Jim Gazzolo, Special to the American Press

It has been two weeks but McNeese Athletic Director Heath Schroyer said he is ready to take the next step in filling the vacant women’s basketball head coach position.

Schroyer said he expects to start interviewing candidates as early as today in hopes of making an announcement by April 1.

“We want to do this quick,” Schroyer said. “We also want to make sure we do it right and get the right person for the job.

“We need to make sure this is the right fit.”

Schroyer elected not to renew the contract of Kacie Cryer after the Cowgirls were knocked out of the Southland Conference Tournament earlier this month. Cryer moved up the ranks of the McNeese program and spent five years as the head coach.

“We wanted to go in a different direction,” Schroyer said at the time.

Since posting the position, and through his contacts, Schroyer said he is pleased with the response the opening has received.

“I’m very happy with not only the amount of interest in McNeese but also the quality of those interested,” Schroyer said.

This will be Schroyer’s second major hire since he resigned as the Cowboys’ men’s head basketball coach on March 11 to concentrate on being AD. His first was naming his own successor, promoting top assistant John Aiken to the job atop the program.

Now he’s on to trying to find the right person to rebuild a women’s program that has not had a winning record in five seasons. There is also the problem of getting the right person for a position that needs to work around the damage done by hurricanes Laura and Delta last year.

The Cowgirls, like their male counterparts, are hoping to be back in their on-campus arena, the Health and Human Performance Complex, by January 2022.

Schroyer has said he is looking for someone with head coaching experience at the Division I or II levels, or a top assistant with a winning track record.

More importantly, he said, the next coach must be willing to become part of the community and make good contact with area high school coaches.

“We want somebody who is a team player with the rest of the athletic department as well as being a very good basketball coach,” Schroyer said.McNeese athleticsMcNeese State University