But a little birdie says Mark Jackson, a former point guard for the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks, among other NBA teams, will get strong consideration for the job when Kahn technically begins his search after next week's draft.

Jackson, 44, is an ESPN and ABC-TV NBA analyst. He has no coaching experience, and his staff with the Timberwolves would include experienced NBA coaches.

As the Pioneer Press reported last week, one candidate already seeking the Wolves' coaching job is Bill Laimbeer. The highly competitive former star for the Detroit Pistons last week abruptly resigned as coach of the WNBA champion Detroit Shock, whom he coached to three championships in six seasons.

"Do I know that there are some people out there that have had their names floated in connection with other jobs? Of course," Kahn said. "(But) there is absolutely no list, there is no candidate lined up, we haven't even started. We won't start for nine days."

Kahn did acknowledge that he had received one call Wednesday morning from a person interested in the coaching job. He wouldn't say from whom.

"I hope we have a robust list of candidates; I think we will," he said.

Contrary to speculation elsewhere, NBA TV analyst Jeff Van Gundy is not a serious candidate.

Kahn sent Wolves season-ticket holders a letter before Wednesday's announcement that McHale would not be retained. The letter said he hopes to have a new coach by midsummer.

It also said the Wolves will "have a team in transition for the next few years."

Twins two-time batting champion Joe Mauer, who was hitting .429 entering Wednesday night's game against Pittsburgh but missed the first 22 games of the season because of a sore back, probably needs to play in at least 80 of his club's remaining 96 games to qualify for another batting title. That would give him 320 more plate appearances and 505 for the season. He needs 502 to qualify.

Mauer, 26, won last season's batting championship at .328. If he hits at a .300 pace the rest of the season, he would finish at .349.

Mauer's most serious current challenger is Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki, batting .354. If Suzuki hits at a .300 pace the rest of the season, he would end up at .323. If he hits .325 the rest of the way, he would finish at .337. If he hits .350, he would end up at .352. And he would have to hit .370 the rest of the season to finish at .350.

Mauer, by the way, preceded his four hits against the Pirates on Tuesday at the Metrodome with six hits in three games against the Cubs at Wrigley Field in front of nearly 200 family members and friends. But he couldn't socialize much because he was fighting a flu-like illness.

Sports Illustrated is in town for an article on Mauer.

On Tuesday, when the Twins in a pregame ceremony honored the University of St. Thomas baseball team for its national championship, Mauer sought out coach Dennis Denning and told him he had wanted to catch Denning's ceremonial first pitch but that the idea had been nixed by the Twins. Mauer attended many of Denning's summer baseball camps as a youth.

New Wild GM Chuck Fletcher will be in Las Vegas today for the NHL's awards ceremony. The Wild's Niklas Backstrom is a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, emblematic of the league's top goaltender.

Normally stoic Bud Grant gave an emotional eulogy, breaking down several times, at the funeral of close friend and former Gophers teammate Billy Bye at a packed St. Andrew Church in Eden Prairie on Wednesday. Goldy Gopher attended, as did a handful of Gophers band members who played the Minnesota Rouser.

DON'T PRINT THAT

Had Kevin McHale's dismissal as Timberwolves coach come earlier, the Wolves would have had a great chance to bring back Flip Saunders as coach. But Saunders, who lives in Medina and would have given the job serious consideration, couldn't wait after the Washington Wizards offered $19 million for four years.

It's clear that new Timberwolves Basketball president David Kahn is looking to move up in the June 25 NBA draft. One rumor that makes sense for the Wolves, who have the No. 6 overall pick and have glaring needs at center and point guard, is trading forward Kevin Love to the Memphis Grizzlies for their No. 2 overall pick. Memphis, however, probably wouldn't make the deal.

But if it did, the Wolves could take UConn's 7-2 Hasheem Thabeet. And with their No. 6 pick, they could take 6-3 guard Stephen Curry of Davidson. Curry is the best pure shooter in the draft.

Acquiring Thabeet, a terrific shot blocker, would allow Al Jefferson to move back to power forward.

Asked if the Wolves have received any intriguing draft trade offers, Kahn said, "We won't talk about anything that's occurring until they occur."

OVERHEARD

Kahn on Love's twitter message early Wednesday that publicly broke the news that McHale wouldn't be retained as coach: "I don't want Kevin to feed badly about that. We live in a very different world than all of us grew up in. I don't think it's a big deal."