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PAWNEE — Pawnee is searching for a new football coach.  

The school district posted the job opening on Friday. Kitt Thein led the program over the past five seasons after a three-year hiatus. He returned to the helm in the team’s first season in the Illinois 8-Man Football Association in 2019.  

He was in charge of the program for a total of 13 years after previously coaching PHS from 2008 until 2015. Tim Kratochvil led Pawnee in the three intervening years before becoming the school district superintendent. 

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This past fall, Pawnee finished 6-5 and upset Milford 58-38 in the first round. Thein did not respond to a phone call on Friday. Interim superintendent Don Burton also did not immediately respond to a phone call on Wednesday afternoon.

But according to a Facebook post and purportedly signed by Thein, the PHS coach stepped down “due to the school’s decision not to rehire (assistant) Coach (Jeff) Nichols and not approving (assistant) Coach (Tomas) Akers return.” 

It continued, “After an exhaustive search no qualified coaches could be found. Without the experience (39 combined years), quality coaching ability, and dedication of countless work hours that Coach Nichols and Coach Akers put into our program, Coach Thein has no recourse but to step down as head coach.” 

The deadline to apply for the coaching vacancy is March 1, according to the school’s website. 

The school board was scheduled to conduct interviews for the superintendent job in a closed-session special meeting on Wednesday evening. Kratochvil passed away in September.