Manoa Chancellor Robert Bley-Vroman could have a recommendation from his University of Hawaii athletic director search advisory committee as soon as next week.

Bley-Vroman said he has charged the eight-member committee to deliver one or more names for his consideration. Committee chair Warren Haruki has told officials he favors sending a single name to Bley-Vroman.

Two local candidates — Hawaii Bowl executive director Dave Matlin and UH associate AD John McNamara — are said to be among the short list to have been interviewed. Growing speculation among some in the industry and locally is that one of them will be offered the job.

At least one short-listed mainland candidate who had been invited for an interview, Jon Fagg, senior associate AD at Arkansas, turned down an interview.

Fagg, who has spent nearly seven years at Arkansas after stops at North Carolina State and Fresno State, declined comment Tuesday. But people familiar with the search said the son of Dave Fagg, UH offensive coordinator in the 1970s and ’80s, was offered an interview and declined.

UH was scheduled to conduct what has been described as "further vetting" of finalists.

Bley-Vroman told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser recently he is looking for "… someone who knows sports. There are businessmen who understand the business of sports, but you (also) need to think about, ‘Is this a good sailing coach or not?’ You need somebody who really understands the business of sports and that is particularly true in this case. You need someone who understands the world of intercollegiate athletics that is beyond Hawaii, how things work on the mainland. There is a lot to be done there."

Bley-Vroman said, "You really have to be able to relate to Hawaii. It comes back to this observation that Hawaii sports is about Hawaii. It isn’t just a university sports program, it is embedded in the whole society and how we think of ourselves. I don’t think you have to be from Hawaii, though it would obviously be helpful. But you need to be able to have that ability to be able to make connections with that community. And, finally, you need to be able to think outside of the box because the box hasn’t been getting us very far."

As of Tuesday evening, UH had not updated its web page dedicated to the search, www.manoa.hawaii.edu/executivesearch/athldir, since Feb. 12, the day it was scheduled to begin the review of applications.