Weber job attractive

OGDEN — It's been nearly three weeks since Weber State fired Joe Cravens as its basketball coach.

In that time, Wildcats athletics director Jerry Graybeal has received 22 formal applications via the school's human resources department for the vacant job and plans to interview four of those candidates this weekend. Another applicant, former Utah assistant and current Indiana assistant Kerry Rupp, has called to express his interest in the job, but Graybeal said he will not interview anyone who is coaching a team still active in postseason tournaments.

"This weekend, the search committee took a look at all those applications and pared things down," Graybeal said. "We weighed the criteria we had and scored them. That helped us eliminate some people that really didn't meet what we were looking for."

The position, Graybeal said, has drawn considerable attention from candidates inside the state. Though he wouldn't identify those seeking the job, coaches such as UVSC coach Dick Hunsaker, Snow College coach Roger Reid and Dixie State coach Jon Judkins are expected to be among those interviewed in the next week or two.

Hunsaker and Reid, the former head coach at BYU, are both former WSU players.

As luck would have it, Rupp's Indiana team was sent to Salt Lake City for the NCAA tournament and Graybeal said that may facilitate an informal meeting.

Graybeal said he hopes to have a head coach hired before the NCAA Final Four.

"We'll probably bring in a few more guys next week and have something done a week after that," he said. "I think that will give them a chance to get a staff hired and start recruiting."

Graybeal said prior experience as a successful Division I head coach will make a candidate attractive, but is not a requirement for the job.

"That's not ultimately the bottom line," he said. "But it helps. Having that experience, well, you'd have to weigh that for what it's worth."

One potential candidate for the job, Westminster College's Tommy Connor, recently interviewed for the vacant job at Idaho State. The Griffins are playing at the NAIA national tournament this week, though, and Connor does not currently have an interview scheduled with Weber State.

The Big Sky Conference is seeing a good deal of coaching turnover this season. In addition to the Weber State and Idaho State jobs, Montana State coach Mick Durham announcing his retirement this week and Big Sky newcomer Northern Colorado is also looking for a new coach. Idaho, a comparable program in the WAC, is also searching for a new coach.

"I think we have the best opportunity available," Graybeal said. "We have the best resources, the best facility, the best history. I think we're as good a place as there is in the area."

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