Chris Hatcher will not be coming to Kennesaw State.

Murray State athletic director Allen Ward confirmed to WPSD-TV of Paducah, Ky., that Hatcher had turned down the opportunity to become the Owls’ first football coach.

When reached for comment by the Journal on Friday, Kennesaw State athletic director Vaughn Williams said no job offers had been made, but he did say he still expects to hire a coach sometime in the next week.

Hatcher, who has spent the last three years with the Racers after stops at Georgia Southern and Valdosta State — the latter of which led to a Division II national championship — was one of three confirmed finalists for the Kennesaw State job.

With Hatcher’s exit, it leaves a pair of Georgia Tech assistants — Brian Bohannon and Marietta native Andy McCollum — as the only known candidates remaining for the Kennesaw State position.

McCollum, the current linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator for the Yellow Jackets, has coached for 30 years, with additional stops at North Carolina State, Baylor, and UTEP. He has previous head-coaching experience at Middle Tennessee from 1999-2005, leading the Blue Raiders to a Sun Belt Conference championship in 2001 and helping take the program into the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Bohannon, Georgia Tech’s quarterbacks and B-backs coach, has no head-coaching experience, but has been part of Paul Johnson’s coaching staff for the last 17 years at Georgia Southern, Navy and Georgia Tech.

Both coaches fit what Williams has said he wants as Kennesaw State’s first football coach.

“My preference will be someone from Georgia — a native son that has done good work and works well with the student-athletes,” he said last month.

Bohannon is from Griffin and played football at Georgia. McCollum, before going on to play collegiately at Austin Peay, played for Ray Broadaway at Marietta High School in the 1970s.

Kennesaw State’s inaugural football team is scheduled to kick off at Fifth Third Bank Stadium in 2015.