Ball State athletic director Bill Scholl has been reluctant to release names or say how big the candidate pool is for the vacant men’s basketball coaching position, but it’s clear the search is starting to take on a new tone.
Scholl is on the road again this week and said he’s nearing the phase of second interviews with potential replacements for Billy Taylor.
“Clearly there are some candidates that separated themselves, and we want to have another conversation with them,” Scholl said.
Since Taylor was fired on March 14, Scholl has named the Final Four as a tentative ending point for the search.
Scholl said he’s optimistic a coach will be in place soon after the games are completed Saturday.
“I didn’t really specify an end or beginning of [the search], but I pretty much feel like we’re on track to hit that target,” Scholl said.
Scholl will be in Atlanta for this weekend’s games, but said it’s commonplace for the industry to gather there.
He didn’t specify whether he’s going to interview any staff on the competing teams or whether there’s a favorite for the job at this point.
“There was a lot of interest in the job and we really went out of our way to turn over a lot of stones,” Scholl said. “I don’t want to quantify it but a lot of talented people expressed interest and we talked to an awful lot of them.”
