With the first day of classes at Pike County Schools less than a month away, two major head coaching positions have yet to be filled.

Both the head baseball coaching position at Pike County High School and the head boys’ basketball coaching position at Goshen High School are currently vacant.

At Goshen, athletic director Bart Snyder said the school is hard at work to find a replacement for former coach Jonathan Deveridge.

“We’re still in the search,” Snyder said. “We’re going through that process, and we’re really trying to find the right fit. We’ve been in the process of interviewing for a while now, so we’re actively looking. We’re just trying to find that right combination.”

The combination the new coach must have is a mix of both basketball knowledge and a willingness to help the Goshen students in all aspects of their lives.

“We need someone who’s going to be there for our kids first and foremost, and also who’s going to teach them how to play basketball,” Snyder said.

Since the new coach will also serve as an assistant football coach, Snyder said he hopes to have a coach by July 26, which is the Pike County Board of Education’s next meeting.

“We definitely want to have someone in place by the time school starts, so we hope to have someone to recommend to the board by the next meeting.”

At PCHS, the Bulldogs are looking to replace head coach Nathan Fordham, who left the PCHS baseball program after only one season.

PCHS athletic director Robert Johnson said the search process is still ongoing.

“We still haven’t hired a baseball coach, but we are in the process,” Johnson said.

While baseball season is not until February, the new coach will also likely be an assistant football coach, meaning the time remaining to hire a new coach is dwindling.

Much like the basketball opening at Goshen, Johnson said he is confident a new coach will be in place by the July 26 PCS board meeting.

“We’ve had plenty of interviews and we’ll be interviewing some more people today, so we’ll find the right guy,” Johnson said.

“We’d certainly like to hire somebody by the next board meeting, and I would say it’s likely that we’ll be able to do that.”