DATE: Tuesday, July 22, 1997                TAG: 9707220187

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY JEFF ZEIGLER, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: HERTFORD                          LENGTH:   32 lines

PERQUIMANS CONDUCTS QUICK SEARCH FOR NEW FOOTBALL COACH

Perquimans County High School has no football coach with the first day of fall practice in less than two weeks.

Andy Hunt, who had been the Pirates' head coach for the past two seasons, left the school July 11 for an assistant coaching job with a school in the Raleigh area. Hunt, who was also the junior varsity baseball coach, has left a void that the high school is scrambling to fill.

``Interviews will continue this week,'' said Harrell Thach, athletic director at Perquimans. ``It puts us in a big bind, but practice will start Aug. 1 and we will have a coach in place by Aug. 1.''

Thach said Perquimans' endowment game with Northeastern may be canceled and changed to a scrimmage instead. Endowment games count on a team's record.

``I just don't know if we'll be ready,'' Thach said.

Speculation was that Thach, head coach of the Pirates for three years before accepting the full-time athletic director's job, would take over the team, but school officials are sticking to a local rule that says athletic directors at Perquimans are not allowed to coach. Thach said that he might be offered the job if no other suitable candidate is found.

``We have had some local candidates and we've been impressed with some of their credentials,' Thach said.

Hunt served as an assistant under Thach in 1994. In his two years as head coach, Hunt was 10-10. In 1995, he led the Pirates to a 7-3 record and to the 1A state playoffs. Last year, the Pirates dropped to 3-7 and failed to make the playoffs.

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