Ventura’s Mathews to Miss Final Four : Basketball: Coach, who led Pirates to state championship, no longer in running for Division I job at Cal Poly SLO.

Ventura College men’s basketball Coach Philip Mathews said Thursday he is not one of the finalists for the vacant coaching position at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Mathews, also the Ventura athletic director, said Cal Poly athletic officials spoke to him about the job but didn’t call him for a follow-up interview.

“They came down and talked to me but that’s it,” Mathews said. “That was a couple of weeks ago, before the (NCAA) Final Four.”

Cal Poly has released a list of four candidates who are in the running for the position. They are Rusty Blair, the men’s coach at Cuesta College; Bobby Castagna, a UC Santa Barbara assistant and former Valley College coach; Doug Oliver, a Stanford assistant, and Jeff Schneider, a Washington State assistant.

John McCutcheon, the Cal Poly athletic director, was conducting interviews Thursday and was unavailable for comment. But Jason Sullivan of the school’s sports information department said other finalists will be announced in the next few days and the new coach could be named by next week.

Cal Poly fired Steve Beason after last season. The Mustangs were 1-26 in their first season in Division I and finished 0-6 in the four-team American West Conference, of which Cal State Northridge is a member. Beason coached Cal Poly for nine seasons, the first eight in Division II.

Mathews guided Ventura to the junior college state title in March, his second since taking over the program in 1985. The Pirates reached the State championship game the past three seasons.