It's likely there won't be a new head football coach at Michigan State University until sometime early next week, multiple sources with knowledge of the search told the Free Press.

The plan is to have the coach in place before the MSU Board of Trustees meets on Valentine's Day, the sources said.

MSU began searching for a football coach after Mark Dantonio retired Tuesday, ending a 13-season run that included three Big Ten titles, a Rose Bowl win, a College Football Playoff berth and 114 wins that made him the program's winningest coach all-time.

The decision on who to hire must be approved by the MSU Board of Trustees. Board members were on a conference call on Wednesday along with MSU President Samuel Stanley and athletic department officials, including MSU Athletic Director Bill Beekman and deputy athletic director Alan Haller. MSU basketball coach Tom Izzo is expected to have input on the hire as well.

University of Cincinnati head football coach Luke Fickell is still the front-runner for the position, sources say, but other names being kicked around the athletic department include Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, University of Pittsburgh coach Pat Narduzzi and even Mike Tressel, who was named MSU interim head coach when Dantonio retired Tuesday.

Narduzzi said Wednesday he wants to stay at Pittsburgh. Saleh is widely seen as a NFL guy who will be running an NFL team sooner than later.

Fickell said Wednesday he hadn't talked to anyone at MSU other than Dantonio in the past three or four weeks, but did not say whether those conversations with Dantonio included mention of the opening. Fickell did say Dantonio is one of the few people he consults when he has an important decision to make.

Fickell was widely seen as a top candidate for the Florida State University head coach job this winter, a job that ended up going to Mike Norvell, who had been the head coach at Memphis.

Fickell, 46, coached Cincinnati to an 11-3 record this season, including a win in the Birmingham Bowl. Hired to coach the Bearcats in 2017, he would owe Cincinnati a $2 million buyout if he leaves for another job before Dec. 31, 2020, according to his contract obtained by USA TODAY Sports in June.

Fickell has a 32-20 career record, including 6-7 in his one season as Ohio State's interim coach in 2011.

Narduzzi, 53, took over at Pitt in 2015 after spending 11 seasons working as Dantonio's defensive coordinator — three at Cincinnati and eight at MSU. He was a staple in MSU's unprecedented run of success in the 2010s.

“The rumors, squash them, whatever you want call it,” Narduzzi told Pittsburgh reporters Wednesday. “I said I got decisions to make, too, and I’m here at Pitt. And I want to be here at Pitt. And that’s where I’m gonna be. Pretty simple.”

Tressel has been at Michigan State since 2007, and also was on Dantonio's staff at Cincinnati. He was MSU's defensive coordinator the past two seasons, including the 2018 unit that was among the best in the nation. He also coached linebackers and was special teams coordinator his first eight seasons at MSU.

Shurmur, 54, and Saleh, 41, are both Dearborn natives who started their coaching careers at Michigan State. Shurmur, an MSU graduate, hasn't coached in college since 1998, when he was Stanford's offensive line coach. Saleh last coached in college in 2005, as a defensive assistant at Georgia.

Contact David Jesse: 313-222-8851 or djesse@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter: @reporterdavidj