**UPDATE: Avery Johnson, Alabama reach agreement to coach the Crimson Tide**

A day after Alabama athletics director Bill Battle interviewed former NBA coach Avery Johnson, sources tell AL.com the talks are expected to progress Sunday.

The meeting in Dallas went well enough that a deal could be made as early as Sunday. Johnson is celebrating Easter at church with his family Sunday morning, AL.com learned, and hopes to have a resolution by late afternoon. The ex-NBA player is excited about the opportunity and challenge the Alabama job presents.

It's been exactly three weeks since Anthony Grant was fired and four days since Wichita State's Gregg Marshall turned down Alabama's initial offer.

But the talks in Dallas appear to be headed toward a different outcome for the former NBA coach of the year.

Johnson, 50, has never coached college basketball but had early success in the professional ranks. He was the fastest to reach 50, then 100 wins when he took over the Dallas Mavericks in the mid-2000s. A Western Conference title in 2006 earned Johnson the league's coach of the year honor.

Overall, his NBA coaching record is 440-254 in parts of seven seasons with the Mavericks and Nets. He's been out of coaching since Brooklyn fired him 28 games into the 2012-13 season.

Johnson was making approximately $4 million a year in his last coaching job with the Nets.