BUTLER TWP— With a deadline of Jan. 26, applications for the Butler High School varsity football coaching position have been coming in steadily.

As of Monday, the school district had received 17 formal applications, said Jerry Slamecka, assistant superintendent of personnel.

"That's a little on the low side, actually," Slamecka said. "But it's not out of the ordinary. A lot of people generally apply just before the deadline to keep their anonymity.

"People don't want their names leaked out for obvious reasons, so we're careful not to do that."

Butler is looking to replace Garry Cathell, who was relieved of his coaching duties Dec. 11 following a 3-7 season. Cathell was 18-32 in five years at the helm.

Cathell also is dean of students at Butler.

Slamecka said applications have come in from several states, including Florida and Georgia. Some college coaches have applied, as well as current high school head and assistant coaches.

"There's been no common thread,"he said of the applications. "It's a wide variety."

Whether a full-time teaching position will be available with the coaching job remains a question. Relocations or possible retirements may not be disclosed until spring.

"That makes the process a little tricky,"Slamecka said. "Obviously, you want to get a coach on board fairly quickly to get the players going on off-season conditioning, but we may not know what's available to offer them.

"Hopefully, we'll have a better idea once the interview process begins."

Interviews likely will begin in early February. When Cathell was hired in 2002, 14 applicants were interviewed in late February.

"I imagine we'll be following the same timetable as Garry's hiring, roughly,"Slamecka said. "A lot depends on the number of qualified applicants. Ideally, if you get 25 highly qualified applicants, you want to talk to as many as possible face-to-face before you start eliminating names."