Multiple sources have told me that East Central University (OK) head coach Ja Havens will be the choice as the new head basketball coach at Northeastern State University (OK).

Havens, an Oklahoma native, played at NSU (1996-98), and also worked as a GA there (1999-2001). He has spent the past eight seasons as the head coach at ECU, where he has put together a 131-74 (.639) record. Havens has also been an assistant at Tulsa, and was on the staff at Drury University when they captured the 2013 NCAA D2 National Championship. He would replace Mark Downey who became the head coach at Arkansas Tech back at the end of April.

The other finalists for the job were current assistant NSU Nathan Kennedy, a head coach from the Great American Conference, and a head coach from the Gulf South Conference.

An official announcement is expected early next week.