The three finalists, listed alphabetically and unranked by the committee, are John Eason, John Hendrick and Earl Holmes. A fourth finalist, Jackson State University Head Coach, Rick Comegy, withdrew his name from contention. He was added as a finalist after his initial application was erroneously omitted from the initial selection pool.
Horne is in the process of conducting on-campus interviews with the candidates. Holmes is scheduled to interview on tomorrow, Friday, Jan. 4. Eason is scheduled to interview on Tuesday, Jan. 8, and Hendrick will interview on Wednesday, Jan. 9.
"We are pleased that the committee, led by Dr. Oriaku, did an excellent job and upheld the integrity of the process. They were diligent, yet swift in their evaluations, as we want to move the process along and name a coach that can get Rattler football back to sustained championship level," Horne said. "We will waste no time in our last stage of evaluations in order to ensure that we do not hamper the ability of our 16th coach to recruit and prepare for the 2013 season," Horne added.
Eason and Holmes are FAMU alumni. Hendrick is an alumnus of the University of Pittsburgh.