Prep football: Southeast head coaching job down to four finalists

The field to replace Paul Maechtle as Southeast's head football coach has been narrowed down to four - three local candidates and another whose name should be familiar to area football fans.

MATT KITCHIE - A Southeast alum won won a state title as a player, Kitchie coached wide receivers and quarterbacks under Maechtle before taking over Saint Stephen's football rebirth in 2006. Kitchie left the Falcons in 2009 to take over head coaching duties at Land O'Lakes, but there was a parting of the ways there after an off-the-field incident involving one of his players. He has been the head coach at Tampa Leto since 2011, where he also teaches. Kitchie earned a master's degree from Eastern Kentucky and was an assistant coach and graduate assistant there in 2005-06.

BRIAN MCKNIGHT - McKnight has been on Southeast's coaching staff since 1992 and has been the defensive coordinator since 2007 and linebackers coach since 2010. McKnight was the assistant offensive line coach from 1992-98 before becoming the defensive line coach in '99. He also coached track and weightlifting at Southeast, and has been a teacher there since '99.

BRETT TIMMONS - Another Southeast graduate, Timmons has been Out-of-Door Academy's head coach since the school started a football program in 2006. He is also the school's athletic director. A member of the Noles' back-to-back state championship teams in 1993 and '94, Timmons continued his playing career at Tulane and was a member of its 1998 undefeated team. Timmons was a training camp intern with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Miami Dolphins, and earned a NFL Minority Coaching Fellowship with the Indianapolis Colts in 2004. Timmons also served as a graduate assistant at Clemson and was Palmetto's defensive coordinator in 2005.

JOHN WARREN - Warren is looking to return to Southeast's program after he became the head coach at Massac County High in Metropolis, Ill., last season. Warren coached the quarterbacks and receivers with the Seminoles in 2012, and also served as an assistant baseball coach. Warren was also an assistant varsity coach at Cypruss Christian in Texas, where he was also the head middle school coach, from 2009-12, and was also an assistant at Fairfield Community High in Illinois in 2006.