Nathan Brown, the athletic director at Stone Memorial High School, has been really busy as of late.
Sure, he’s doing all of his daily requirements as a vice principal at the school. But he’s also traveling with teams, taking care of coaches’ requests, and handling equipment maintenance. There is a lot to do.
And currently, he is also in the process of trying to replace one of his most successful coaches in school history. Neil Capps, the school’s ultra successful boys’ basketball coach, announced earlier this spring he was going to resign as coach so he could be available to attend his son Cade’s collegiate games.
“We cannot replace Coach Capps. There’s no way that we can replace what he’s done, what he means to our school and our basketball program. I mean just as a man who has a high character, as a role model and a basketball coach,” Brown said. “We support him in his desire to spend more time with his family, but it’s definitely sad that he has decided to move away from coaching.”
The position, Brown said, has been posted for some time on several different websites.
“We are taking applications, and we’ve had internal and external candidates apply at this point,” Brown said. “I’m vetting all candidates to set up interviews and I’m gonna hire the best candidate.
“It’s a tough decision to make and we understand that basketball is similar to the front porch of our school, and our community cares a lot about basketball. We want to make the right decision for our student-athletes and make sure that our program continues to thrive and grow just like it did under coach Capps.”
Brown said he’s putting together a committee to help in the process, set criteria, wade through the applications and help in the actual decision.
“In terms of coaching experience, I don’t know that I have a set parameter for expected coaching experience,” Brown said. “I mean it could be an assistant coach. It could be a head coach of another program. To me the best candidate will meet the needs of our student-athletes and understand that basketball is an extension of the classroom.”
Brown also said the new coach will have an understanding of the Stone Memorial culture on and off the court, and the high expectations everyone has for the black and gold.
“I’m not gonna make this decision lightly and I’m not gonna make this decision on my own,” Brown said. “Other coaches will be part of the interview with me. We’re a family. We have a common belief, a common vision that we have throughout our entire athletic department. We’re gonna ensure the coach that we hire fits that mold.”
Numerous coaches in the Stone Memorial system, and even county wide, have inquired about the vacancy. Brown said local candidates have no advantage heading into the process.
“I do not believe in minimizing the search in any way shape or form,” Brown said. “I’m a firm believer in mobility, taking chances on people learning from outside sources. If I’m gonna hire the best candidate period, it doesn’t matter to me if that candidate’s inside our building or not.”
A big factor in hiring high school coaches is academics. To bring a coach in, that coach must be able to fill an academic opening in addition to basketball. That can slow the hiring process tremendously.
“I would love to have a coach in by May 1,” Brown said. “We’ve got several candidates and they all seem to be very strong candidates. My preference would be to make a decision by mid-April, and introduce the coach sometime in mid-April. It’s not a hard deadline by any means at all but we would like to get summer practices and summer schedules organized so families can start making summer plans.”