Not now.

Maybe later, Robert Morris coach Mike Rice will talk about his long-term plans, but not now.

Rice's focus is dead set on the immediate future -- his team's Northeast Conference tournament opener tomorrow against St. Francis (N.Y.) at the Sewall Center. But there is an undeniable truth that wafts through the men's basketball program and the university: The more successful the Colonials are, the higher the likelihood that Rice is being pursued by bigger-conference schools that will have coaching vacancies this coming offseason.

For that is the curse within the blessing at a Northeast Conference school: Many times, the coach who is successful in elevating the program is the coach who becomes sought after, the one who has to field the overtures from the heavier hitters at schools in conferences such as the Atlantic 10, Mid-American, Missouri Valley, Sun Belt and Colonial.

Predictably (and to the credit of his focus as he prepares his team for the NEC tournament), Rice, in a recent news conference, did his best to deflect the line of questioning when the subject of where the future will take this 40-year-old head coach was broached.

"That is so far in the back of my mind," Rice said. "Because of the effort I am going through with my team right now, all of that is just so far in the back of my mind."

That said, one can't ignore what Rice already has done in his short time at Robert Morris and how the school's other recent head coaches have advanced into jobs of higher acclaim despite having less success than Rice.

In his two seasons at Robert Morris, Rice has a 47-18 record, 31-5 in conference play, and won the regular-season NEC title both times.

Since 1976, Robert Morris has had five seasons with 20 or more wins, and Rice is 2 for 2 in that feat, winning 26 games last season and 21 thus far this season.

The last three Robert Morris coaches before Rice -- Mark Schmidt, Danny Nee and Jim Boone -- had much lower winning percentages, yet moved on to schools in bigger conferences.

After six seasons and an 82-90 record (.477 winning percentage), Schmidt left Robert Morris after the 2006-07 season for St. Bonaventure of the Atlantic 10.

Before Schmidt, Nee served one season (2000-01) with the Colonials, guiding the team to a 7-22 mark (.241) before leaving for Duquesne of the Atlantic 10. Preceding Nee was Jim Boone, who guided the Colonials from 1996-2000 to a 45-66 record (.405) before leaving for Eastern Michigan of the Mid-American Conference.

Undeniably, there is the prestige with entering a higher-level program. Boone, who has been a head coach for 23 years, knows the monetary ramifications also have changed in the past few decades.

"I was told when I got into coaching, that you are never going to make a lot of money in this," said Boone, now the head coach at Division II Tusculum in Tennessee. "But, now, if you can advance and get into one of those mid-level [Division I] jobs and certainly if you get into a major college job, you are going to make quite a bit of money. I think that fact, certainly, can motivate some people to take a look around and especially entertain an offer when a bigger school has some interest."

But Rice remains focused on an NCAA tournament bid -- a goal from which the Colonials are three wins removed.

"If I'm worried about something else right now, then I can't even imagine what [my players] are thinking about," Rice said. "I just have to be focused on what is the task at hand."

A task at hand that, if completed, history says could lead to new opportunity.