Canisius’ search for a men’s basketball coach intensified this week, with three candidates visiting campus in the past five days.

Jim Baron, former University of Rhode Island coach, was the first to visit. He interviewed and toured athletic facilities Sunday and Monday and also met with players, as did all candidates.

Jayson Gee was next to visit campus, coming through on Tuesday. He is currently an associate head coach at Cleveland State.

The third candidate to visit campus, The Griffin has learned, is David Duda, an assistant coach from Saint Joseph’s University who was on campus Thursday.

Duda has been with St. Joe’s since 2006 and was previously the head coach at Division III Widener University.

This Sunday will mark four weeks since Tom Parrotta was let go after a 5-25 season. Canisius athletic director Bill Maher originally put a timeline of 4-6 weeks on his coaching search, and a decision could come as soon as this week, likely after the national championship game.

Canisius is also rumored to be interested in Creighton assistant coach Steve Merfeld, but he has not visited campus as of Thursday night, according to a source.

Baron, 58, was reported to have been offered a contract last week, but that report was inaccurate, the school said. He has ties to the Western New York area, serving as St. Bonaventure’s head coach from 1992-01. He spent the next 11 seasons at Rhode Island before being fired the same day as Parrotta. Baron has been to the NCAA Tournament twice, but not since the 1999-00 season.

Gee (pronounced like the letter G) is 45 and is also a former coach at Bonaventure. He joined the Bonnies staff in 2003 after spending six years as head coach at his alma mater, Division II Charlestown. He has been at Cleveland State for the last six years.

Canisius was 64-121 over the last six seasons under Parrotta and hasn’t finished above .500 since the 2000-01 season. The school’s last trip to the NCAA Tournament was in 1996, when Canisius lost to Utah, 72-43, in the first round.