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Step one in the Florida Everblades’ search for a new head coach has been completed.

Team president/general manager Craig Brush said Friday that he hadn’t officially stopped accepting applications, but, “Let’s put it this way, I don’t need any more.”

From his second home in Michigan, where he was taking a short vacation, Brush said he has sent letters to about half of the more than 40 applicants, saying they aren’t good fits.

The Blades’ job became vacant for the first time in seven years when Gerry Fleming announced on April 25 that he would not be returning.

Fleming was Florida’s coach since 2001, leading the team to two Kelly Cup Finals appearances but no championships. He was the winningest coach in the ECHL during that period and hopes to land a job in the AHL next season. The AHL is hockey’s top minor league and directly feeds into the NHL.

Florida’s 2007-08 campaign ended with a first-round playoff sweep at the hands of the Columbia Inferno.

The most obvious candidate for the Blades coaching job is Jason Nobili, Fleming’s assistant head coach for the past four seasons. Nobili has no professional head coaching experience but would like to move into that role as soon as possible. He has applied for head coaching positions during the past two offseasons.

Nobili could not be reached for comment Friday.

Outside of Nobili, with Brush unofficially closing applications, it’s unlikely that Las Vegas coach Glen Gulutzan or Cincinnati coach Chuck Weber will be a candidate. Both Las Vegas and Cincinnati are still in the ECHL playoffs, and it’s unlikely that Gulutzan or Weber had a chance to apply.

But other coaches around the league have expressed interest, including former Texas coach Malcolm Cameron and former Columbia coach Troy Mann. Both Cameron and Mann have said they would be “honored” to be considered for the Blades job.

Cameron, whose Texas team set a league record for fewest regular season losses in 2007-08, has not decided if he wants to accompany the Wildcatters when they relocate to Ontario, Calif., next season. His contract with Texas officially expires at the end of the month.

“When I took over in Texas (in 2006-07), I wanted to model the on-ice product and program after the Everblades,” Cameron said. “Ever since I was an assistant in Columbia, I admired how (the Blades) did things. I’ve never had a hands-on owner/GM (like Craig Brush). That would be unbelievable to have that level of support.”

Mann is also still officially under contract to Columbia, but the Inferno are taking next season off to try and find a new arena. Mann said he’s a bit hesitant to sit out next season, even if the Inferno want him to stay in Columbia with pay.

“Everything is kind of up in the air. ... The deal (for the Inferno to come back in 2009-10) is not 100 percent complete, and if for some reason it doesn’t get completed, it could get complicated,” he said.

“The Florida job is definitely the most intriguing to me right now,” Mann added.

Pensacola coach John Marks, a two-time Kelly Cup winning coach, said the Blades job “has to be considered the premier job in the ECHL.”

Marks is under contract to the Ice Pilots for next season, but Pensacola’s WEAR-TV reported this week that the Ice Pilots were leaving the door open for Marks to find a new situation.

When told of this development, Marks was surprised.

“I wasn’t aware that they were leaving the door open,” he said. “I’d like to make some phone calls and see what’s going on. There’s two sides to that coin — either they don’t really want you, or they’re just being nice and giving you a chance to see what’s out there.”

Phoenix coach Brad Church, who played for the Blades during the 2003-04 season, does not have a contract next year with the Roadrunners and could be a candidate as well. Church declined comment on the Blades’ coaching vacancy.

Outside of the ECHL, other candidates have surfaced. Tony Curtale, a four-time NAHL championship juniors coach, confirmed that he had applied for the Blades job and was very interested.

“I think it’s one of the best coaching jobs in the minors overall,” he said.

P.K. O’Handley, who was an assistant coach with the Blades from their first season in 1998 thru the end of Fleming’s first season in 2002, was mentioned by former Blades star forward Tom Buckley as a potential candidate. But O’Handley’s USHL Waterloo Black Hawks junior team just finished its season May 10, falling to Omaha in the Clark Cup Finals.

O’Handley could not be reached for comment.

Former Dayton Bombers associate coach Derek Clancey could be another candidate. The Bombers upset the Blades last season in the American Conference Finals, and Clancey spent this past season as a pro scout for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Prior to being an assistant for the Bombers, Clancey was head coach of the Jackson Bandits from 1999-2003 and the Reading Royals from 2003-05. He was an assistant with the AHL’s Manchester Monarchs from 2005-06.

While several names have surfaced for the Blades coaching job, with more than 40 applications Brush has even more names to choose from. He said he has received applications from all over the world — including NHL assistants and head European coaches. But Brush also said that a solid understanding of the ECHL is a high priority when he considers who to hire for the Blades’ next head coach — making it likely that his choice will have at least some experience in the league.