List Pared to Four; UCI Meets Again With Arizona’s Evans

UC Irvine, down to four finalists for its men’s basketball coaching job, has met with Arizona assistant Jessie Evans a second time, sources indicated.

Evans was seen in Orange County on Tuesday, and a Tucson source confirmed to the Arizona Daily Star that Evans returned from a second Irvine interview to attend the Arizona team banquet Tuesday night.

Reached in Tucson on Wednesday, Evans said he last talked to Irvine on Tuesday, and remains in the running. The job had not been offered to him, said Evans, who previously met with Irvine on March 23.

Irvine Athletic Director Tom Ford said Wednesday that the school has narrowed its list of candidates to four, and hopes to name a coach soon, probably Friday.

Jan van Breda Kolff, a Princeton assistant, declined comment when reached in New Jersey on Wednesday, but a source said he is one of the four.

Another candidate, Seton Hall assistant Rod Baker, said Wednesday that Irvine Athletic Director Tom Ford had called him this week, “just to say things are progressing.”

“I’m in the hunt,” Baker said. “I think they’ll have something in the next 48 hours.”

It could not be confirmed who the fourth leading candidate is, and apparently a fifth contender might still remain.

Irvine is seeking to name a replacement to Bill Mulligan, who announced his resignation with five games remaining in the season. The school originally had a target date of April 1, and is seeking to have a coach in place in time to make recruiting efforts before Wednesday, the first day for high school players to sign national letters of intent.

Irvine has met with or interviewed at least nine other candidates: Irvine assistants Mike Bokosky and Ernie Carr, former UCLA coach Walt Hazzard, Notre Dame assistant Matt Kilcullen, Mater Dei High School Coach Gary McKnight, Ventura College Coach Phil Mathews, Villanova assistant John Olive, Washington State Coach Kelvin Sampson and Purdue assistant Bruce Weber.

Sampson said he is no longer considering the job.

Carr, Hazzard, Mathews, McKnight, Olive and Weber said this week that Ford had not approached them about the job since their interviews. An attempt to reach Bokosky was unsuccessful.

Kilcullen declined comment.