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.