NATCHEZ &045; Interviews for the position of football coach at Natchez High School may end today.

Natchez-Adams assistant superintendent Larry Little, chair of the search committee, said the interview process for the 12 semifinalists for the position will likely be finished by late afternoon today. That’s down from 24 applicants who initially applied for the position, and the group will likely narrow it down to three to present to the board of trustees.

The panel initially identified 13 candidates to be interviewed, but one backed out.

&uot;We’ve had some good applicants, and we were very fortunate in that,&uot; Little said. &uot;It’s been a very good interview process and a very exhausting one at that. We had several to inquire after we began the interview process, but we had already narrowed it down to 13.&uot;

Of the 12 candidates interviewing for the position, eight hail from Mississippi, two from Louisiana, one from Arkansas and one from Texas, Little said.

Little heads up the committee that consists of Natchez High activities coordinator Robert Cade, NHS principal James Lofton, Natchez Middle principal Cynthia Smith and Morgantown Elementary principal Fred Marsalis.

Committee members screened the candidates for a number of criteria, Little said, including experience, previous job assignments; whether they were head coach, coordinator or assistant coach; the size of the previous school where they coached and the win-loss record of that school and the statement submitted during the application process.

Little declined to identify any of the candidates interviewing for the position, but the finalists will be released at a later date.

&uot;We’ve had some good interviews, maybe a couple we were disappointed in,&uot; Little said. &uot;But it’s going to make the selection process extremely difficult. We’ve had a couple people who have college-level experience, and we’ve had one of them who has experience in pro ball.&uot;

Experience is one of the main criteria for the position, one of three areas each candidate was scored by the committee. Other areas include knowledge of the position and supervision of players.

Each candidate is graded on a 10-point scale during a 2 1/2- to three-hour interview, Little said. In the experience category, for instance, a successful record as a coach at the Class 5A level would rank near a 10.

Experience is a big factor in taking the position at Natchez High, a team that has won just two games in the last three seasons. Those seasons were under former head coach James Denson, who had never coached at the 5A level but posted 248 wins at Class 3A South Delta.

The successor will have the formidable task of rebuilding the program that hasn’t won since its 11-3 mark in 1997.

&uot;I believe there is,&uot; said Alcorn athletic director Robert Raines, a former NHS head coach who guided the team to the South State championship. &uot;Natchez has and has always had outstanding student-athletes. There’s a lot of talent in Natchez. The last couple of years they’ve fallen on hard times. Once you hit a slide, it’s kind of hard to break the fall.&uot;

School officials opted not to renew Denson’s contract earlier this year. The Bulldogs’ two wins under Denson came by a combined score of three points, and his teams finished a combined 2-31. The Bulldogs went 8-25 under Elbert &uot;Mo&uot; Lyles, who is now the head coach at Amite County.

&uot;I believe in ’94, I think, that team was in a free-fall,&uot; Raines said. &uot;We had won four games collectively since. But we were able to turn that program around. It can happen. I don’t think all is lost. You need coaches who can motivate and inspire.&uot;