By Chris Rosa

ERATH - It only took about an hour after applications stopped being taken at the School Board office for Erath High Principal Francis Touchet to meet with a special committee and begin sorting out who applied for the head football coaching job.

At around 5 p.m on Friday., Touchet and a committee met at EHS to speak about the hiring process. Each committee member was asked to bring two questions Friday that Touchet would ask each coach interviewing for the job.

Next week, Touchet will begin interviewing the 11 who applied for the football coaching job left void by a retiring Jacob Byler. Byler had been the head man for 22 years.

Touchet said, “I am pleased with the list of candidates. He said there is not front runner.

There are three who are now head coaches and one of the 11 applicants won a Class A state title five years ago as a head coach at VC.

What is ironic about the 11 who applied for Erath, almost half also applied for Abbeville High’s head football coaching job left void when Ward Courville stepped down after one year of coaching.

Tommy Byler, the son of former EHS head coach Jacob Byler, applied for the vacant position at Erath High. Tommy has been at Erath High for the last 18 years, helping his dad coach along the sidelines. He is also the athletic director and head softball coach at the school.

Also applying are Destin Dieterich, a coordinator at St. Martinville High, Christopher Towery, who is at Livonia, Larry Breaux, an assistant coach at Acadiana High School, Josh Fontenot, who is coaching in Orange Beach, Fla., former VC head coach Charlie Cryer, who is an assistant coach at Northwest High in St. Landry Parish, Alton Ware, head coach and athletic director at Bolton, and Pickering head coach/AD James Marcantel, Terry Washington, who head football coach at Jeanerette High, Shaun Beauchamp. who is an assistant coach at a high school in Dallas, Georgia and Robert McRoy.

Also interviewing for the Abbeville High job are Ware, Marcantel, Dieterich, Washington and Towery also applied at Abbeville High School.

At the Jan. 8 school board meeting, a head coach will be named at Abbeville and Erath.