CHAPEL HILL - The headhunter leading the search for the next UNC-Chapel Hill chancellor said Thursday the pool of candidates is the most impressive he has seen in a long time.

Bill Funk, who runs a Dallas-based executive search firm, has at least 250 university searches under his belt and is currently heading the search for the next University of California system president. He said the UNC-CH pool is the best he's seen in five years and credits the university's academic reputation and the state's historic financial support for higher education.

"They know the people of North Carolina respect and support the institution and know it's something they'd like to be a part of," he said.

Funk's comments offered a rare -- if vague -- glimpse into the search process. He did not identify candidates or specify how many are still under consideration. His comments came at the outset of a search committee meeting that quickly went into closed session.

The university seeks a successor for James Moeser, who steps down this summer. Moeser came to UNC-CH in 2000.

Funk said the pool is diverse, not only in its racial and gender makeup but also in the backgrounds of the candidates.

"We have a number of sitting university presidents, a lot of sitting provosts and deans, and we have individuals from major education associations and research think tanks," he said.

Funk did not say whether any of the contenders come from the corporate ranks.

Each time a new leader is selected at UNC-CH or at the university system level, there is much debate over whether the chosen person should have a link to the state or university. Funk said Thursday he was surprised by the number of candidates with a relationship to UNC-CH.

"It is absolutely remarkable how many people in our pool were a student here, grew up here, lived here or were on the faculty here," he said.

He also mentioned well-regarded universities that recently announced coming leadership changes.

Dartmouth College's president is stepping down next year, and Gene Nichol, the former UNC-CH law school dean, abruptly resigned earlier this week from the presidency of the College of William and Mary.

Nichol was a finalist for the UNC-CH position in 2000 when Moeser was chosen for the post.