Carbondale Community High School’s football team will hire a new varsity head coach for the fourth consecutive season at the school’s next Board of Education meeting on May 21.

One player, junior quarterback Michael Rochman, shared his feelings about the team’s lack of a head coach on Twitter.

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Rick Moss, current CCHS athletic director, would not name the school’s coaching candidates.

“They may be leaving for another school, so we kind of protect them,” Moss said. “We don’t say their name until our board approves them.”

Nick Hill and Mark Albertini, the last two head coaches, both left for promotions.

Hill is currently the co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for SIU.

“I really loved my time at Carbondale [Community High School],” Hill said. “I was really excited about being a head coach there and building a program.”

In 2013, the Terriers went 5-5 and made the Illinois High School Association playoffs before losing to the Highland Bulldogs 34-20.

He said to build a successful program, a school has to have a coach that stays to develop a culture.

But when the opportunity came to coach at SIU, Hill’s alma mater, he said he never knew when or if the chance would come again.

“I felt like that’s where I had to go,” Hill said.

Albertini replaced Hill in 2014 and the team went 1-8.

Once Moss retires July 1, Albertini will become the school’s athletic director.

“Everybody is proud of [Albertini] for stepping up and going to athletic director,” Rochman said. “There are no harsh feelings about it.”

Moss said the situation, with coaches leaving CCHS, is a unique one. He said the coaches have not left because the school has a bad athletic program.

“You hear of programs that have had four coaches in four years, because, to be quite honest with you, they’re horseshit programs,” Moss said. “This is not [the situation here.]”

He said Albertini will do a great job as athletic director.

“[Albertini] has been with us for 11 years, he knows our students, he knows our faculty, he’s a Carbondale Terrier,” Moss said. “He and his wife just built a new home here in Carbondale, so I’m sure he’s going to do a great job.”

Rochman said he likes how thorough the school has handled its search of a coach and he wants to know who it will be before the summer.

“It’s important so the coach can insert plays and so the players can start understanding them earlier,” he said.

Rochman said it is difficult to get used to playing for someone new because the offensive system a new coach implements can be complex. He said the team already has people capable of taking over the position, such as assistant varsity coaches Joe Bevis and Ben Campos, as well as last year’s freshman and junior varsity coach Jimi Bradley.

Djimon Slaughter, junior running back for CCHS’ varsity team, agreed with Rochman. He hopes the school hires Bradley because he coached Slaughter before.

“[Bradley] knows what to do with us,” he said. “He [would] get us very far, I’m sure of that.”

Tyler McCormick, junior wide receiver for CCHS, said changing the style of play every season is difficult. He noted the lack of consistency and its effect on the team.

“One year we could be a running offense,” he said. “One year we could be a passing offense. One year we could be strong on offense, or strong on defense. The whole aspect changes.”

Rochman said the hardest part as one of the team’s leaders is to get players to buy in for each new coach, but he is confident players will.

Slaughter said providing the players a path to a successful season is vital.

“If [the new coach] has a plan for me, I’ll go by the plan,” he said.

Matt Wells can be reached at [email protected] or at 536-3311 ext. 269.