SUNBURY -- After 24 seasons and six state championships, Southern Columbia head football coach Jim Roth may be ready to move on.

And, if he does, there is only one high school that could lure him away from the house that Roth built.

Roth has applied for the opening at his alma mater, Shikellamy. The position, held the last four seasons by fellow alumnus Marlin Persing, was opened by the school board last month and applications are being accepted until Dec. 15. The next regularly scheduled meeting of the school board is Jan. 10, which, barring a special meeting, would be the earliest that action would be taken.

Shikellamy district superintend Dr. Alan Lonoconus said that as of Friday, six applications had been received, and there were a few telephone inquiries about the position.

"That is the only position I have applied for and I always had that in the back of my mind that it would be a place I would consider because of being an alumnus," Roth said Friday.

Nevertheless, Roth has not yet decided if he will leave Southern Columbia, the only place he has coached and where he has compiled a 282-46-2 record, including 16 consecutive District 4 Class A titles from 1991 through 2006. If offered the Shikellamy job, he admitted it will be a tough decision.

"Loyalty has always been a big thing to me. That's why I have been here as long as I have been," he said.

"There is never a good time to leave, but with this (upcoming Southern) senior class, and my cousin's boy, Steve (Roth) is going to be a senior and a couple other people who are very active in the booster club, next year would be a difficult (senior) class to leave behind," he said.

"But, when you are in a program this long and see kids on a daily basis, there is never an easy year to make the move. It's one of those things where I am going to look at it closer when I know what I have in front of me," he said. "I keep going back and forth even now, when I don't know the specifics of the position and the salary. Until I know all that, I am not going to be able to make a real educated decision," he said.

Roth has previously applied at Shikellamy and the only other place he applied during his career at Southern was Lock Haven University, also his alma mater. He confirmed that he will not apply for the vacancy at Lycoming College, where longtime coach Frank Girardi announced his retirement this week.

Roth did say that he would not take a coaching job at Shikellamy without a teaching position. Roth is a physical education teacher at Southern.

He said that some people might think he would want to leave Southern now because the team didn't have the same level of success last season (9-2; lost to Line Mountain in the district semifinals). But, he said, he actually sees that as a negative in considering whether to leave. "I think that is one of the things that kind of gives me some influence on coming back, because we didn't have as successful a year," he said.

Roth also said some people would question why a coach would want to take over a program that is really down. Shikellamy has had just one winning season (6-5 in 2003) in the last 24 years. Roth sees that as the best time to take a job.

"Sometimes it is a lot easier to go into a situation like that, where there is not a whole lot of pressure because the program has been down. It is an easier transition in terms of not having to meet certain expectations," he added.

Roth said the one thing that Shikellamy, or any program, should have in order to make it easier for success is a coach who is in the school.

"It needs a full-time, hands-on approach. That's what's missing right now," he said. "The program is struggling and they need to try to keep the younger kids involved who have had some success."

Roth said that once the application deadline is over and he knows where he stands, it will be time to sit down and go over all aspects of the situation.

He also said, "I guess it comes down to seeing what the school here is willing to do as far as what I would call upgrading my position, not just because I have the potential to go somewhere for a better salary, but, as far as I am concerned, we are coming into a new era here with the schedule we have next year."

After winning the Central Susquehanna Conference Division II championship every year but two since its inception in 1994, the Tigers join the new Heartland Conference in 2008 with the CSC being dissolved.

"It is not going to be an easy situation. We are locked into what we are doing for two years," he said.

He noted that next year will be the first of two under the PIAA's new classifications and the Tigers will play only one Class A team, Bloomsburg -- which is playing Saturday in the state semifinals.

"We are adding Milton, Jersey Shore, Selinsgrove and Montoursville, plus keeping most of the better teams on our schedule. On top of that, we have four or five other teams in Class A that we have no control over because they don't play in our conference. We could lose a couple of games and get blocked out of the playoffs, and that is a major issue I feel we are confronted with right now," Roth said.

He said Milton will probably get better, Jersey Shore is going to be much improved next year and Selinsgrove and Montoursville are perennially strong. "It's a huge bump in our schedule. Many of the teams in our area are gradually increasing their overall playing and they are raising the bar. Everyone is playing at a higher level."

Using what happened this season in District 3 Class A as an example, Roth said a change in the playoff structure is needed. District 3 and District 4 each have about the same number of teams, yet D3 gets 8 teams in its tournament and D4 only four. Upper Dauphin, with one win, made the D3 field this season.

"We could have two losses and not make the playoffs and we shouldn't have to worry about making the playoffs with seven or eight wins, and then a team with one win gets in," he said. "The PIAA is determined to keep this district format for football and it doesn't work."

Roth said several other states have gone to a regional system for football playoffs. He said he would like to see every district get two automatic berths and then regionalize it, with the other six spots based on record and points.

"It would at least give us a better opportunity than locking us in our district with only four spots," he said.

Roth is currently the second vice president for District 4 in the state football coaches association and is in line to become the state association president in a couple of years. "One of my goals is to get some type of equity (in the playoffs)," he said.

That might prove to be as difficult a challenge as reviving the Shikellamy program.