Tennessee men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl said Scott Edgar has a "great problem" on his hands.

Both Alabama-Birmingham and Southeast Missouri State are showing interest in the Vols' assistant as a candidate to fill their head coaching vacancies.

"I know Scott's a candidate at both places,'' said Pearl, who was in attendance at the Lady Vols' game NCAA tournament game with North Carolina on Tuesday night. "I want my guys to do well. It is not a problem for me having him here for just for one year.''

Edgar spent three years as an assistant coach at Alabama-Birmingham before joining Pearl's new staff in Knoxville. Former Indiana coach Mike Davis has also been mentioned as a candidate for the UAB job, which came open when former Blazers' coach Mike Anderson left Birmingham for the Missouri head coaching job.

Edgar, 50, has experience in uptempo systems having been a head coach for seven years at Murray State and Duquesne, and coaching under Nolan Richardson, Billy Tubbs and Pearl.

Edgar said he has talked to Pearl about the openings, and the Vols' head coach has been supportive of all the assistants should they find better job opportunities.

"We talked about it, and Bruce said there may be some opportunities and openings,'' Edgar said. "He said he was all for people moving on if it's the right place, but to be up front about it.''

Edgar has said repeatedly how much he enjoys his situation at UT and made mention of how much his son, Scott II, enjoyed his sophomore year at Alcoa High School.

Southeast Missouri and UAB, however, are two programs in which Edgar believes he could have success.

"UAB has been playing basketball for 28 years, and 21 of them have been postseason play,'' Edgar said. "The players are in place returning to continue that style of play. With talent, that system dominates. Without talent, it can make a team competitive.

"That's what made coming and working for Bruce so attractive. I didn't have to have much of a change in philosophy.''

While UAB is coming off three consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament, Southeast Missouri fired former coach Gary Garner after Garner went 7-20 in his fifth year of a five-year contract last season.

Edgar, however, believes Southeast Missouri State could return to the top of the Ohio Valley Conference under his direction.

"I love the location of the school, and I understand the league,'' Edgar said. "I know the kind of athlete it takes to dominate that league, and I know where to go to get them immediately.

"A job would have to be the right fit for me. It has to be a place that's special to my family in an area where I know I can be effective recruiting and I can win.''

Mike Griffith covers Tennessee men's basketball.