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ESTERO — Friday morning, the Florida Everblades will name the third head coach in the team’s 10-year history.

General manager Craig Brush confirmed Thursday night that he had reached a decision and would announce the new coach at Germain Arena at a 10 a.m. press conference.

Brush declined to confirm if the new coach is former Texas Wildcatters coach Malcolm Cameron, who Texas captain John McNabb said was a finalist on Wednesday night.

“I’m not going to confirm or deny anything at this point,” Brush said Thursday.

Brush’s search for a new coach began April 24, when seven-year coach Gerry Fleming announced he was moving on from the Blades to try and earn a job in the AHL. Fleming’s announcement came just 12 days after the Blades were swept by Columbia in the first round of the playoffs.

Cameron was the only name confirmed as a finalist on Wednesday. Brush said he made calls that morning to narrow the field of fewer than 10 finalists to “fewer than three.”

Former Columbia Inferno coach Troy Mann, who interviewed for the job, said he received a call from Brush on Wednesday afternoon.

“I know I was in the mix right up until the end,” Mann said. “It’s certainly nice to be in the mix for a job like that.”

Mann said he couldn’t confirm if Cameron was the new coach.

“I really can’t comment on that right now,” he said.

Cameron and Mann were both available after Texas relocated to Ontario, Calif., at the conclusion of last season, and Mann’s Inferno decided to take a year off to try and find a stadium lease.

Cameron did not return calls Wednesday and Thursday.

On Tuesday, he said he had spoken at length with Brush about the Blades vacancy.

“I’ve thought things like that have gone well before, but I’ve been wrong in the past,” Cameron said. “I hope it went well. ... I said before that coaching the Florida Everblades would be a huge honor, and my position on that has not changed at all.”

David LeFevre, a partial owner of the Wildcatters and now the Ontario Reign, also declined to confirm if Cameron had been offered the Blades job.

“That’s not my role. ... That’s up to (Cameron) and the Everblades,” LeFevre said.

Cameron coached under LeFevre’s ownership group, RBC Sports, for each of his five seasons as a head coach in the ECHL. Last year, Cameron’s Wildcatters won the South Division with a record of 52-9-11.

Four-year Blades assistant coach Jason Nobili had been named by Brush as one of the “fewer than 10” finalists last week, but Mann said on Thursday that Nobili had already left Florida to return to his native Toronto.

Nobili did not return calls this week.

Nobili has no professional head coaching experience, which hurt his chances for the Blades job. Brush said familiarity with the ECHL and experience coaching within the league was “a very important consideration.”

Cameron is 208-107-45 as a head coach with Cincinnati (2002-03), Long Beach (2004-06) and Texas (2006-08). He also played for the ECHL’s Huntington Blizzard and Johnstown Chiefs.