An elite eight has been chosen in the search for the next president of Texas A&M.

Thursday on Brazos Valley This Morning, the chairman of the 16-member presidential search committee told News 3 his group had narrowed their list to eight candidates for the A&M presidency after a committee meeting on campus last Friday.

"We had approximately 50 candidates that we refined down to eight and two alternates," said Dr. Richard Box, a member of the System Board of Regents and the search committee chair.

Box said those eight came from government, academic and military positions, but could not elaborate further than that.

"I might say that they're all extremely qualified, and I think we're looking at a very good pool of candidates that we have to choose from," Box said.

Box could not say whether Bowen Loftin, A&M's interim president, was among the final eight. Loftin has been quoted in recent interviews as saying he would be willing to take on the job if selected.

Box said his committee is on target to make a final recommendation early next year, a goal set by Board of Regents Chairman Morris Foster following the resignation of former President Elsa Murano in June.

The next steps for the committee will be to check the references for the candidates, conduct interviews with those eight, and then bring the cream of that crop to campus for interviews. The top three or four would be brought to A&M, according to Box.

In previous interviews, Box did say that two often-mentioned names, Governor Rick Perry and former A&M President Robert Gates, were not in the running for the job.

You can learn more about the search for the next A&M president by clicking on the link below, which takes you to the special section of A&M's website devoted to the search.