EASLEY — Easley High School is looking for a new head football coach, and the Easley Touchdown Club is looking for ways to support the school’s efforts.

Jack Drawdy, president of the ETC, sent out an email last week to club members asking them to contact members of the board of trustees for the School District of Pickens County, asking them to support the efforts of EHS principal Dr. Danny Merck and EHS athletic director Chris Carter to put together a package that will be more attractive to experienced coaches who may apply for the job.

The club wants the board consider an alternative teaching schedule to make up for a likely unattractive financial package.

“And, as most of you are aware, the Pickens County financial compensation is well below what most AAAA coaches currently make,” Drawdy wrote in his letter. “While this is something harder to address, the teaching schedule is not.”

Drawdy said that making such a change would not only make Easley more competitive in its job search, it could also be looked upon as investment.

“Success in the football program means more money for the entire athletic department,” Drawdy said. “The continued lack of success costs us more money every year, which forces Coach Carter and Dr. Merck to make choices that they should not have to make for our young athletes.”

The Easley Touchdown Club has long said that money it uses to support the football program allows the school to use the money the program generates to support other non-profit sports.

Drawdy said that despite the poor fortunes of the football team for the past few years, he and his fellow club members are optimistic about the future.

“We have so much going in the right direction now,” Drawdy wrote. “We have the best two peole running this program in Coach Carter and Dr. Merck that we could possibly have. The new school and the fundraising support of the ETC have got to be very attractive to the right individual. We need to keep the momentum going by hiring the best person for the job, just as we did for the principal and athletic director positions.”

Drawdy said the changes in teaching schedule would merely match what is available at most AAAA and AAA schools across the state. Failure to allow such changes could lead Easley and other county schools at a disadvantage for many years to come.

“The time to act is now,” Merck wrote. “This is an opportunity that we have to take seriously.”