The search for the next Crestview head football coach and athletic director heats up this week.
Thursday marks two weeks since Kevin Pettis filed his resignation to accept the job as head coach at Sebastian River High School in Indian River County.
Pettis’ last day on the job was Friday.
A search committee has begun the process of reviewing potential candidates. I will do everything I can to get information about the search and how things are going.
One name that won’t be on the list of possible candidates is Crestview assistant principal Dexter Day. Day, a finalist for the job two years ago, is in charge of the search committee.
When I started hearing rumors that Pettis might be leaving, I wrote a column endorsing Day as the right man to helm the Bulldog football team and athletic program.
Day would have been the perfect choice. He is a former Crestview standout in football and baseball and he's a no- nonsense disciplinarian, well respected by everyone I’ve spoken with in the Crestview community. Day talks the talk and walks the walk.
In hearing the scuttlebutt within the community, it’s obvious there are factions within the Bulldog family that don’t see eye to eye. Frankly, the family is fractured and divided; it needs a coach that can bring it back together.
Day could have united the community and helped heal some of the hurt ailing the Bulldog program.
With Day seemingly out of the picture to take the job, it's reassuring that he’s the guy leading the search for the new coach and athletic director.
Day’s lifelong love for his school and community will help guide the committee as it evaluates potential coaches. Day knows football's Xs and Os, he knows the Jimmys and Joes who will take the field for the Bulldogs in the fall, and he knows what kind of coach Crestview needs to be successful.
Crestview's new coach must get the Bulldogs back to winning after a pair of 4-6 seasons in which the school finished 2-3 in district play each year and failed to make the playoffs.
The coach also will be responsible with guiding the Bulldogs up into their recently announced 7A classification.
This job is not one for the faint of heart.
The new coach’s job got harder last week, when junior All-State defensive end Denzel Ware withdrew from the school and announced on Facebook he was enrolling in school in Opp, Ala.
Since the job also includes an athletic director's administrative duties it’s important to have someone who cares about all the school's sports calling the shots.
In reality, the job is that of football coach first.
The coach/athletic director will ultimately be judged by the number of football games his teams win. No matter how successful the baseball team or girls soccer team might be, he will first be judged as the football coach and then as the athletic director.
It’s no stretch to say this hire might be the biggest in the Crestview football program's history. The right hire has the potential to set the program on a course for success for many years to come.
So let the search begin.
Here’s wishing the committee success in this all-important hire and the new coach a long and happy career at Crestview.
Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: Right hire is crucial for Crestview