UALR Athletic Director Chasse Conque has named five finalists for the school's open men's basketball job.
Conque on Thursday named Darrell Walker, Joe Kleine, Mark Downey, Chris Beard and Philip Pearson as finalists for a job that has been vacant since Steve Shields was fired after 12 seasons on March 18.
"We were really pleased with the interest," Conque said Thursday. "A lot of great phone calls, a lot of calls from established coaches with great resumes. At the end of the day we were looking for candidates in a finalist pool of folks that are winners and who are part of good programs."
Conque said all five candidates interviewed on campus with Conque, Chancellor Joel Anderson and a four-person search committee this week. Walker, a former Arkansas Razorback who has served as head coach of the NBA's Toronto Rapters and Washington Wizards and the WNBA's Washington Mystics, was the last to interview Thursday.
Kleine spent the last eight seasons as an assistant under Shields, after playing at the University of Arkansas and in the NBA for 15 seasons.
Downey is currently an assistant coach at Bowling Green, and was head coach at Division II Arkansas Tech in 2006-2010. Downey led the Wonder Boys to a 77-43 record in four seasons, including a 30-2 mark in 2009-2010 in which they won the Gulf South Conference championship. He was 60-29 in three seasons at Charleston (W.V.) and 18-11 in one season at West Alabama before joining Bowling Green this year.
Pearson is in his sixth season as an assistant coach at Georgia, and has also served as an assistant at Alabama and Murray State. He was a graduate assistant at UALR under Wimp Sanderson in 1994-1995. In 2009, he was 6-7 as Alabama's interim coach including an SEC Tournament victory. Beard is 47-15 in two seasons at Division II Angelo State.
Conque said Downey's candidacy for the job has not changed despite Bowling Green Coach Chris Jans being fired Thursday after "an investigation into his recent public conduct," according to a school news release. Downey was chosen to take over the "day-to-day operations" of the program while it conducts a national search for a new coach, the school said.
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.