Natchez&8212;The athletic department at Natchez High School has some holes to fill this Fall, and it has nothing to do with filling the gap at offensive tackle for the football team.

As of next week, Natchez-Adams County School District will be void of an athletic director, following the imminent departure of current director Robert Cade.

With the approach of the school year, the need to fill the vacancy intensifies as each day passes, but as of today the search to find a viable replacement has proved to be fruitless.

&8220;We have had just one candidate, who met the qualifications,&8221; said Beverly Raines, human resources director for the Natchez Adams County School District. &8220;We offered that candidate the position, but unfortunately he declined our offer and decided to stay in his current position elsewhere.&8221;

Apparently finding a viable candidate has been the problem behind finding Cade&8217;s replacement. With only one suitable applicant having applied for the position, it begs the question of why has it been so hard to find a replacement.

According to Raines it has nothing to do with a lack of proactively seeking out candidates, the school district has listed the vacancy on the district Web site and are currently looking into extra measures to seek out applicants through Education America, a Web-based company that partners with school districts across the country to help match educators and educative administrators to job vacancies, however, the listing for athletic director has not appeared on the Web site yet.

&8220;Right now we&8217;re doing everything we know how to do in order to find a replacement, we just haven&8217;t had much luck in getting applicants,&8221; Raines said.

Luck probably does not have as much to do with it as does the qualifications required of the position &8212; a master&8217;s degree in education.

As for a contingency plan, there isn&8217;t one.

In the interim, the gaps are being filled as needed by in-house staff. That means that as of right now coaches at both the high school and middle school level will be responsible for oversight of all athletic programs, compliance with state guidelines, hiring referees, promotions and all the other job functions related to the athletic director&8217;s position.

If it sounds like a lot to handle it is.

&8220;Right now we have a lot of other stuff going on in order to get ready for the upcoming season,&8221; Natchez High School Football Coach Lance Reed said. &8220;We&8217;re more focused over here on trying to get a team ready come August 24.&8221;

Stay posted, if no replacement is found before late July or early August, when the deadlines for submitting various forms to MHSAA start to pile up, local coaches will have a lot more to worry about, than who they are going to line up at left tackle.