George Mason Athletic Director Tom O'Connor is among the finalists for the job of Atlantic 10 Conference commissioner, according to several sources.

Presidents of schools in the A-10, to which the University of Richmond belongs for sports other than football, met yesterday in New York to interview finalists. Others under consideration are Alfred White, a former Southern Conference commissioner who now is an associate commissioner of Conference USA, and other current commissioners and associate commissioners.

O'Connor chose not to comment. Linda Bruno announced her resignation as A-10 commissioner five months ago, effective June 30. However, associate commissioner Ray Cella was named interim commissioner by the league in April. Cella is not a candidate for the job.

O'Connor, 60, is in his 14th year as GMU's AD. In 1999, he was named assistant vice president at Mason. The New Jersey native also is in the fourth year of his five-year term on the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Committee, which O'Connor chaired in 2007-08. He is the first chair of that committee from a non-football school.

O'Connor is a former basketball coach at Dartmouth and Loyola (Md.). Before coming to GMU, O'Connor was the AD at Loyola, Santa Clara and St. Bonaventure, which is an A-10 member.

The A-10 hired a search firm and formed a search committee. The search committee includes school presidents, athletic directors, senior administrators and faculty representatives. The league's athletic directors are scheduled to begin their annual meetings May 18, and sources said the A-10 would like to have an announcement regarding its new commissioner by then.

Bruno had been the A-10 commissioner since 1994. - John O'Connor