A few familiar names are on the lists as Jonathan Alder searches for new head coaches in football and girls basketball.
The positions came open earlier this spring.
Head football coach Brett Glass stepped down to take over the same position at Dublin Jerome High School.
Steve Cawley resigned after four successful seasons leading the Lady Pioneer hoop squad.
Interim athletic director Mark Fenik told the Journal-Tribune that a total of 44 candidates applied for the football position.
The girls roundball job drew the interest of 18.
Fenik said the football position is down to eight finalists and that the new coach could be hired within the “next day or two.”
Among those finalists is former Marysville and Fairbanks head coach Morgan Cotter.
Cotter, who is currently an assistant coach at Ohio Wesleyan University, took both the Monarchs and Panthers to the state playoffs during his tenure with those programs.
The state playoffs are familiar to the Pioneers.
Glass, who guided JA to a 58-17 record during seven seasons, took the program to the post-season five times.
At one point, Alder earned 10 consecutive playoff berths under head coaches Barry Blackstone and Steve Coate.
JA graduates and brothers Kyle and Joel Cutler have also applied for the gridiron post.
Kyle Cutler is the current head coach at London High School.
Joel Cutler serves in the same capacity at Columbus Bishop Ready. He formerly was the head coach at Upper Arlington High School.
Fenik said the girls basketball position has been narrowed to five finalists.
Ryan McClain, who formerly was a boys assistant coach at Fairbanks and Jonathan Alder, is one of the finalists.
Another is Jeff Squires, who served as the Fairbanks boys head coach from the mid 1980s until the early 1990s.
The new head coach will follow Cawley, who guided the Lady Pioneers to the Division II district championship contest the past three seasons.
Jonathan Alder won the district crown during the 2019-20 campaign.
Cawley led the Lady Pioneers to a 67-29 record during his tenure.
“We have completed our first-round interviews for the girls basketball position,” said Fenik.
“We will be setting up second-round interviews once we are finished hiring the football coach.”