Athletic Director Steve Bilsky speaks out on coaching search

I, along with 2 colleagues, sat down with Mr. Bilsky this afternoon to talk Penn hoops, the coaching search, and a little bit about what Cornell's run means to him.

By far the most newsworthy note of our conversation was that Bilsky told us the candidate pool has been narrowed down to 9 people, a stark contrast to rumors saying that interim-coach Jerome Allen has the job locked up.

Bilsky said that while there is no timetable for announcing the next coach, the process is in its "final stages".

He also offered a breakdown of the 9 candidates experience saying that:

6 are Division I head coaches
1 is a DI assistant coach
2 are from the "professional ranks" — the NBA

We'll be putting together a package of hoops related coverage for Monday's (and the rest of the week's) paper, so look out for that.

In the meantime, speculate away.