For Jay Jacobs, patience is a virtue.

Jacobs, Auburn’s athletic director, is in no particular hurry to hire a head baseball coach. The job has been open since former coach Tom Slater’s resignation on May 17, the final day of the regular season.

And according to Jacobs, the search isn’t near a conclusion.

“It’s going to take two weeks or so,” Jacobs told the Opelika-Auburn News on Friday.

Jacobs is determined to make a thorough search. That means interviewing several more candidates.

So far, AU has interviewed Baylor’s Steve Smith and Samford’s Casey Dunn. But Smith, who was also a candidate for the Mississippi State opening, took himself out of the running on Friday.

“After much prayer and consideration, I have decided to withdraw my name from consideration for the jobs both at Auburn and Mississippi State,” Smith said in a press release issued by Baylor. “I appreciate their interest and wish both programs nothing but the best.”

Dunn, a former AU catcher whose only college-coaching experience is four seasons at Samford, is the only coach to publicly express interest in the job.

A third candidate, Louisville’s Dan McDonnell, removed his name from the running Tuesday.

Jacobs, who hired the search firm of Carr & Associates to assist with the search, plans to keep looking until he’s sure he’s found a candidate who fits his specifications.

This search is the highest-profile head-coaching search of Jacobs’ three-year tenure. And the AD plans to make sure it’s a complete one. So he’s in no hurry.

“We’re going to be thorough and diligent,” he said. “We’re going to find the best guy. … We’re not under a clock here.”

Jacobs knows exactly what he wants from his next baseball coach.

“We’re looking for a guy who can fit in with this baseball team, fit in with our athletics department, with Auburn University and the community, and take this team to the next level and build on the foundation that’s already been built here – a guy who’s going to get us to play in championships regularly,” he said.

“We’re going to continue to talk to people until we find the person we think best fits that. There are people who just finished playing a week or so ago, and there are people will finish this weekend and people who might finish next week or so.”

Carr & Associates, the Gainesville, Fla.-based search firm, has vetted several candidates and provided background on many others. The firm also assisted in Auburn’s 2004 search for an athletic director, which resulted in Jacobs’ promotion from senior associate AD.

“It’s money well spent,” Jacobs said. “They can give you an objective view of everyone out there. They’re connected to a lot of people in the baseball world.”

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