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A new Central High School foot­ball coach probably won’t be hired until January, but that’s not keep­ing me from thinking about who could be (and who could have been) the next Central football coach.

First, a look back.

Three years ago the district named five finalists to replace Bob Bellard as the Bobcats’ coach.

Three of those five finalists pulled themselves from consideration be­fore a decision was made.

At least one coach publicly cited family reasons for his decision to pull out while in private saying the district wasn’t being open enough with them during a very rushed in­terview process (a pair of finalists were not even asked to come to town to interview for the job until the morning the administration actu­ally planned to make a decision).

Anyway, here’s those five final­ists, and what they’ve done since...

Steve Heryford: Hired as the new Central coach but reassigned ear­lier this month after going 11-22 in three seasons with the Bobcats.

Brad McCoy: Returned to 3A Gra­ham where he was 7- 6 in 2006 and 10­2 in 2007 before going 3-7 this season. Has also gotten a lot of face time on nation­al television during University of Texas games as the father of Heisman Trophy hopeful and Long­horns’ quarterback Colt McCoy.

Bob Shipley: Was hired as head coach of 5A Coppell High School be­fore 2006 season and has amassed a 23-9 record heading into Saturday night’s area round playoff game against Allen. Highlight of his ten­ure at Coppell so far was beating powerhouse Southlake Carroll this season.

Jim Phillips: Returned to coach at 4A Waller High School in 2006 and went 5- 4 before going 10- 4 last year. Hired at 4A Greenville this season and went 2- 8.

Gary Proffitt: Returned to coach at 1A Goldthwaite. Won his 200th career game this season. Hasn’t won less than nine games in a sea­son since 2003.

That brings me to who might be the next Central coach.

The name I’ve heard most in the rumor mill is Randy Quisenberry of Midland Lee. A lot of the Midland Lee faithful were calling for him to be fired last year and that opinion might only increase this offseason after his upset loss last week in the first round of the playoffs to El Paso Montwood despite going 7-3 in the regular season. I think those who want Quisenberry fired are crazy (the Rebels have made the playoffs all five years he’s been there, and he’s had great success as a head coach at Odessa High and Abilene Cooper too).

I think Central should be in a unique position to attract a quality head coach because San Angelo is such a hotbed for producing high school football coaches because of Angelo State. Earlier this year we devoted the theme of our pre-season football section to how ASU is the national leader in the num­ber of alums coaching high school football.

One of the fastest rising coaching stars in the state is former ASU player Mike Jinks, who led 4A Schertz Steele to an 11-2 record last year in just the school’s sec­ond year of varsity action, and has them 10-1 going into this weekend’s playoff game.

Leading up to that pre­season section we ran some­thing called the Fab 15, a look at some of the greatest ever Rams-turned-coaches.

Some have already retired or made their names in six­man football. But I’d think at least some would consider re­turning to their college town for a $ 90,000 a year payday and the chance to coach the Bobcats in such a high-profile district that includes many of the most historic football pro­grams in the state.

Here’s seven of those “Fab 15” that are still coaching 11 ­man football: Glen West: Currently head coach at 4A Brenham where his team was playing in the area round Friday. Has com­piled a 140-55-1 record as a head coach.

Jim Slaughter: Currently in his ninth season at 5A A& M Consolidated where he went 6-5 this year. The former Lake View head coach and member of the Texas Coaches Association Hall of Honor has a 188-101-1 career record.

Alan Cherry: Head coach at 5A Harlingen South. Went 12-1 in 2007 but just 2- 8 this year. Took 4A Bay City to the state title game in 2003.

Jason Herring: Won the 2000 state title in Sonora and led 3A Refugio to a 13-1 record in 2007 and was 11- 0 heading into this week’s playoff game.

Steve Taylor: 122- 46­1 overall coaching record, cur­rently at Greenwood where his team lost to Sweetwater Thursday in the area round.

Steve Warren: Head coach at Abilene High, who has the Eagles on a streak of ten straight playoff appearances.

They went 10-1 this year.

Phil Danaher: Head coach at Corpus Christi

Calallen, winningest active coach in the state with 344 victories.

I know some of those guys like Warren and Danaher probably wouldn’t change jobs for anything, but some of those other former Rams should be on Central fans’ Christmas lists.