Tennessee assistant men's basketball coach Scott Edgar was in negotiations for the Southeast Missouri State head coaching job Wednesday night.

A source close to the Vols' men's basketball program told the News Sentinel Edgar could reach an agreement by the end of today.

Edgar, 50, interviewed at the Cape Girardeau, Mo., school a week ago. Former Ole Miss head coach Rod Barnes interviewed Friday and Jay Spoonhour, a former Missouri assistant, interviewed Monday.

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

Edgar joined the UT coaching staff last year after a three-year stint as an assistant on the Alabama-Birmingham basketball staff.

Edgar also has head coaching experience. He once faced Southeast Missouri State on a regular basis in the Ohio Valley Conference when he was Murray State's head coach 1991-1995.

Edgar led the Racers to a 79-40 overall record and 56-16 OVC mark during his tenure. 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.

"This is a job I believe I can be successful at for a long time,'' Edgar told the News Sentinel last week. "Not just build a team, but build a program.''

New Color? UT athletic director Mike Hamilton said adidas has sent the Vols plans for alternate-colored basketball uniforms.

"Adidas is always trying to be proactive in their approach to UT,'' Hamilton said. "I don't know if I'm in favor (of new colors) at this point. We'll look at it and consider it.''

The two alternate uniforms are black with white and orange, and grey with white and orange.

"UCLA has an alternate, Duke has an alternate and Florida does, too,'' Hamilton said. "It's the hip thing to do. But we're a very tradition-laden school."

UT coach Bruce Pearl said his initial reaction is that orange and white uniforms are enough for him.

"Black is an attractive uniform color and it goes well with orange,'' Pearl said. "But it's also not one of our school colors. I'm an old-school guy.

"But, like anything else, I would be willing to listen if the powers that be are in favor of this.''

Smith Letter: Ramar Smith, a point guard from Martin Luther King High School in Detroit, is expected to send in national-letter-of-intent papers that are signed by his mother today.

The papers Smith sent in Wednesday -- the first day of the spring signing period -- lacked his mother's signature, and therefore did not meet NCAA guidelines.