The University of West Florida has narrowed their list of finalists for their vacant men’s basketball position to four. This has been one of the more unusual searches in recent memory…….

If you’ve been following the saga, UWF released the names of all 144 applicants, which upset a lot of people (http://www.hoopdirt.com/blog/a925a3d9/west-florida-applicant… ). They narrowed it down to ten two weeks ago (http://www.hoopdirt.com/blog/a8296534/west-florida-cuts-144-… ) and now appear to be in the final stage. Here’s where it gets a little odd again – all four candidates will have the chance to meet the public in four separate community receptions. They will be hour long sessions for each candidate beginning on Wednesday. I guess not a bad idea to do this, but a bit unusual. It’s great that they want the public involved, but will they have any type of input as to the final decision? Nice idea to meet the community, but does it matter in the end? I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Here are the four finalists and their meeting times:

Bob Stinnett, former head coach, Pensacola (Wednesday 7/8)

Greg Zimmerman, head coach, Alderson-Broaddus College (7/13)

Jim Boone, head coach, Tusculum College (7/14)

Happy Osborne Jr., head coach, Georgetown College (7/15)

It looks like a good group to choose from – the one thing that stands out is that they are all current or former head coaches. There were a number of DI assistants who got involved here, but they didn’t make the final cut. Obviously the head coaching experience is important to the UWF administration.

If anyone in the area attends any of these receptions, please let us know. I’d be very curious to hear about the format.