Here's the coaching update from Friday's paper ...

USF's search for its next basketball coach continues at the Final Four in Atlanta, where former Arkansas coach Stan Heath met Thursday with Bulls athletic director Doug Woolard.

"We had a good meeting," said Heath, fired Monday by Arkansas despite a 20-win season and making the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row. "We'll visit some more and have more dialogue in the next few days."

If the Bulls are serious about offering Heath the job, the next step likely would be bringing him to Tampa to tour the campus and facilities and meet with school administrators. Asked if such plans had been made, Heath said "not at the moment."

Heath, who said Thursday that he was "possibly" meeting with other schools in Atlanta, said he would have a better feel for his plans after "things clear up on my end." He has not been publicly linked to any other openings.

Three of the four known candidates who have talked with Woolard — Winthrop coach Gregg Marshall, South Alabama coach John Pelphrey and former St. John’s coach Fran Fraschilla — have taken their names out of consideration since Sunday.

The Bulls seek a replacement for Robert McCullum, who was fired March 9 after four seasons, including a 4-28 record in two seasons of Big East play. Woolard is not commenting on candidates during the hiring process.

And one bonus note: I'm always curious to see how the South Florida vacancy is viewed nationally -- I tend to think of the current midmajor openings as largely unattractive ones, so I figure Kentucky, Michigan, Arkansas, Colorado and Iowa are seen as better jobs, but not much else. But check out this paragraph from Friday's Chicago Tribune, in a story about the slew of coaching vacancies:

"Just six involve high-profile programs—Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan and Minnesota—and the rest are at places like Chicago State, Georgia State, Hawaii, Iona, Quinnipiac, Radford and Southern Utah."

Well. No love for the Bulls there, at least not the same love given to ... Radford (which got filled last week) or ... Southern Utah? Georgia State actually got Rod Barnes, a solid hire, but I think any job in the Big East is good enough to make it on a list of top openings right now ...

I'm a bit surprised we haven't seen any other media outlets discovering who these other schools are that might be courting Stan Heath. Or at least no outlets that can be seen by the far-reaching eye of Google News ... I leave for the women's Final Four in Cleveland on Friday, so trying to track down this coach gets a little more challenging over the weekend ...