Eastern director of athletics Rich McDuffie is using the biggest show in college basketball to get some work done.

McDuffie and men’s basketball coaching search committee chair Bud Fischer will be traveling to St. Louis and be involved in interview sessions with the semi-final candidates.

McDuffie refused to comment on the number or specific names of the semi-finalists but did say that he was surprised by the number of qualified candidates.

“I’d assume there was 50 to 100 applications and the committee did a great job processing what we felt were the qualified candidates,” McDuffie said.

The Eastern coaching candidates heading to the Final Four include Creighton assistant Greg Gresing, Nebraska assistant Doug Novsek, Marquette assistant Jeff Strohm, Illinois-Chicago assistant Mark Coomes and Florida A&M head coach Mike Gillespie.

“I think the one key is who of these people are a fit at Eastern,” Fischer said. “That is something you can’t evaluate on paper.”

Grensing was the only candidate to confirm that he is scheduled to meet with McDuffie and Bud Fischer.

“I’m hoping to meet with them, but I don’t have an idea of what specifically we will be discussing,” Grensing said.

McDuffie used the person he hired as the Panthers women’s basketball coach as an example of what may impress him.

“Brady Sallee sold himself on his leadership qualities, and that’s why we knew he was our guy,” McDuffie said.

McDuffie did state that he and the rest of the athletic department are starting to recognize the pressure in making the correct choice for the most notable vacancy in his 8-year tenure at Eastern.

“I think the pressure is within ourselves because it is a matter of finding the right person in order to create life into the program,” McDuffie said.

Illinois assistant Jay Price was interested in the position but McDuffie stated that he would be leery to include last minute candidates even if their season was still going. Therefore, it is unclear whether or not Price is a semi-finalist.

“I’ve said that the position is open till it is filled, but we’d have to evaluate if that kind of person would break into this semi-final group,” McDuffie said.

Once the Final Four is over and one team is cutting down the nets, McDuffie and Fischer will compile a list of finalists that will be released to the public next week in the form of open sessions.

“We would like to bring them in next week and show them the campus along with introduce them to the other members of the department,” McDuffie said.

It would be that next week where Eastern will likely name its newest leader of the men’s basketball program.

“We need to move quickly on this process but we are going to make sure this is the right guy,” McDuffie said.