Jeff Van Gundy

“[Texas A&M] Bill Byrne did approach me,” Van Gundy, a Houston native, told 1050TheGame in Houston. “I wouldn’t really comment on his interest. He hasn’t made an offer or anything like that. It was just a get to know conversation, see if you’re interested.

“I really don’t know where I stand.”

Van Gundy, who now works as an NBA ESPN analyst, is a former Providence and Rutgers assistant. He also coached the Knicks and Rockets.

“I enjoyed my three years in college coaching very much but it’s been a long time,” Van Gundy said. “A lot has changed. The AAU basketball circuit has changed. The proliferation of agents involved in college recruiting has changed, so there’s a lot of things that have really changed incredibly since the last time I coached in college.

“It did come out of the blue.”

Van Gundy’s name has also been linked to the Lakers job. He said he hopes to one day return to coaching.

“People know that I miss coaching to a degree and yet I’m very happy with what I’m doing,” he said.

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Seemingly every coach except Phil Jackson, Bob Knight and Kenny Reeves (pictured) turned down the N.C. State gig before Mark Gottfried accepted the job.

Now Maryland has swung and missed on Arizona’s Sean Miller, Notre Dame’s Mike Brey and Villanova’s Jay Wright in just three days since Gary Williams announced his retirement Thursday.

The Washington Post reported Sunday that Brey essentially said, “Thanks, but no thanks” to Maryland AD Kevin Anderson after the two were reportedly slated to meet Sunday.

The reigning Big East and National Coach of the Year, Brey will remain at Notre Dame, which he has built into a national power.

Miller, Maryland’s No. 1 target, agreed to an extension at Arizona that was announced late Saturday night.

And Wright, basketball’s answer to George Clooney, told the Post he was out, too.

“I’m flattered by the interest,” Wright told the Post by email, “but I love Villanova!”

Maryland must now press ahead without Miller, Brey or Wright and find somebody to take the job.

“I don’t believe it’s going to be a long process,” Anderson told the Post. “We’re doing our due diligence, making sure we’re going to hire the right person.

“We’re just not going to panic and pick somebody who might not be the best fit for Maryland. We’re going to look at the whole person. Here’s what I’m looking for: Someone with most, if not all, of the qualities Gary Williams possessed.”

Hey, there’s always Kenny Reeves.

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Mike Brey

The Washington Post reported on its Website that Brey, the Notre Dame coach and a Maryland native, will meet today with Maryland officials about potentially succeeding the retired Gary Williams.

The Big East and National Coach of the Year, Brey is a Bethesda, Md., native, graduated from George Washington and coached for five years under Hall of Famer Morgan Wootten at Dematha (Md.) Catholic.

He also has a contract extension on the table at Notre Dame, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Miller, who reportedly had interest in the job and met with Maryland AD Kevin Anderson Saturday in Las Vegas, has opted to sign an extension at Arizona.

“Sean and I have had many positive conversations and have been working on a revised contract for some time,” Arizona Athletic Director Greg Byrne said in a statement. “I’m pleased to confirm that we have agreed to an amendment to Sean’s contract that we hope will keep him in Tucson for many years to come.”

Terms of the extension were not immediately released.

In a separate statement posted on Arizona’s Web site, Miller said: “Over the last two days, the amount of inaccuracies that surrounded this entire process has been very disappointing. Hopefully, this will put an end to such speculation. . . . While it’s flattering to be mentioned as a candidate for job openings, such speculation only means that our staff is doing great things here in Tucson.”

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Brian Hamilton of the Chicago Tribune, citing a source, wrote that Brey “has a contract extension in the works to remain with the Irish.”

Brey’s last extension reportedly came in July 2008.

Still, legendary former high school coach Morgan Wootten, Brey’s former boss at DeMatha (Md.) Catholic, said Brey would consider Maryland.

“He certainly loves Notre Dame and feels good about the direction of the program,” Wootten told the South Bend Tribune. “But he is a Maryland guy. If they called, I think he’d have to give it deep consideration.

“It is home.”

Brey is reportedly on a short list of candidates to replace Williams, who announced his retirement Wednesday. Rick Barnes (Texas), Anthony Grant (Alabama), Sean Miller (Arizona), Brad Stevens (Butler) and Jay Wright (Villanova) have also been linked to the job.

Brey, the Big East and National Coach of the Year this past season, has deep ties to the Maryland area.

Brey, 52, graduated DeMatha Catholic High School and later coached under Wootten. He graduated George Washington University and his family owns a vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Del., the Tribune reported. His family also once owned Maryland men’s basketball season tickets.

“If there ever was another job that came open for him to look at, it would be Maryland,” Wootten told the South Bend Tribune. “It’s just such an obvious thing for him. It’s just going to be a matter of if all the cards fell into place.”

Still, Wootten also told Hamilton: “As long as Notre Dame is really taking good care of him… all should be well.”

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Paul Hewitt

Georgia Tech fired Hewitt after 11 seasons, including five NCAA Tournament trips and an appearance in the 2004 national championship game. He was 190-162 during his tenure with the Jackets.

