After meeting about three hours Friday, the athletic director search committee “reduced significantly” the number of applicants who remain in the running, Chairman Nancy Vedral said Monday.

Vedral declined to reveal the exact number of people who remain, but she said committee members now are checking with the remaining candidates’ references. The committee originally was confronted with between 50 and 60 applications, according to earlier estimates by Vedral and NIU President John LaTourette.

The next step is to come up with a list of people to invite on campus for interviews. That second reduction “hopefully” will come at the next meeting, scheduled for Oct. 8, Vedral said. She expects the next meeting to last about four hours.

Vedral said LaTourette would attend the Oct. 8 meeting at the committee’s request.

“We would like him there to hear our discussion of the references so he will better understand the process and the input that went into the search,” she said.

LaTourette was unavailable for comment Monday.

Once the committee has whittled the list down to the final interview stage, the search will have to undergo Affirmative Action Part I in which the Affirmative Action Office will review the situation as it stands, Vedral said.

Affirmative Action Director Marilyn Monteiro could not be reached for comment.

The final candidates should be interviewed during the third or fourth week of October, Vedral said. She said the committee might not be the only group to interview them. A forum will be held for university personnel such as students and faculty and another for those working within the athletics, such as coaches and the Athletic Business Office, she said.

Vedral said the forums would be open to everyone. The search committee will accept any input from those participating in the forums. She said the forums would be held at the same time the candidates are on campus, but only one candidate at a time will go before the forum.

After the interviews are finished, the committee will submit to Affirmative Action II. Then the committee will make a final decision and submit that candidate’s name to LaTourette, she said. The chairman said the committee might find its person by the first week of November.

“We will rank the final candidates, but it’s always the person to whom he reports that makes the final decision,” Vedral said. “The rank order does not have to be followed. A search committee sends a message to the president.”

Vedral said in most cases the person making the final decision will follow the ranked order, but that is not required.