End isnear for coaching search ; UW officials weren't making cross-country flights last week to go sight-seeing; they were interviewing potential men's basketball coaches.

It seems like the coaching search that will never end.

But as the search for a new University of Wyoming men'sbasketball coach begins its seventh week on Monday, the end is near.

When the school president accompanies the athletics director andother athletics department officials to opposite ends of the countryvia airplane, it isn't to go sight-seeing or accrue frequent flyermiles.

That's what happened this past week when UW President TomBuchanan flew to Virginia with athletics director Tom Burman andassociate athletics director Matt Whisenant to talk with OldDominion coach Blaine Taylor. Later in the week those three, andassociate athletics director Kevin McKinney, flew to Eugene, Ore.,to talk to another candidate, which was believed to be St. John'sassistant Mike Dunlap.

UW is now in the mode where it is talking face-to-face withpeople they either want or believe to be worthy of the job. Manyfeel this should have and could have been done long ago. But thetiming is about right for the type of candidates UW wants for thisjob.

There were 26 Division I men's basketball coaching vacancies asof Saturday afternoon, and in just the past week programs likeTennessee (fired) and Missouri (went to Arkansas) lost coaches.

There are coaches out there that would take the UW job right nowif they were offered, no questions asked. For some, UW might betheir dream job. For others, it might be a step up the coachingladder.

That might be the case with the next UW coach, but that alsodoesn't mean that's the person Burman and Buchanan should go after.

Just because UW isn't bringing in candidates to Laramie tointerview for the job doesn't mean no one wants it. That perceptionseems to be out there right now. Instead of bringing people in, UWis going to them.

Some look at that as desperation and uncertainty.

In this day in age, it's part of the process.

Most coaches don't want their names mentioned in the newspapersor over the air as being candidates for other jobs. Some fear fortheir own job security if that happens and others don't want tojeopardize considerations for other jobs. Some fear it will hurtfuture recruiting efforts. There

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are myriad reasons.

It's hard to feel sorry for them when they're being consideredfor jobs that pay six to seven figures, often from publicinstitutions where taxpayer money is involved (like UW). Perhapsit's even more reason to follow these movements.

It's harder to keep things private - whether you are the coachbeing sought, or the school doing the looking - in the Internet agewhere you can follow flight plans from your cell phone.

Some schools bring candidates to their campus for interviews. Butmore often than not, when a prospective new coach arrives on campusfor the first time it's for an introductory press conference.

That's what will happen with UW and its next men's basketballcoach.

Perhaps the next coach will come in the night before and a pressconference will be scheduled for the next day. But in between iswhen contracts are signed, paperwork is filled out and a lot of thebehind-the-scenes works is done.

UW doesn't look like it's going after the guy that dreamed ofbeing the Cowboys' coach since he was a kid, or when he first gotinto the business. That doesn't mean Burman and Buchanan can'tconvince whoever they're after that this is a good job. You have togo out and sell yourself, and that's what's happening now.

It just took longer to happen because UW fired coach HeathSchroyer on Feb. 7. Based on the candidates that have shown interestin the job to this point, this stage of the process wouldn't havehappened much sooner.

And if guys like Taylor and Dunlap have taken the time to listento UW, that's a good sign because if they didn't have the slightestbit of interest they wouldn't have wasted the time talking to theschool. Not with a handful of jobs considered comparable or evenbetter than UW's currently available position.

Nor would have Burman and Buchanan gone to them.

Fans are getting impatient, and many have been for weeks. Afterwaiting this long, don't you want UW to get it right?

Like the saying goes, good things come to those who wait.Hopefully the wait will be worth it for everyone who has an interestin UW men's basketball.

Robert Gagliardi is the editor of WyoSports. Call him at 633-3130, or e-mail him at rgagliardi@wyosports.net. For more on Wyomingand Mountain West Conference sports see his blog atwww.wyomingcowboysblog.com, and follow him on Twitter atwww.twitter.com/rpgagliardi.