George Mason features several local products on its roster, including sophomore guard Sherrod Wright of Mount Vernon, redshirt-freshman forward Paris Bennett of Linden, N.J., and junior forward Ryan Pearson of Christ the King.

Vaughn Gray, a senior guard at St. Benedict’s Prep remains committed to George Mason.

“Vaughn is very excited with the choice,” his mother, June, said by text. “Although he hasn’t spoken to Coach Hewitt yet, he’s made a decision to keep his commitment to George Mason.”

Point guard Corey Edwards of Christ the King said he was waiting to hear from Hewitt.

“I really haven’t heard anything about it,” Edwards said Saturday by phone. “I spoke to the AD a couple days ago and he said he they were thinking about picking a coach that we all could relate to. If it’s Paul Hewitt, then it’s Paul Hewitt.

“It’s too early to tell [what I will do]. He’s a good coach. He’s from New York, obviously.”

Sophomore guard Sherrod Wright of Mount Vernon, redshirt-freshman forward Paris Bennett of Linden, N.J., and junior forward Ryan Pearson of Christ the King are all on the George Mason roster.

Mount Vernon coach Bob Cimmino and St. Patrick assistant Rae Miller said it was too early to comment on how the coach’s departure may impact those players.

Vaughn Gray, a senior guard at St. Benedict’s Prep who has signed with George Mason, remains committed at this time.

“I just spoke with Vaughn at 5 p.m. tonight and he spoke with GMU assistant coach Mike Huger earlier this afternoon,” former St. Ben’s assistant Billy Diamond said. “Obviously, Vaughn is disappointed about Coach Larranaga not coaching at George Mason next year but he respects his decision. I told Vaughn and his parents when he was deciding what college to attend, he should consider multiple factors including but not limited to, Coach Larranaga being there as head coach. We were all aware of the possibility of him leaving in the near future since he’s been such a highly successful coach at GMU.

“Vaughn’s decision to attend GMU was based on multiple factors besides just Coach Larranaga and his staff, such as the academic and social envrionment and reputation at George Mason, as well as the basketball program, facilities and campus. Tonight I spoke with GMU Athletic Director Tom O’Connor and he assured me that he intends to hire a very qualified coach to continue to lead their very successful basketball program.

“Vaughn and his family will speak with Tom on Monday and as of right now he is still committed to attend George Mason. However, he will wait until he sees who the new head coach is, meet with him and re-evaluate his situation at that time. Until then, Vaughn still intends to honor his commitment.”

Point guard Corey Edwards of Christ the King has also signed with George Mason.

“As soon as I speak to the AD over there and see what he’s going to do with the coaching job, that’s when I’m going to decide whether I want to back out of my letter of intent or whether I’m going to stick with George Mason,” Edwards said Friday by phone.

He said George Mason assistant Mike Huger recruited him and he was uncertain what Huger would do.

“He wasn’t aware what Coach L was going to do, but when I spoke to him yesterday everything was in the air,” Edwards said. “I haven’t spoken to him since.”

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The meeting likely took place in Wisconsin, not Miami, as my source originally indicated.

Jeter, 41, said Tuesday he had not been contacted about the job and had no comment.

But Jeter worked under Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan for 10 of his 11 years as an assistant coach, and Eichorst came to Miami from Wisconsin.

The reigning Horizon League Coach of the Year, Jeter is 101-88 in six seasons at Milwaukee, and 61-43 in the league. His club went 19-14, 13-5 this season, finishing ahead of eventual national runner-up Butler.

Other names linked to the job are Mike Davis (Alabama-Birmingham), Tony Barbee (Auburn), Donnie Jones (Central Florida) and Billy Kennedy (Murray State).

Miami offered Harvard coach Tommy Amaker a five-year package believed to average $1.1 million, but he turned it down.

“It’s done,” said another candidate who was in the mix.

Masiello was a former Manhattan assistant under Bobby Gonzalez from 2001-5 before joining Rick Pitino’s staff at Louisville, where he has successfully recruited the New York area and helped Louisville become a perennial Big East and national contender.

“Steve is from Westchester,” New York Panthers director Gary Charles told SNY.tv before the news broke. “When he was at Louisville, he recruited Edgar Sosa, Samardo Samuels, Earl Clark and Francisco Garcia. Everyone in New York knows Steve Masiello.”

Masiello is originally from White Plains, N.Y., and played  with TheKnicksBlog.com author Tommy Dee at Archbishop Stepinac High School. He moved to the Harvey School in Katonah, N.Y. and also served as  Knicks ball boy when Pitino was head coach. He later was a walk-on at Kentucky.

Manhattan officials initially offered the job to LIU coach Jim Ferry, but the two sides could not agree on financial terms.

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Dave Rice

He will be introduced at press conference at 4 p.m. on Monday in the Mack Board Room, according to Ryan Greene of the Las Vegas Sun.

The BYU associate head coach for the past three seasons under Dave Rose, Rice was a reserve under Jerry Tarkanian on the 1990 national championship team and 1991 Final Four team. He then spent 11 years as an assistant at UNLV before Lon Kruger arrived in 2004.

He joined the BYU staff in 2005 and was elevated to associate head coach in 2008.

