PINE BUSH – With the loss of volleyball coach Lori Kachelmeyer due to staff cuts in this year's school budget, the Pine Bush Volleyball program is facing some momentous decisions. The first has been to find a new coach.

Kachelmeyer has gone across the Shawangunks to Liberty, where she will be coaching volleyball from now on. The quest for someone to replace her has received a great deal of attention. That's to be expected when you have a program that has been as successful as Pine Bush Volleyball over the last decade, racking up eight Section IX titles in a row.

However, the opportunity presented by such an opening also brings out competitive behaviors among those with an interest in the program. That has meant that every step taken by the district has been subject to discussion and criticism.

Superintendent of Schools Phil Steinberg became involved, because as he says, "When the Board hired me, they told me they wanted to reach out whenever there is a position like this to fill. So, instead of just looking inside the district, or inside a program, they wanted to be sure that we looked at every possible candidate."

To that end, Steinberg asked Athletic Director Harold Fried to set up a committee to search for Kachelmeyer's replacement. The first action was to place advertisements in the Times Herald Record for a Volleyball Coach. The ads brought in ten applications. Five of these were chosen as "serious applicants." The others were discarded because they sought a teaching position in addition to the volleyball coaching post.

Fried noted that the pool of candidates was limited and that one of the five candidates will not be available for an interview until August. "While it's always good to search as widely as possible," said Fried, "there are advantages to having in-house people as candidates. They know the program and the athletes. So, based on all other things being equal they can be the best candidates."

The committee was initially composed of seven members, but then pressures arose and it began to spin out of control. Steinberg described the process.

"People felt they wanted to add two more to the committee. So now there were nine. And then other people spoke up and they wanted to balance the committee, and they brought in a few more parents. So it was up to 15. That's too large a group to work productively. So we cancelled the committee and now myself and Harold Fried will be interviewing all the candidates sometime before the next board meeting."

That meeting is on July 28 (7:30 p.m. at the Administration offices in Pine Bush).

Everyone involved in Pine Bush Volleyball is hoping that a decision will be made by then, so the new coach can be ready for the August 17 start to the season.