With Kevin Corrigan reportedly rebuffing Virginia's offer and electing to stay at Notre Dame, six Division I programs still have vacancies for their head-coaching positions.
One of those schools is Princeton, which fired Chris Bates on April 6 for his role in elbowing a Brown player during a game four days earlier. One name linked to the opening is Shawn Nadelen, who just guided Towson to the NCAA tournament quarterfinals for the first time since 2003 and a program-record 16 wins.
Nadelen, 37, has ties to Princeton, serving as an assistant there under former coach Bill Tierney from 2002 to 2004. He signed a contract extension on Aug. 20 to remain with the Tigers through the 2019 season, and another year was added after the 2016 team swept the Colonial Athletic Association regular-season and tournament championships.
"Having the successful past few years and finishing this year ranked sixth in the final polls, programs may take notice and want to have a conversation," Nadelen said in a text from Calgary, where he is on a recruiting trip. "My interest continues to be with Towson, and that's my focus."
Towson athletic director Tim Leonard confirmed Friday morning that Princeton had requested permission to interview Nadelen for the position after the past season had ended.
"To what extent Shawn's interest is, I'm not 100 percent sure," Leonard said. "You'd have to ask Shawn that. But he and I have talked. I asked him to give me a list of things that are important to him to keep this program moving forward, and we responded with a list of the things that we can do immediately, and I think we addressed a lot of them. This is a good program, and I want to keep it moving forward. Hopefully, he will understand that and want to stay here. If he doesn't, hey, this is still a great job. Believe me, there will be plenty of interest."
Leonard said he is working with Nadelen to give assistant coaches raises and provide the staff with roomier office space as well as other requests. Leonard said he is not overly concerned about Nadelen leaving for Princeton.
"I have every reason to believe he will be the coach at Towson," Leonard said. "We've told Shawn what we can do ahead of time. It's up to him what he wants to do, and we want to do everything we can to keep him. I do believe Shawn wants to be here, and if Princeton is where he ultimately wants to go, then that's fine. But I don't believe that's the case."
Nadelen had said as recently as last month that he had no interest in leaving the Tigers, pointing out that his wife Mary is a professor in the university's kinesiology department and he, his wife and two children have settled in the Baltimore area.