MURPHYSBORO - Bob Stilley was recommended at Tuesday night's Murphysboro School Board meeting as the man to redeem the Red Devils football team.

Murphysboro Athletic Director Len Novara said before the meeting that Stilley was his pick for the head football coach position to succeed Tommie Liggins, who resigned earlier this year to take on a business venture.

The recommendation had to be confirmed by the school board Tuesday night before Stilley was formally offered the position.

Novara said he expected that his recommendation would be accepted by the school board. However, he added that he didn't want to put the cart before the horse and speak in definite terms until the recommendation had been properly reviewed by the board.

Stilley, a 1979 graduate of Murphysboro High School, coached the team as an assistant for a decade, from 1985 to 1995 under Charlie Cottle and Jim Woodward. During his tenure, the team saw better days, going to the playoffs nine out of 11 years. All but one of those years was with Stilley.

After Stilley left, the victories did, too. The Red Devils haven't been to a playoff game since 1996, going 3-24 in Liggins' three seasons. Over the past six years, the team has seen a revolving door in the

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football coach's office.

Three different head coaches have come and gone, robbing the team of the stability needed to make a program produce. In the last six years, Jim Woodward, current Carbondale leader Fred Heinz and Liggins led the Red Devils. Woodward went 5-4 in his last season, Heinz was 1-17 between 2000-2002 and Liggins finished 3-24 from '02-04.

Last year saw an 0-9 season and no junior varsity team. The team gave up 531 points, the worst in the SIRR Ohio Division, and scored a conference low 115 points. The Red Devils lost their starting quarterback, Charlie Weber, for the majority of the season in the season opener against Carbondale. Murphysboro opens the 2005 season Aug. 26 with the Terriers at home.

Stilley declined to comment before the meeting on Tuesday, saying he felt a more professional response was to wait to comment until he had been formally offered the position by the school board.

andrea.hahn@thesouthern.com

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