Andy Stevens doesn’t have a lot of time.
Following the resignation Tuesday of Tim Nickens as Caledonia High School’s football coach, Stevens, the school’s principal, hit the phones and began the search for the Confederates’ new coach.
“I talked to a couple (people) today,” Stevens said. “I have two or three I am talking to now who are very interested. We’ll see what happens about that in the next day or so.”
Stevens was forced to start another search for a new coach following the news that Nickens, who spent the 2017 football season as defensive coordinator for head coach Kris Pickle at New Hope High, had resigned. Nickens confirmed Wednesday morning he had resigned Tuesday as football coach at Caledonia High.
Nickens was approved to replace Ricky Kendrick as football coach at Caledonia High at the March 9 meeting of the Lowndes County School District. Nickens also was to work as a History teacher at Caledonia High. His hiring date was effective Aug. 1, 2018.
Nickens had been working with the Caledonia High football program in spring practice since the middle of last month. It remains unclear why Nickens resigned. Nickens declined to comment about his decision. He referred all questions to Stevens. Stevens declined to comment about Nickens or to speculate about the reasons behind his decision.
Stevens said Caledonia High received about 20 applications in the initial search for a coach to replace Kendrick. He said paid assistant coaches Jason Forrester, Hunter Williams, who was at New Hope High last season, and Devin Downey will continue to lead the program through spring practice. He said the team will have an intrasquad game next Friday.
Nickens’ decision to leave the program is just part of the uncertainty. Stevens said he doesn’t know if Rob Adams, who served as defensive coordinator for the football team in 2017, would be back as a coach with the team. He said Adams is still a driver’s education teacher at the school. He said Murray Woody, who was wide receivers/defensive backs coach last season, wasn’t going to coach football at the school in 2018. He said Woody, who teaches at Caledonia Middle School, would continue to drive a school bus.
Despite the late date to begin a search for a new football coach, Stevens was upbeat about the prospects of hiring someone quickly.
“I can find somebody,” Stevens said. “I can find a quality coach. It is harder for the kids sake because they are in the middle of spring practice.”
Stevens said he would have somebody to put for approval at the next board meeting of the Lowndes County School District on Friday, May 11. To do that, Stevens said he would have to have that applicant’s name to the district office by Monday.
Nickens, who also worked as a coach at Senatobia High, said in April he was excited to have 70-80 players set to take the field for the start of spring practice. The Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) allows 20 practice days. It is unclear who will lead the team through the completion of spring practice or how the school will move forward.
This past season, Caledonia finished 0-10 with Kendrick in his second stint as head coach of the program.
In April, Nickens talked about being reunited with his family in the summer. His wife — a longtime teacher at Northwest Mississippi Community College — and oldest daughter remained in Senatobia this past year so she could graduate with her friends. A second daughter will be a sophomore in the 2018-19 school year.
“It will be exciting to have everybody back together,” Nickens said in April. “This is a good position for me. The response by the kids has been tremendous. They want to win and they want to work hard to have a chance to do that. If you can get the hard work from everybody, that’s half the battle.”
Caledonia has had four men — two for two stints — lead the football program in the last 11 seasons. The 2018 season will mark the third-straight year Caledonia will have a new coach. Nickens’ replacement will be the sixth person to lead the program since David Boykin was the head coach in 2007.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.