Tennessee assistant men's basketball coach Scott Edgar is one of three finalists for the Southeast Missouri State head-coaching job.

The others are former Ole Miss head coach Rod Barnes and Jay Spoonhour, a former assistant coach at Missouri.

Don Kaverman, director of athletics at Southeast Missouri, said 10 finalists were interviewed in Indianapolis out of a pool of 60 applicants.

Edgar, who was among those who interviewed Sunday, likened the process to the NCAA basketball tournament.

"You survive and advance,'' Edgar, 50, said. "There were a lot of people in Indianapolis interested in the job, and I survived the initial process and advanced to the next round, an interview on the campus.''

Edgar will interview in Cape Girardeau, Mo., on Thursday before returning to Knoxville to attend the Vols' Orange and White football game Saturday.

Spoonhour will interview Friday and Barnes on Monday.

Edgar, who joined Bruce Pearl's staff at UT last spring after leaving an assistant coaching post at UAB, said he's eager to share his visions.

"This is a job I believe I can be successful at for a long time,'' Edgar said. "Not just build a team, but build a program.''

Edgar showed the Ohio Valley Conference he could do just that while Murray State's head coach 1991-1995, when he led the Racers to a 79-40 overall record and 56-16 OVC mark. Edgar's Murray State teams made two trips to the NCAA tournament in his four seasons at the helm and played in the NIT another year.

"When I was at Murray State, SEMO was a program that challenged us on a consistent basis,'' he said. "I like the facilities and fans; there's a great deal of support.''

Edgar said he believes he offers Southeast Missouri experience in the conference as well as familiarity with the area.

"I really like the recruiting area: Southeast Missouri, West Tennessee and Arkansas,'' said Edgar, who served as an assistant at Arkansas 1985-91. "I'm very familiar with the (Ohio Valley) conference and the type of athlete it takes to win there.''

Edgar still is believed to be a potential candidate for the vacant head-coaching job at UAB. The Blazers have not released an official list of candidates.