“You want to talk about how slow I was?” Pat Kilkenny said with a smile last weekend at SAP Center in San Jose.

“In a manner of speaking,’’ I responded. “I want to talk about the unknowns inherent in the hiring process, for any job. Sometimes, backup plans can turn out better than the originals.”

Kilkenny was well versed in that topic. A successful insurance executive, he spent five weeks conducting the search that led to Oregon hiring Dana Altman.

Altman, who has the Ducks in the Sweet 16 for the third time in the past four years, is hardly the only example of Plan Bs transforming into first-class hires across the Pac-12’s major sports.

Chip Kelly was a Plan B for the Ducks in their search for an offensive coordinator in 2007, Kilkenny said, and all he did was revolutionize major college football.

Jeff Tedford was a Plan B for Cal in 2001 (behind Marvin Lewis).

Sean Miller was a Plan B for Arizona (behind Tim Floyd).

Same with Bobby Hurley for Arizona State (behind Jeff Capel).

Perhaps the most famous Plan B in conference history was actually a Plan D:

Pete Carroll was USC’s fourth choice (behind Mike Bellotti, Dennis Erickson and Mike Riley) before winning two national titles and dominating the conference for the better part of a decade.

“You’re looking for people who are technically adept,” Kilkenny said. “And they have to fit the culture of the workplace and the community.

“A lot of people could be great head coaches, but they wouldn’t fit in Eugene.”

An Oregon alum, donor and trustee, Kilkenny was named athletic director in 2007 despite having no experience in major college athletics.

Two years later, he stepped aside as the Ducks promoted Kelly to head coach and Bellotti moved from the sideline to the athletic director’s seat. But Kilkenny remained heavily involved and was placed in charge of the search to replace Ernie Kent in the spring of 2010.

His goal: Find a first-class coach who would fit in Eugene and be worthy of the investment the Ducks were making in basketball. (Matthew Knight Arena would open nine months later.)

“Each coach had an advocate,’’ Kilkenny recalled. “My number must have been written on every bathroom wall in the nation. I got 50 to 100 calls a day.”

Not a day went by without media reports on the progress of Kilkenny’s search. His private plane was tracked. Interviews, both real and fictitious, were reported. Every rumor was sliced and diced in public forums.

“At the end of the day, there were really two people I engaged, Tom Izzo and Jamie Dixon,” Kilkenny said of the (current) Michigan State and (former) Pittsburgh coaches, respectively.

“We didn’t get there with either of them for one reason or another.”

There was one other candidate Kilkenny pursued but didn’t have the chance to seriously engage. Early in the search, he reached out to two old friends, Jud Heathcote, the former Michigan State coach, and Bill Frieder, who had led Michigan and Arizona State.

Both had offered glowing reviews of a little known 33-year-old from the Horizon League: Brad Stevens.

“Unfortunately,’’ Kilkenny said, “Brad kept winning.”

Stevens took Butler, a No. 5 seed, all the way to the national championship in the school’s hometown of Indianapolis.

“Brad knew I was interested,’’ Kilkenny said. “So I got out of bed on Tuesday morning” — Kilkenny was staying in a hotel in Indianapolis — “and told him, ‘I’m coming over to see you, and I’m bringing Phil Knight.’

“He said, ‘Pat, you can’t do that to me.’ He wasn’t going to take the job, and I wanted to be respectful, so I told Phil, ‘He’s not going to take the job.’’’

Kilkenny wasn’t frozen in place while waiting to speak with Stevens. All along, he was conducting research and outreach, chatting with coaches and contacts.

At one point, he spoke with then-UNLV coach Lon Kruger.

“If you’re interested in me,” Kruger said, “then you should talk to Dana Altman.”

Kilkenny knew of Altman, who was deeply respected in basketball circles but not front-and-center on the coaching marquee.

A Nebraska native, Altman had been in charge of the Creighton program for 16 years, leading the Bluejays to the NCAA Tournament seven times. But the 2010 season was his third in a row without a March Madness bid. He was hardly a hot name.

“I knew he was one of the finest coaches in the game,’’ Kilkenny said. “But you wonder, ‘Can he recruit at that level?’”

Stevens had rebuffed the Ducks.

The pursuits of Izzo and Dixon fizzled out.

Altman was “hypersensitive” about his name surfacing in media reports and told Kilkenny: “If one person finds out, I’m out.”

That wasn’t a problem. Kilkenny was a one-man search committee, flying around the country, hotel-hopping, meeting with coaches and their advocates. “Dog days,” he said.

Within five minutes of meeting Altman, Kilkenny knew the fit was right.

“Judging character is intuitive, instinctive. Dana looked you in the eye, he was respectful — the things that your dad and mom teach you.

“I knew Dana was special like I knew Chip was special. Both had conviction, both were disciplinarians, both had confidence in what they were doing. If someone doesn’t have confidence, why hire them? You don’t get a mulligan. You have to get it right.

“I went and had a few beers by myself after it was over. I talked to my dad and said, ‘I found my guy. He’s probably going to get a few yawns (from fans and media), but two years from now, people will appreciate him.’”

Nine years later, Kilkenny’s Plan D stands as an A-level hire.

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