Steve Kerr, Stan Van Gundy among 'a dozen potential interviews' for Golden State Warriors coaching vacancy

Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle reported last night that the top candidates for the Golden State Warriors coaching vacancy - Steve Kerr and Stan Van Gundy - are just two of a dozen potential interviewees.

The Warriors are expected to contact the Chicago Bulls to explore the availability of their head coach, defensive whiz Tom Thibodeau...They're also believed to be considering the merits of former NBA head coaches Lionel Hollins, Mike D'Antoni, George Karl and Jerry Sloan, and college head coaches Fred Hoiberg and Kevin Ollie, and are waiting for assistants David Fizdale, Alvin Gentry and Nate McMillan, the latter two former head coaches, to complete playoff runs. But the process starts with Kerr and Van Gundy.

These are pretty much the same candidates that have been discussed previously, but Simmons' report also makes it clear that the team is going to do a thorough search for their next head coach if their top two options fall through.

Yet Ian Begley of ESPN New York reported something a bit more interesting: that there might be a divide between management and players in terms of which of those top two candidates they prefer.

According to two sources with knowledge of the proceedings, Kerr has the support of Golden State management but some of the players have expressed support for Stan Van Gundy. That schism may help lead Kerr toward settling on the Knicks job...The Warriors, according to a source, are hoping that Kerr's ties to president Rick Welts will "bring [Kerr] over since they are so close."

Regardless of what the players may think, we can say with increasing certainty that the job is Kerr's to lose at this point, which could mean negate the need to interview those other candidates.

For more on the Warriors' coaching search, check out our storystream.