After the termination of men’s head basketball coach MikeDement on Feb. 27, SMU Athletic Director Jim Copeland and a15-person committee began interviewing several candidates to find asuccessor.

Copeland and the committee have their eyes on include JimmyTubbs of Oklahoma, Doug Wojcik of Michigan State, Norm Roberts ofKansas and John Treloar of Indiana.

Copeland has received many resumes from other candidates,including Lincoln High School coach Leonard Bishop.

With the beginning of the NCAA and NIT playoffs the selectionprocess may face a delay.

With coaches such as James Dickey, an assistant coach atOklahoma State University, Roberts and Treloar, whose teams arestill in the playoffs, SMU may have to wait until the NCAAcompetitions are over before interviewing the ideal new coach.

Although Copeland will not provide a list of potentialcandidates, he has been imprssed with the credentials of thecandidates he has met with so far.

After Copeland’s initial conversations with potentialcoaches, he brought together a committee to help him narrow thefield of qualified applicants.

The committee, which includes a diverse group of SMU trustees,faculty, staff and student-athletes, interviews candidates at anundisclosed location in order to keep this matter confidential.

“We don’t know anything,” junior player EricCastro said.

“We are just lifting weights and playing pick-up on ourown time,” he said.

At this time the committee has no comment on the progress.

According to the players, the list of candidates changeseveryday, but Copeland’s committee plans to narrow the listto two or three finalists by Friday.

The Mustangs continue the off-season under the direction of theinterim head coach Robert Lineburg.

As far as the team goes there isn’t much it can do or sayabout the current situation.

Like fans, they have no choice but to wait for a decision thatis ultimately up to Copeland and the committee.

“I’m anxious to see who they bring in,”sophomore player Brian Miller said.

“I want to see what plans the new coach will have and howwe can change things up,” he said.