Rutherford to announce new football coach on Friday

SPRINGFIELD — A select few at Rutherford know who the Rams’ next football coach is, and the rest of the area will find out on Friday.

The school will announce its new coach that day at 10 a.m. in the new gymnasium football offices. The new hire will replace Greg Rivers, who announced in February that he would retire at the end of this school year.

Nearly 120 coaches inquired about the open position. Of those, about 50 applied using Bay District Schools guidelines. Nine finalists were chosen from the pool.

A seven-person committee interviewed the finalists last week. The top candidate, whose name is being withheld until Friday, was then forwarded to Principal Mike Kennedy. An offer was made and accepted, Rutherford Athletic Director Kirk Harrell said, and the new coach will begin work April 1.

Rivers, a longtime assistant at the school, was head coach of the Rams for five seasons. They had three straight losing campaigns before posting back-to-back winning years, with a peak of six victories in 2009.

The succeeding coach will become Bay County’s second prominent football hire within the past year. Frank Sorrells was hired by Bay in April and led the Tornadoes to a 4-6 record in his first season in 2009.