GULF SHORES, Ala. — When former Gulf Shores head football coach Mark Freeman left the school after two seasons to fill the same position at rival Spanish Fort last month, Gulf Shores principal Ernie Rosado knew he had to find the right person to replace him.

Freeman led the Dolphins to their first playoff win in school history in his first season and Rosado knew he would be tough to replace.

"Once I got the notification from the other coach (Freeman) I said 'Okay, now my job is to take care of Gulf Shores High School," Rosado said.

Rosado believes that Ben Blackmon is the right man for the job.

Blackmon, the former four-year head coach at 5A Greenville High School and former assistant under Spence McCracken at Opelika, will begin his tenure as head coach and athletic director at Gulf Shores on Monday.

In order to find the right coach Rosado, together with Dolphin Athletic Club president Paul Martin, put together a hiring committee of 10 people involved with the GSHS football program. He gave the all-volunteer committee a package with timelines, goals and characteristics he wanted in a coach.

"I told them we were going to move quickly, but that if we don't have the right person we are going to wait until the right person gets here," Rosado said. "We couldn't wait six months, but we weren't going to just jump and hire someone."

Blackmon was chosen out of a stack of 120 applications from coaches from as far away as Alaska and Vermont. Of those 120 applications, nine coaches were chosen for formal, one-hour interviews with the full search committee. The committee recommended three coaches, including Blackmon, to Rosado, who then interviewed each coach individually. Loyalty and trustworthiness were qualities he was looking for in a coach.

"Coach Blackmon told me he wanted a better quality of life and a better place to raise his family," Rosado said. "He and his wife have two young children and another due in September."

Rosado said Blackmon brought his wife to the interview with him, something that other candidates did not do.

In four years at Greenville Blackmon went 31-14 with a 5A Region 3 championship and undefeated regular season in 2009. His 2009 team also scored a school record 459 points and reached the second round of the 5A playoffs.