It’s been 17 days since Auburn baseball coach Tom Slater’s resignation on the final day of the regular season sparked the quietest search in recent memory.

Auburn’s efforts to identify Slater’s replacement, assisted by the search firm of Carr & Associates, have been kept strictly under wraps.

Though speculation has included several prominent names in the world of college baseball, Auburn officials are keeping quiet.

But the search could be heating up this week.

Once Carr & Associates presents Auburn with a list of likely candidates, the process is likely to speed up. That could happen soon.

Auburn University athletic director Jay Jacobs is back from last week’s Southeastern Conference meetings, and the NCAA Tournament is down to 16 teams heading into this weekend’s Super Regionals.

New Orleans’ Tom Walter is the only coach believed to be on Auburn’s radar whose team qualified for an NCAA Regional and has been eliminated.

Other possible candidates whose seasons are over are Troy’s Bobby Pierce, UAB’s Brian Shoop, Jacksonville State’s Jim Case, College of Charleston’s John Pawlowski and former AU star Casey Dunn, now the head coach at Samford.

Former Florida coach Pat McMahon, currently managing the New York Yankees’ Class A minor-league affiliate in Staten Island, N.Y., could also be a candidate.

So could Mississippi State assistant Tommy Raffo. Former MSU coach Ron Polk has pushed Raffo, his right-hand man for 15 seasons, as a candidate for his old job in Starkville, Miss., but Raffo is not believed to be on the Bulldogs’ radar.

No candidate is believed to have formally interviewed with AU at this point.

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