A look at the 7 finalists for Barron Collier head coach

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NAPLES — Barron Collier released the names of the seven finalists for its head football coaching position Wednesday.

Arvada West (Colo.) offensive coordinator Brian Hatler, St. Petersburg-Shorecrest Prep coach Phil Hayford, Nazareth (Pa.) High School coach Rob Melosky, former Cape Coral High School coach Brad Metheny, East Laurens (Ga.) coach Gary Morton, and Cougars assistant Daniel Pallante all will interview Friday. Their names were released after a public records request by the Daily News.

Hatler has 19 years of high school coaching experience, and coached a pair of all-state quarterbacks at Arvada West. Hayford’s contract was not renewed after 33 years at Shorecrest Prep where he compiled a 191-132 record. Melosky led Nazareth to a 12-2 season this year, and is 30-17 in four seasons as head coach, according to MaxPreps.

Metheny was 17-9-1 in two seasons at Cape Coral. He was let go by Principal Matt Maderios, with the principal saying he wanted to take the program in a different direction. Morton was previously the head coach at Arcadia-DeSoto County for nine years, going 48-28. He’s 3-17 in two seasons at East Laurens. Pallante was linebackers coach at Barron under former coach Mark Ivey.

A total of 153 people applied for the position.

BCHS athletic director Mark Rosenbalm said earlier this week that he hoped the 10-person committee, which includes the himself and principal Tim Kutz, would hire a coach next week. Rosenbalm said he would like to have the coach in place before spring break, which is April 2-5.

Wednesday, Rosenbalm said he hoped that the group of finalists would be narrowed to two, and then those two would be interviewed again before a choice is determined.

Ivey resigned Feb. 20 after five seasons with the Cougars to take a job as special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach at Appalachian State, his alma mater. The school’s athletic department spent nearly three weeks accepting applications before choosing its finalists late last week.