Cocke County High School is looking for its fourth football coach in the past 10 years. Their third coach since 2005.

Considering that the run of Larry Williams, the schools winningest head coach in history, lasted for the 20 years prior to that; its safe to say that the football program is in need of serious stability.

A revolving door, a decline in talent and a handful of other debatable issues has been some of the main reasons the team has limped home with a 5-45 record since the start of the 2005 season.

While Cocke County's program history is close to the .500 mark, even before the recent downfall, it is the absence of competitive fire that was a trademark of many of its teams in the past.

Somewhere along the way, for whatever reason, Cocke County lost that. They've not only lost a lot; but they've lost big.

Winning immediately and winning big shouldn't be goal number one for the next head coach. Continuing where this year's team left off and decreasing the gap between itself and their opponents is where the focus should lie.

Wes Jones took over a team two years removed from a state quarterfinal appearance and fielded competitive teams early, before seeing the program decline to a 1-9 record in his final season in 2005.

Despite a promising start, David Crawford led the team to a 2-18 record over two seasons, while not jiving well with the football program on and off the field.

Casey Kelley promised to bring back the tradition of a competitive Cocke County football team and the team struggled mightily in 2008 with the first winless season for the school since the 1970s. The team however rebounded with a more competitive season and a better offensive game plan this season, before Kelley's move into the school administration necessitated his resignation yesterday.

Regardless of the reasons for the decline in the program from winning 13 games in the first three seasons of the decade to a school-record 22-game losing streak in the latter portion, the team needs someone with a serious dose of stability and someone who will be committed to the revitalization of the program.

With the small positive steps the team took in 2009, the job of finding a qualified successor for Kelley will be easier than had the team looked the same as it did in 2008. Despite the positive steps, the task of finding a good fit for the CCHS job will be a tough sell for the decision makers.

While applicants will mail in their resumes for the sake of applying for a head coaching gig, Cocke County needs to find a good fit for their open position and hiring blindly is about as successful as trying to win the lottery.

Therefore, the school will probably try to hire someone they can get a close look at from within the region. Either a head coach looking to prove himself in a higher classification; along with trying to put a resounding reclamation of a once-proud program on his resume.

The school could also go with an up-and-coming assistant,which may be a route they have to go, given the state of the program. The move can be a high-risk, high-reward choice, if the right man is picked.

However, while you want to have a coach everyone wants to hire; the school needs to be leery of having someone who is looking to bolt for bigger and better things.

The school system does not have the resources for a bidding war for a coach who could come in and turn around the program and be a hot coaching commodity for a bigger program in a handful of years. Yet, such a move could be worth it to generate some type of success and positive vibes within the Cocke County program.

Regardless of the names that appear during the search, some familiar and some not, the program needs someone to capitalize on the small successes of this year and begin hiring and piecing together a coaching staff,then preparing a plan to get Cocke County back to being a competitive team in football once again.

Bringing Cocke County back to that competitive level maybe the biggest job requirement of all within the description for the next head coach.

Bringing the program to that level may be the biggest key in the revitalization process. Moral victories are still losses; but for a team that has lost its last 45 by an average of four touchdowns per game, competitive and respective losses against conference foes would almost be the same as a victory.

Coaching is however a two-way street. Coaches are made  by good talent, talent is developed by good coaching. Cocke County has fallen behind other communities in this level, for whatever reason you choose to rally behind for your own reasoning for this.

Cocke County's next coach has to cultivate what is there into good talent and has to do a recruiting job to sell what he can do for the up-and-coming talent that helped lead the Cocke County Middle School to their first undefeated season in history this past season.

It will take the right person to accomplish this. That's why the Cocke County High administration was satisfied on letting the timeline for the process to go without a deadline, as they are not willing to settle fors omeone who isn't compatible nor doesn't fit their mold of what they wish the program to be.

Finding that right person who can do all that may be tougher than actually getting the job done, but imperative for Cocke County football to return to a competitive level.