ST. LOUIS — Tom Schuberth, an assistant coach at Central Florida, has emerged as the leading candidate to fill a vacancy on the staff of new Tennessee men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl, according to a source.

Schuberth and Alabama-Birmingham assistant Scott Edgar interviewed with Pearl during the coaches convention at the Final Four in St. Louis. Both have experience recruiting the South and Memphis in particular.

Schuberth, 47, is Central Florida's lead assistant and has been there for three years. He has recruited players that have taken the Golden Knights to two straight NCAA tournament appearances.

Schuberth, who played at UNLV and Mississippi State, was an assistant at Memphis under Larry Finch from 1992-97 and was later coach at Christian Brothers University in Memphis.

Edgar, 49, was Nolan Richardson's assistant at both Tulsa and Arkansas, recruiting for the Razorbacks for six seasons in their pre-SEC days.

Edgar has been a coach at Murray State and at Duquesne, in his native Pennsylvania. He took Murray State to two NCAA tournaments.

Both Edgar and Schuberth have also interviewed for the head-coaching vacancy at Louisiana-Monroe.

Schuberth has been called back for a second interview at Louisiana-Monroe, where he was an assistant for nine years.

Pearl has already named Tony Jones as lead assistant and recruiting coordinator. Along with Jones, Pearl also brought Jason Shay from his Wisconsin-Milwaukee staff, leaving one full-time assistant vacancy.

Chuck Benson, the only assistant retained after Peterson's firing, said he hoped to interview, but as of Saturday, said he had not talked to Pearl and he is exploring other opportunities.

Pearl might also bring at least one more person from his UWM staff, possibly for the director of basketball operations position.

Milwaukee Search: To replace Pearl, Wisconsin-Milwaukee is interviewing Rob Jeter, a Wisconsin-Madison assistant, and Mike Dunlap, head coach at Division II Metropolitan State.