By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – A panel of St. John the Baptist Parish school officials and community leaders have selected eight finalists for head football coach and athletic director position at East St. John High School.

Ronald Barrilleaux, Curtis Tsuruda, Gregory Gathers, Phillip Banko, Benny Guilbeaux, Nick Mitchell, Marcus Scott and Terence Williams were the selected applicants chosen by the six-member committee in charge of screening applicants. That same panel will begin interviewing the candidates this week, according to school system Media and Communications Coordinator Heidi Trosclair.

“The committee screened all applicants prior to narrowing the field,” Trosclair said. “They looked at qualifications, experience, teaching certificates. We did not go into the process hoping for an exact number of candidates, but those eight met all of the necessary qualifications we put forth.”

Barrilleaux was named interim head coach and athletic director following Larry Dauterive’s resignation in October. Barrilleaux finished out the regular season with a 2-1 record and lost in the first round of the 5A State Playoffs to Acadiana High School.

St. John School Superintendant Courtney Millet recommended Barrilleaux as the school’s permanent head coach in December, but St. John School Board members decided instead to advertise for the position to find the best candidate from a wider field.

Tsuruda, another member of the East St. John High School football staff, has been the team’s strength and conditioning coach for the past five years.

Gathers, a former East St. John and Georgia Tech standout at defensive tackle, was once a defensive line coach for East St. John. He is currently an assistant coach at Destrehan High School.

Banko was a former defensive coordinator at East St. John and is now defensive coordinator at Ponchatoula High School. He has also spent time coaching for the University of Miami and the Cleveland Browns of the NFL.

Guilbeaux is the assistant football coach at Donaldsonville High School and once played football at Notre Dame.

Mitchell is an assistant coach at East Ascension High School, Scott is the head coach at West Jefferson High School, and Williams is the head coach at Donaldsonville High School.

Trosclair said the committee is not in a rush to name a coach. She said interviews will be thorough to ensure the right candidate is chosen.

“The committee has high expectations for the position,” Trosclair said. “There is no specific time frame for the naming of a coach.”

Members of the committee include Assistant Superintendant Herbert Smith, East St. John High School Principal Patricia Triche, St. John School System Director of Human Resources Leigh Ann Beard, New Orleans Saints Special Teams Coordinator Greg McMahon, and community members Herbert Carter and Dickey Lyons. Lyons was an alternate who took the place of East St. John High School Assistant Principal Percy Williams, who was unable to be present.