Bellevue head football coach Butch Goncharoff has applied for the same position at Orange Lutheran High School in Orange, Calif.

“I’m fortunate to have the best coach in the state, not just for football, but all sports,” Bellevue Athletic Director Lance Gatter said. “Butch Goncharoff is Bellevue football.”

Goncharoff has led the Wolverines to nine class 3A state titles since 2001, including a pair of four-peats. Bellevue will return some 15 starters from a team that has never finished a season without a state title in 2012.

Orange Lutheran is on the hunt for a new leader of its football program after it was decided in Jan. that longtime coach Jim Kunau would not return as head coach for the 2012 season.

While everyone around the Bellevue program is certainly hoping this is nothing more than an innocent career flirtation, Gatter was adamant that the school will be supportive and accommodating of Goncharoff and his family regardless of the decision that is made.

“We obviously want Butch to be the coach here,” Gatter said. “But if he and his wife decide that (moving to Calif.) is best, we will do anything we can for them.”