List of Candidates for Hart Football Job Dwindles to 2

The number of candidates for the vacant Hart High football job was narrowed to two Tuesday after interim Coach Tim Azevedo and Bill Redell, a former coach at Crespi, withdrew as candidates.

Left in the hunt to replace Dave Carson, who was forced to resign July 20, are Bellflower Coach Mike Herrington, a former Hart assistant, and Chuck Lyon, an assistant at Pasadena City College. Hart Principal Laurence Strauss said that he wants to select a coach by Thursday, the last day of the team’s summer schedule. Southern Section teams can begin two-a-day drills Aug. 21.

Timing is the reason Azevedo, 31, has withdrawn as a candidate, he said. He was the team’s defensive coordinator last season and will serve as interim coach until Thursday.

“This is a good school and the job is a great opportunity, but the time crunch doesn’t make it a good career move for me,” Azevedo said. “I don’t want my ego of wanting to be a head coach to get in the way of making a smart decision.”

Redell, who coached at Crespi for five seasons through last fall, said that conflicts with his job as an insurance salesman prohibited him from taking the position.

“I would really like to do it because it’s one of the top two or three programs in the San Fernando Valley,” he said. “With me commuting an hour there and back and devoting time to my business, I wouldn’t be fair to the program. They need a coach on a full-time basis who will be on campus.”

It might be difficult for Hart to find an on-campus coach. Strauss said the school has no openings for a physical education teacher and that he might hire a walk-on coach. Carson, who teaches physical education and health classes, will be retained by the school for at least one year.

Herrington and Lyon both have connections with Hart. Lyon lives in the Santa Clarita Valley and Herrington has worked with his brothers Dean and Rick as Hart assistant coaches. Dean applied for the job last year after Rick Scott resigned to take the job at Buena High, but Herrington left the school after Strauss chose Carson.

Herrington, with his two brothers working as assistants, led Bellflower to an 8-3 record and a third-place finish in the Suburban League. The Buccaneers lost in the first round of the playoffs, but 1988 marked their first postseason appearance in six years.