St. Charles North has long known it would need to hire a new football coach this offseason, but the North Stars aren’t close to pulling the trigger on Mark Gould’s replacement just yet.

Gould, the only coach in program history, is following through on retirement plans at the end of this school year. North remains in the preliminary stages of pinpointing Gould’s replacement, North athletic director Dan Dolney said.

Dolney said this week the job posting would remain open through the IHSA football playoffs, which concludes Thanksgiving weekend. From there, school committee members made up of administrators, coaches and Dolney will begin screening the candidates, with interviews likely to begin shortly after the new year.