technical thing” and said the school – and the county – had learned in the process and should be able to prevent the problem in future hires.

He admitted “it's a very unorthodox search” but believes it would be a successful one.

“Any time you go through a coaching search it opens your eyes to a variety of things,” said Whitlock, also the RHS boys basketball coach. “I enjoy the process, because I get to learn from a lot of different coaches by just having the opportunity to interview them, and it kind of shows you what you're looking for.

“Sometimes when a coach comes in and you listen to them interview, you just get that feeling that you know this is your guy -- and we've gotten that feeling from several people.”

Meanwhile, Raptors football players have continued offseason conditioning that began in January after the winter break.

“We're still having 60 to 70 kids show up each morning with the coaches that are still here on staff, so that has not really seen a dip,” Whitlock said.

“In terms of spring practice the current spring practice was scheduled to start near the end of April, and that's still our target date. Whoever the new coach is will have a little bit of flexibility to make that happen.”