Wood River High School athletic and activities director John Rade said Tuesday he plans to hire a new head boys' basketball coach for the Hailey school before the end of the 2010-11 school year in June.
John Radford, a high school teacher and head boys' basketball coach for five years, resigned the coaching position after the end of the 2010-11 season.
Rade opened up the vacant position for applications April 20 and closed the application process April 28. He said there were several applications that will be reviewed prior to the next step, an in-terview process.
He said his first priority would be to find a vacant teaching position that would match up with the head coaching job, but Rade said he was skeptical about that. "I don't think there will be a teaching position to satisfy this job," he said, meaning the new coach may not be a teacher.
< Rade added, "I'll definitely have someone hired before the end of the school year, which is com-ing up quickly."
Assistant coaches Rick Bradshaw and Mike Payne, both former Wood River basketball players, have indicated a desire to remain with a Wolverine program that hasn't enjoyed a winning season for 20 years. Neither Bradshaw nor Payne is a teacher employed by the School District.
Radford (20-86 as head coach) had been involved with the Wolverine program for eight years. He started in 2003 and worked three years as junior varsity coach under head varsity coach Fred Trenkle.
Despite Radford's best efforts, in recent years the boys' program has fallen on hard times includ-ing a 0-21 record this past winter. Wood River has lost 36 of its last 37 games and, over the past two winters, has been outscored by over 20 points per game on the average.
Former Wood River High School basketball coach John Radford during a game in December 2010. Photo by David N. Seelig
