Mark Devine, the vice president for Nelligan Sports Marketing, said Tuesday that two candidates have interviewed for the job, two others are scheduled and a fifth interview is possible.

"If everything goes well, we'll be in a position to make an offer next week," Devine said.

Nelligan Sports' contract with CSU includes hiring the play-by-play broadcasters for the Colorado State Sports Network, but Devine and Colorado State University senior associate athletic director Gary Ozzello said the selection will be made jointly.

Devine, Ozzello and athletic director Paul Kowalczyk pared the 130 or so applicants to what Devine said was a "very, very good top 10."

The experience of those applicants, Ozzello said, "runs the gamut" from those with experience broadcasting high school games to those who have been play-by-play broadcasters for college and pro sports teams.

"We've been overwhelmed by not only the quantity but also the quality of people involved," Ozzello said.

Rich Bircumshaw, who had been the play-by-play broadcaster for CSU football and men's basketball for eight years and part of the broadcast team for 10 years, died unexpectedly earlier this month of complications from a stroke. He was 54.

"This position really shouldn't be open,'' said Corbu Stathes, an applicant and a former co-worker of Bircumshaw's both on the radio network and at Clear Channel of Northern Colorado and its five radio stations. "It's been a difficult job to apply for just because Rich should still be doing it."

Stathes, a CSU graduate, has been the radio play-by-play voice of the University of Minnesota women's basketball team for the past two years and previously was the analyst for CSU women's basketball broadcasts. He also was the play-by-play voice of Northern Colorado women's basketball in 2003-04.

Brian Roth, the color analyst for CSU football games for the past two seasons and a sideline reporter the previous six seasons, said he also has applied. Roth has filled in for Bircumshaw on CSU men's basketball broadcasts and spent eight of the past nine seasons as the play-by-play voice of the CSU women's basketball team. The former Clear Channel of Northern Colorado sports reporter is the general manager of Ingrum Sports Production Network in Denver, which produces broadcasts of mostly high school sports for Comcast Entertainment Television.

Finalists, Devine said, are being brought to campus to meet with Kowalczyk, Ozzello, football coach Steve Fairchild, men's basketball coach Tim Miles, sports information director Zak Gilbert and himself. Devine said it's important to fill the position soon, so that the new hire can establish his or her role this summer, building a rapport with coaches, athletes and listeners.