College basketball entered its second month of operations as the calendar struck December.

Just five more until there is a legitimate push for Lute Olson’s permanent successor. And until then, UA athletic director Jim Livengood can’t do too much publicly out of respect for the privacy of potential candidates.

He does know, however, that a high profile coach is on the radar.

“”The best news is, we have some time to do this. The bad news is, we have some time to do this,”” said Livengood, who addressed the media Monday afternoon in McKale Center. “”Because the longer we have, the more chance for exposure. And the kinds of people that we would be interested in and would be interested in us are at a level where exposure is huge and absolutely could knock some people out of it.””

At this point, every candidate under Livengood’s radar is fully engaged in the 2008-09 season – meaning confidentiality and non-exposure is a necessity.

Livengood said contact between athletic directors, or even school presidents, are virtually impossible with the prevalence and media interest in the situation. Rather, second-, third- and fourth-level individuals are used as a secretive third party to keep matters private.

“”It really becomes hard when you have such a long process like this,”” Livengood said.

About a dozen candidates remain on Livengood’s pool, he estimated, which consists of already-proven talent with an impressive résumé.

Olson retired in October after spending 24 seasons in Tucson.

“”The coach who comes in here needs to have had a track record,”” Livengood said. “”Needs to have done some things. Needs to have had some success. It’s also critically important that there is success this year, because that is the most recent track record.””

– Bryan Roy