Eastern head football coach Bob Spoo is closing in on filling another coaching vacancy for the 2003 season.

Spoo has interviewed two candidates to replace departed defensive secondary coach Edmund Jones, and said he will probably not interview anyone else for the position.

Spoo would not release any names of the candidates he has interviewed, but did say he hopes to have a decision made sometime Thursday.

“Until contracts are signed, I’m not supposed to divulge any names; it’s just they way it is,” Spoo said.

Eastern’s secondary was a problem area for the Panthers in 2002. The Panthers were ranked 111th in the nation among Division I-AA schools this past season in pass efficiency defense, allowing a pass efficiency rating of 141.98. Eastern also allowed 414 yards of offense a game (107th in the nation) and 32.9 points per game (109th in the nation).

The Panthers’ secondary struggled with several injuries forcing younger players onto the field.

Junior All-American strong safety Fred Miller led a group consisting of two seniors, cornerbacks Obinno Coley and Roosevelt Williams, sophomore cornerback Nick Allison, red-shirt freshman strong safety Chad Cleveland and freshman defensive back George Love.

This past season was the second year at Eastern for Jones. His was responsible for recruiting in the St. Louis area and in Chicago’s inner city schools and served as the staff’s contact with professional scouts.

Before coaching at Eastern, Jones was a defensive coordinator in the Arena Football League with the Toronto Phantoms during the summer of 2001 after filling the same position for the New England Sea Wolves in 2000. In 1998 Jones was an assistant coach at Western Illinois, American International College (1999) and Central State, Ohio (1994).

Jones is originally from St. Louis and served as interim head coach at East St. Louis Senior High School in 1995 and assisted with the St. Louis Stampede, also of the Arena League, in 1995 and 1996.