CARBONDALE - The process to hire a new football coach at Southern Illinois University is moving right along. Athletic director Mario Moccia was out of town Friday, interviewing a candidate at an undisclosed location.

Moccia said there were literally hundreds of coaches who applied, ranging from Division II coaches, to Football Bowl Subdivision coordinators and National Football League position coaches.

"I stopped counting how many people called and e-mailed," he said. "The one thing about a search at this level is the range of possibilities is great. The universe seems a lot bigger.

"There are people with big-time college football experience and NFL experience. My thing is we're trying to get the right person. The right person hasn't necessarily worked at the biggest schools. We're trying to ascertain why we've been successful."

Moccia has formed a six-person committee to conduct the search. He said the committee is composed of people from within the university and outside. Although he declined to put a deadline on the hire, Moccia said a new coach will be in place by mid-January.

"I hope sooner," he said. "We've got recruiting coming up and January is a big month. We want to wrap it up as soon as we can."

Presently, indications are that the new coach will not be a member of former coach Jerry Kill's staff.

Linebackers coach Tom Matukewicz had expressed a desire in the job. However, Moccia said it appears Matukewicz will join Kill at NIU.

"I think almost all of them have gone with Jerry," Moccia said. "As far as I know, virtually all of the assistant coaches will be going up with Jerry."

les.winkeler@thesouthern.com

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