Western Kentucky University's search for a new football coach is "progressing nicely," WKU athletic director Dr. Wood Selig told WBKO on Thursday.

Selig said the search committee organized to find a new coach met for two and a half hours on Thursday and that of the 80 candidates who have expressed interest in the job, 10-to-12 names stand out to the committee.

Selig declined to discuss which specific candidates those were. The Bowling Green Daily News cited sources close to current University of Buffalo coach Turner Gill saying he is interested in the job and has reached out to WKU with that interest, but Selig denied having had contact with Gill or his representatives.

Selig was, however, very complimentary of Gill on Thursday.

"He's someone we're certainly very familiar with," Selig said. "(We) absolutely respect everything he's been able to accomplish at Buffalo and throughout his career.

"Obviously, any search that might involve Turner Gill would be a very high-profile, successful search."

A report on the Web site FootballScoop.com indicated WKU was trying to set up an interview this weekend with Arkansas offensive coordinator Paul Petrino, but Selig denied those plans.

Selig said the committee has yet to actually talk to any coaches about their interest level, but has been in contact with agents and intermediaries for coaches. Selig also still didn't set a timetable for the hiring process to be complete, but did say the time was near for the search to take another step forward.

"In the next week, we've got to start moving forward to keep this on track for a hire that has a timeliness (in order for the new coach) to hire a staff and maximize recruiting to have a class in place by Signing Day," Selig said.

He said he'd prefer not to work on Thanksgiving, but acknowledged he's planning to do so - saying that might actually be the best time for the university to contact or meet with prospective coaches.

Selig said, though, that the hiring of a new coach won't be an overnight process.

"This is definitely not an 'any day now' position that we're in because we haven't even talked to the first candidate," Selig said. "So this is not going to be that quick of a process."