MARBLEHEAD – Marblehead High School football coach Doug Chernovetz can still reapply for his job – even though he has indicated that he will not.Principal John Ziergiebel confirmed Tuesday that he has recommended to Marblehead school superintendent Dr. G. Paul Dulac that Chernovetz’s position be opened up.”He is expected to act on that recommendation by the end of the week,” Ziergiebel said. “We need to finish the process. Until we do, I cannot comment any further.”Chernovetz said Monday night that the reason he was given for the principal’s recommendation was that he was “too intense.” Ziergiebel would not elaborate on anything Chernovetz said regarding his apparent dismissal, but stressed that he was not casting aspersions on his integrity.”I want people to know that we respect Doug’s integrity very much,” Ziergiebel said. “I don’t want people to think that there was any type of incident that led up to this,” adding that Chernovetz’ record is clean.Beyond that, Ziergiebel said, “I don’t want to discuss personnel decisions out of deference to the people involved.”Chernovetz’s tenure in Marblehead has been rocky. Last year, he was taken to court by the parents of a player whom he allegedly confronted in such a way that the student claimed he felt unsafe at the school.The player, Timothy Morris, transferred to St. Mary’s, played for coach Matt Durgin, and will graduate this spring. The case itself is still making its way through the court system.In an act resulting from the Morris case, Chernovetz was suspended for two games at the beginning of this season for chewing tobacco in the presence of his players – a violation of Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association rules.This past fall, Marblehead’s first winning season since 1992, two players were suspended for the last two games of the season for violating MIAA substance abuse rules. The team lost both of those games, but the Thanksgiving game at Swampscott, the 100th game in the series between the two teams, went down to the wire with Swampscott winning 21-13, advancing its playoff hopes.Coaches whose positions are opened up are not automatically dismissed, and Ziergiebel stressed that point Tuesday, saying that Chernovetz was free to reapply for the job.However, similar instances where incumbent’ positions have been opened by their administrations have, in just about every case, resulted in the coach not being rehired.Three years ago, longtime Swampscott baseball coach Frank DeFelice’s position was opened up and he was not rehired. Neither was Ed Nizwantowski of Peabody, who had both his football and baseball positions opened; nor Ron Bennett of Lynn English, whose basketball position was opened up three years ago.