With the start of practice less than a month away, Flathead moved one step closer to naming a boys basketball coach Tuesday afternoon.

The Braves announced Jeff Epperly, Ross Gustafson and Skip Schroeder as the three finalists to replace longtime coach Fred Febach, who resigned last month.

The Epperly name is one of the most recognizable in region sports, with fingerprints all over local basketball and track and field. Jeff is the eldest son of Montana Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee Bill Epperly, who led the Braves basketball team from 1979-1993 and still coaches the school’s high jumpers. A three-sport star in high school, Jeff thrived under his father’s tuteledge on the court in the early 1980s, posting two of the 10 highest-scoring single seasons in school history. He then went on to play basketball at Montana State where he led the Bobcats in scoring as a sophomore and totaled more than 1,200 points in his career.

Jeff’s sister, Julie, played basketball at the University of Montana after graduating from Flathead, and his brother, Jim, is the former head boys basketball coach at Bigfork. Jim’s son, Evan, was a three-sport athlete at Glacier and now plays football at the University of Montana.

Gustafson has been a member of the Flathead coaching staff for the last three seasons under Febach, most recently serving as the junior varsity head coach. Gustafson is a math teacher at Flathead and also assists with the football program. A native of Cut Bank, Gustafson played basketball at Carroll College and was an assistant coach at Missoula Hellgate High School before moving to Kalispell.

Schroeder has served as a basketball assistant coach the last several seasons at Columbia Falls High School, working with the Wildkats girls team this past year. A former college coach, Schroeder was an assistant for the men’s and women’s teams at Montana Western, his alma mater. Schroeder is originally from Great Falls and won a pair of state championships as a player at Great Falls High School.

All three finalists will be interviewed Thursday by a committee comprised of Flathead principal Peter Fusaro, Activities Director Bryce Wilson, football coach Kyle Samson, District 5 school board member Mary Ruby and Dr. Kim Stimpson. At the time of Febach’s resignation, Wilson said the Braves planned to have a new coach in place by the end of October.

The committee reviewed “nearly 10” applications for the position, according to a press release. Because no full-time teaching position is available within the district, the candidate pool was limited to those within the local area.

Febach spent 12 years as the Braves’ head coach, leading Flathead to the state championship game in 2012. The Braves have gone just 22-41 in the past three seasons including a 4-17 record last year.