Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw continues to interview more candidates to replace Hall of Famer John Chaney as coach of the Owls men's basketball program.
But according to several reports, Penn coach Fran Dunphy is still the frontrunner.
An unnamed source told The Philadelphia Inquirer that Penn's coach met with Bradshaw on Friday.
This contradicts a story in the Philadelphia Daily News, which reported earlier this week that the two parties met on Tuesday. The Daily News has admitted that this previous report was incorrect.
Dunphy would not comment on the situation.
Others reported to have already interviewed for the Temple job include top Owls assistant coach Dan Leibovitz (a 1996 Penn graduate), Drexel coach James "Bruiser" Flint, former Owls assistant Dean Demopoulous (currently on the staff of the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers) and former Temple guard Rick Brunson (currently a guard on the Houston Rockets).
Another report in the Daily News said that Bradshaw has also conducted two interviews with former Southern California coach Henry Bibby.
Meanwhile, one newspaper -- the Schenectady Daily Gazette, of upstate New York -- is reporting that Dunphy is telling friends that he expects to be offered the job and that he plans on accepting it.
No other sources or reports could confirm this.
Should he take the job, the list of frontrunners to replace Dunphy is shrinking.
That's because Fran McCaffery, a former Penn assistant and player who is now the head coach at Siena, has signed a contract extension to stay in New York's capital region.
The five-year deal has no "escape clauses" that would allow him to leave for Penn without financial penalties, something that was in his original contract with Siena.
"I am very excited to be committed to Siena College," McCaffery said in a statement. "My staff and I will continue to work hard to build a championship-caliber program and I am very thankful to everyone who supports our program and helped make this possible."
Should the Penn job open up top choices include Brown's Glen Miller, Cornell's Steve Donahue and Lafayette's Fran O'Hanlon.
It is unclear, however, whether O'Hanlon -- who, like Donahue, is one of Dunphy's former assistants -- would be interested in the Penn job.
Earlier this month, Lafayette became the last non-Ivy school in Division I to award athletic scholarships, a change O'Hanlon has long lobbied for.
Meanwhile, several reports list Miller as a frontrunner for the job opening at Hartford. It is unlikely, however, that Miller would make any sort of commitment before the Penn coaching situation is resolved.
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