The search for Easton Area High School’s next football coach is well underway, but Steve Shiffert’s successor will not be put up for approval at Tuesday’s school board meeting, athletic director Jim Pokrivsak said Saturday.
While two rounds of interviews have been done so far, and some anticipated the process might be wrapped up by Tuesday, the search committee has not made any decisions just yet.
“We’re not near done with the process yet,” Pokrivsak said. “We didn’t anticipate approving a coach on Tuesday.”
While Pokrivsak declined to give an exact number of candidates the committee has talked to, he said they had “interviewed a number of candidates on and off over the last week or so.”
Sources confirmed to lehighvalleylive.com that five coaches had received second interviews by Saturday, but Pokrivsak wouldn’t confirm that they were finalists.
“There may be some people who interviewed a first time, or some people who weren’t interviewed yet, who may be called in,” he said.
Asked if there were more rounds of interviews planned, Pokrivsak said the committee will be meeting during the upcoming week “to address where we’ve gone so far.”
RELATED: Top 20 highlights from Shiffert’s 24 years at Easton
Matt Evancho, who sources confirmed has interviewed a second time, has been thought of by many as the leader in the clubhouse from the start to replace Shiffert, who was let go in January after 24 years as head coach of the Red Rovers. The former Saucon Valley coach stepped away for the 2016 season to focus on his family and his battle with depression, but is a 1993 Easton grad that has been connected with success wherever he has coached.
In nine years with the Panthers, Evancho led his teams to a 61-43 overall record with a District 11 Class 3A championship, two Eastern Conference championships, two Colonial League crowns and two state playoff wins — the first two in program history.
Before that, the Penn State grad was the defensive coordinator at Wilson for five years during an eight-year run with the Warriors, culminating in a state championship in 2006.
While Evancho has Easton roots, he would be the first Red Rovers head coach hired from outside the staff since 1947 — granted, there have only been five coaches since then — when Frank O’Hora came in from Bangor and only lasted one season before Bob Rute took over in 1948.
The two candidates from Shiffert’s staff that are still in the mix for the job appear to be Jeff Braido and Scott Ordway, sources said. Braido was most recently Easton’s special teams coordinator and tight ends/defensive ends coach while Ordway was a successful JV head coach.
Two other candidates who have gotten interviews include Paul Reduzzi and Mike Palos, according to sources.
Reduzzi has been the head coach at Pen Argyl for the last 10 years with a 65-50 record with two District 11 championships and a Colonial League title. Reached Saturday night, he would neither confirm nor deny that he was involved in the process, referring all questions to Pokrivsak.
Palos was previously the head coach at Bethlehem Catholic from 2009-10 with a 9-13 record and an Eastern Conference championship. The Lafayette grad is an assistant football coach on Liberty’s staff and also serves as Easton’s assistant baseball coach and JV boys basketball head coach.
Depending on the search committee’s timeline, a final candidate could potentially be put up for approval by the school board either at a standing committee meeting on March 7 or a regular board meeting on March 21.
Greg Joyce may be reached at gjoyce@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @GJoyce9. Find Lehigh Valley high school sports on Facebook.
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