Most of the players haven’t seen Murphy since the season ended, but he is scheduled to return from a recruiting trip at the end of the week.

“I haven’t seen [Coach Murphy] since the Monday after the Yale game,” junior defensive back Niall Murphy said. “Nobody knows anything more than anyone else. And anyway, Coach would never talk to us about this kind of thing.”

It seems only Murphy knows what Murphy’s future is.

“What we’re trying to do is to tell Tim that we want him to continue,” Scalise said. “I think when you have a situation with someone’s career, it’s really a private family matter. It’s about what’s in his interest.”

With reports having said that Murphy would have signed by last week, or early this week, speculation is mounting. As each day passes, however, the chances of Murphy going to Annapolis may lessen.

Georgia Southern coach Paul Johnson has also been mentioned as one of the six finalists for the Navy position. But since the Eagles are still playing, Gladchuk would have to wait until Georgia Southern’s season ends before interviewing Johnson.

Last week, The Tennessean reported that Murphy was a possible candidate for the head coaching job at Vanderbilt, but he has not been interviewed for the position. Reports last month also named Murphy among the list of coaches who might replace Bob Davie at Notre Dame , but that now appears unlikely.

—Staff writer Rahul Rohatgi can be reached at rohatgi@fas.harvard.edu.

Tyson E. Hubbard contributed to the reporting of this story.