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Highlands Today

AP Narrows Search For Football Coach

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By Christopher  Hoffman | Highlands Today

Published: January 19, 2008

AVON PARK — Plays are being run and audibles are being called in the search for the next Avon Park Red Devil head football coach.

Principal Stu Guthrie and athletic director Mort Jackson are in the heart of the search for the next Red Devil head coach, with 13 candidates from as far away as Illinois, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia and a few from Avon Park all vying to succeed former coach Earnest Perkins on the sideline.

With spring football approaching, a new football coach is expected to be named by the end of January.

"We've narrowed our search and have been interviewing candidates for the vacant coaching position," Jackson said. "We're still open-minded in our search and want to choose the right person for the job."

Perkins, who finished his tenure as head coach at Avon Park with a 7-13 overall record, was fired as the Red Devil head coach in November and the search began immediately for his replacement.

The job was posted on the American Football Coaches Association Web site, the FHSAA Web site and with the Highlands County School Board. More than 50 applications were received.

The Avon Park football program has had its share of ups and downs in recent years.

Under T.C. Cousins, who coached from 2003-2006, the Red Devils went 13-16 and enjoyed their last playoff appearance in 2004 with a 3-6 record, but won two district games to slip into the Class 2A postseason.

With the move to Class 3A in 2005, Avon Park hasn't had much success in their district, going just 3-7 and losing two-straight to arch-rival Sebring, a pair of losses that hurt worse than any other.

"In Avon Park, you can practically lose every game during the season," said assistant coach Fred Mixon Sr. after the Red Devils loss against DeSoto late in the season. "But if you beat Sebring, you, as a team, can redeem yourself in the eyes of your community."

Another assistant under Perkins said the next coach's scope needs to go beyond the field.

"We need to have someone who's going to pull this community together," said AP defensive coach Dwayne Council. "[Joe Franza Stadium] use to be standing-room only when I played there.

"I want to see it return to that state again where this whole community couldn't get enough of Red Devil football."

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