Selecting the right person for a high-profile position, such as headfootball coach, is a major decision for a high school.

It's a crucial decision because football and basketball programs are the big revenue makers for schools. The financial needs of the minor sports teams hinge on the success of the football and basketball teams.

Winning, or at least competitive, football and basketball teams mean higher attendance, which means more money.

What's interesting is the way the coach is hired and how that No. 1 candidate emerges. The approach varies from private school to public school, and Archbishop Spalding had a unique way of hiring its new football coach.

It is important enough to succeed in football at Spalding that the Severn-area school engaged in a rather unorthodox method for high schools.The Cavaliers formed a search committee and conducted an intricate interview process.

I've found that the procedure the schools take in hiring coaches is something many fans and parents know little about. They often ask how or why was that guy chosen?

That question hasbeen asked over the past week after Spalding hired 28-year-old MartyHiggins, who has no previous head coaching experience, to lift its program from the doldrums.

County public high schools pretty much leave hiring coaches up to the discretion of the principal and athletic director. By county policy, the principal has to give the final stamp of approval, but the wise principal relies heavily on the opinion of his athletic director.

The athletic director is the one who hasto deal with the football coach on a day-to-day basis, and it's important that both sides are on the same page.

St. Mary's High Schoolbrought in an outstanding football coach in Brad Best three years ago. The decision to hire Best was made by Principal Sister Phyllis andvice principal/head lacrosse coach Jim Moorhead, with input from Athletic Director Carmine Blades.

"Sister Phyllis and I actually madethe decision to name Brad head football coach at St. Mary's," said Moorhead.

That vacancy created a controversy three years ago because some people at the school felt that the popular Sonny Conley shouldhave been retained as head football coach. But Sister Phyllis and Moorhead decided they wanted a teacher from within the school to coach the Saints, something Conley was not and Best was.

"We wanted someone who would be right for St. Mary's, someone we could work with andfeel comfortable with," said Sister Phyllis. "We know now we made the right decision."

No question they did because Best has an impeccable reputation as a coach and communicator with students. He has been quite an asset to the school.

Spalding is seeking the same sort of result, also amid controversy. Greg Fuhrman's season-ending resignation sent shock waves through the school, team, and booster club.

Higgins, a graduate assistant at the University of Maryland last year and at Bowie State before that, was hired in part because of his enthusiasm, youth and thirst for work ethic.

What makes the choice intriguing is that Fuhrman had many of the same qualities. It's hard to imagine a high school coach working any harder and putting in the long hours that Fuhrman did and he, too, was young and enthusiastic and never had been

a head coach.

But losing and the pressures that go with it took its toll on him after only two seasons. Fuhrman-coached Cavalier teams were 0-8-1 and 2-9-0, and parents with players onthe team said they threw in the towel after the third game of the season.

Fuhrman pointed to parental pressure and the daily commute home to Westminster in Carroll County as his main reasons for leaving.

There is no question he felt as if he was fighting a losing battle and that all the time in the world couldn't make it happen at Spalding. With a student body of less than 600, only about half of them boys, the numbers situation is not good.

In accepting the position last week, Higgins sounded a lot like Fuhrman that first year.

"I'myoung and I'll work hard," and "I'm just going to work my tail off" are some of the comments Higgins made last week.

"I'm here for onereason and that is to build a tradition of success and excellence inSpalding football, and you do that with hard work," Fuhrman said in his first year, during which he regularly put in 16-hour days.

Fuhrman was optimistic he could turn things around. Higgins feels the same way. "I wouldn't have taken the job if I didn't think we could win," he said.

The difference between the two is that Fuhrman was hired by a committee that didn't include a veteran ex-coach. Higgins wasselected by a committee that included Principal Barbara Schwitzer, Athletic Director Domenic Pachence, faculty member Bert Kiesling and retired Navy assistant coach Steve Belichick.

Fuhrman was the choice primarily of Schwitzer and Pachence.

Higgins was chosen over a few good candidates, including Fred Kaiss, former Southwestern (Baltimore) High coach,. who recently took an assistant's position at MorganState University; Del Hughes, a veteran county assistant at a several schools; Bob Beauchemin, an assistant to Buddy Hepfer at Arundel High; and Tony Brockmeyer, former Archbishop Curley (Baltimore) High coach.

Kaiss really wanted the job and seemed to be an attractive candidate after turning around a 1-27 Southwestern program. The Sabres had two straight winning seasons (6-3 and 6-4) under Kaiss, who resigned after a difference of opinion with the administration.

Teaching near Spalding at the county vo-tech center, Kaiss was convenient, not to mention a successful, respected head coach and former assistantcoach at several county schools.

"I withdrew because I thought their interview process was ridiculous with Belichick harping on all sorts of technical stuff," said Kaiss, who said he fully intended to take the job before being turned off by Belichick. "I told Domenic I didn't want the job because of Belichick.

"He (Belichick) was more interested in my numbering and hole system than my coaching philosophy."

Belichick, who spent nearly 40 years at Navy as an assistant ofsorts, said he was asked by the school to be on the committee because "they wanted someone with football experience, and a professor in our economics department at Navy who has a kid at Spalding, asked me."

"I asked tough, technical questions. I rated Higgins the No. 1 candidate and thought his knowledge was far superior to all the others.I've been around graduate assistants who have gone on to become finehead coaches."

But what about Higgins having no prior head coaching experience?

"Nobody is born with it," Belichick said. "You haveto be a head coach to get it."

That's true, but when a program is19-57-2 in eight seasons and 2-26-1 over the last three years, wouldn't it be wiser to hire a coach who has been there before, such as Kaiss?

"No, I think Higgins has a good grasp of things and is very knowledgeable," said Belichick, who probably had more to do with Higgins being hired than anyone on committee.

Pachence said the school "wanted somebody on the committee who had a lot of football experience and who had nothing to gain."

No question that Belichick had nothing to gain, but the question is will Spalding gain by his recommendation?

Time will tell.