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Peabody Tanners Football '07

Peabody not ready to name new football coach

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Wednesday, April, 16 By Matt Jenkins
Staff writer

The rumors and rumblings about who remains in the hunt to become the newest Peabody High School football coach may be gaining steam, but all the talk will have no influence on how quickly the vacancy is filled, according to Peabody athletic director Phil Sheridan.

Roughly half the applicants were selected for interviews, and the initial interview process will be concluding soon.

At that point, Sheridan and the selection committee will determine whether or not the number needs to be trimmed down for a second round of interviews.

Either way, no one involved in the process is planning on rushing things.

"We're down to one more interview and the reason we did them last week was because the school is up for accreditation," Sheridan said. "We can't deal with that until we're done with the more important stuff. That wraps up (today) and we're hoping to finish the interviews this week. Then, we'll get together as a committee."

Those hoping for a decision before or during April vacation will likely be disappointed.

"I don't think any (decisions) will happen until after April vacation because that week you lose some people," Sheridan said. "We're not going to rush this for anybody. We're going to take our time."

Senior Scott Diefenbach played for both former coaches Paul Uva (as a sophomore and junior) and Dick Woodbury (as a senior) and he feels the new coach needs to be somebody who is determined to help the Tanners return to glory.

"Basically they need somebody that's going to come in and take on the role of the head coach," Diefenbach said. "They need a guy who will really try to get the right people and come in with an idea and follow the idea into the season. It should be someone who will get on the kids and make them do what they have to do. In a way I think we need a guy who will not be afraid to be aggressive with the kids."

Some have argued that the biggest difference between the Peabody teams of the past three years and the teams from the Ed Nizwantowski or Arthur Adamopoulos eras has been the lack of athletes.

Drawing interest into a losing program is very difficult to do.

"A lot of the kids in my grade that are athletes didn't play football. They were hockey or baseball players," Diefenbach, a Northeastern Conference all-star who started at five different positions for the Tanners this past fall, said. "You have to recruit some of the athletes to come play football. We've been a bit on the small end. Not everyone on the field is an all-star, but you definitely have to try to get more athletes in the school on the field and increase the numbers anyway possible."

Despite a three-year varsity career that produced only six wins and 25 losses, Diefenbach will remain a faithful Tanner fan until the end.

He also remains optimistic that Peabody will bring in the right man for the job.

"I don't think they necessarily need a young guy, but they definitely need somebody to make the commitment for a good period of time. The program is not going to get turned around in a year; it doesn't matter who you bring in, that's not going to happen," Diefenbach said. "The new coach needs to make a commitment to be here for a good number of years, and then they have to get the athletes and a system to try to work. That's when it will turn around."

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