Rice beat out three candidates, including St. John’s assistant Mike Dunlap. Both interviewed Wednesday.

The other two were Minnesota Timberwolves assistant coach and former UNLV great Reggie Theus and former Oregon coach Ernie Kent, both of whom interviewed Thursday.

Rice replaces Kruger, who took the Oklahoma job after Jeff Capel was fired.

UNLV went 24-9 this past season and reached the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in five years.

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MANHATTAN: The school offered the job to LIU coach Jim Ferry, but the two sides could not agree on the financials. Sources said Ferry was seeking in the neighborhood of seven years at $350,000 per, and the school is willing to pay more like $175,000, plus about $200,000 for the staff.

The administration is now split between Rhode Island College coach Bob Walsh and Louisville assistant Steve Masiello, sources said.

Walsh is by all accounts a good man and a good coach, having come from Timmy Welsh’s coaching tree at Providence. In five years prior to this one, the New York native went 114-35 at the Division III school. He has been in the mix for the head job at Marist, Iona and St. Francis and has the backing of Associate AD Shawn Brennan, who knows him from their time together at Iona, where Walsh was an assistant. Yet because he’s coming from a D-3 program, he faces a perception problem.

Masiello, who was born in New York, grew up in Westchester and coaches under Rick Pitino, has the backing of athletic director Bob Byrnes, as well some of the top AAU guys in New York.

Gary Charles of the New York Panthers said he would like to see either Masiello or Rutgers assistant Van Macon get the job.

“The New York Panther organization would be happy with either Steve Masiello or Van Macon,” Charles said. “I think both of them would do an extremely good job there. I’ve known both of  those young men for a long time so I can’t pick one over the other.

“For the sake of Manhattan College, they need to get a New York person who has recruited New York and knows all the players. Steve is from Westchester. When he was at Louisville, he recruited Edgar Sosa, Samardo Samuels, Earl Clark and Francisco Garcia. Everyone in New York knows Steve Masiello.

“And Van Macon, that goes without saying. He was at Hofstra for nine years and everyone knows and loves Van. To me, those two guys are no-brainers.

“Sometimes I think the administration makes this harder than they need to. At the end of the day it’s about players. Hire the coach that’s going to get you players. That’s the bottom line. I don’t care how good of an X’s and O’s coach you are, those guys can get you players. End of discussion.”

In the midst of this stalemate, Arizona assistant Book Richardson, another New York guy who recruited Kevin Parrom, Lamont “Momo” Jones and Sidiki Johnson to Arizona, has emerged as a last-minute candidate, sources said.

Manhattan assistant Scott Padgett has also been mentioned, and would provide some continuity between the current players and new staff.

Word is the administration will think things over for at least the weekend.

“It seems wide open at this point,” one source close to the situation said.

MIAMI: From Day One, Kansas State coach Frank Martin has been most closely linked to this vacancy, created when Frank Haith suddenly left for Missouri. He is a Miami native and sources have said Miami would be his “dream job.”

Still, Martin said in a Sporting News radio interview with Tim Brando on Tuesday he has not spoken to or been contacted by anyone regarding the position, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

He said, “if people want to throw my name out there, I look at that as a compliment and I look at that as being lucky and fortunate that I’m in a good place right now and that people out there respect what we’ve done here.”

Shakey Rodriguez, a Florida high school coach and one of Martin’s mentors, told TheMercury.com that Martin would listen if Miami came calling.

“At this time I know [Martin] is happy at Kansas State but he would listen to Miami,” he told TheMercury.com.

Still, he sounded dubious that Miami could make it happen given the fact that it has an interim AD and has shown an inability to fully support its basketball program in a football-mad environment.

“I don’t know that Miami, not having an A.D. present, is prepared to put together the kind of package that would sway him in this direction,” Rodriguez said.

Martin is also not a squeaky clean candidate.

He was fired from Miami High’s coach in 1998 after the FHSAA ruled the school had illegally recruited, the Sun-Sentinel reported. The school was fined $2,500 and forced to reimburse $5,000 in expenses.

At Kansas State, the NCAA suspended New York product Curtis Kelly for six games for taking clothing at a local apparel store, and guard Jacob Pullen got three games for the same offense.

The Sun-Sentinel also pointed out that Martin hit guard Chris Merriewether on the arm with the back of his hand.

Amid all this, acting AD Tony Hernandez told the Sun-Sentinel: “At this point, we’re considering everybody. We’re going to take it on a case-by-case basis. But I assure you that integrity and ethics will be a high priority in the search.”

UNLV: AD Jim Livengood announced on Tuesday that the four finalists were Mike Dunlap, Ernie Kent, Dave Rice and Reggie Theus.

Rice, a UNLV alum and the associate head coach at BYU, and Theus, the former UNLV star, are considered the favorites.

“We have completed the interviews of the four finalists,” Livengood said Friday. “All of the candidates did an outstanding job and all would certainly be great choices for UNLV and our head coaching position. We now want to spend the next couple of days continuing with a thorough review of the interview process and further consult with the president [Neal Smatresk].

“The hope is to be able to make a decision sometime on Sunday. We would then announce that decision at a press conference on Monday.”