Pitt coach Paul Chryst’s long-anticipated departure for Wisconsin finally appears to be moving toward being a done deal.

Chryst was set to meet with Wisconsin officials, including Chancellor Rebecca Blank, Monday night to discuss the vacant head coaching position, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. He could officially be named the new Wisconsin coach as early as Wednesday. Multiple outlets have reported that Wisconsin will have a news conference at 7 p.m. to name its new coach.

Chryst informed his players at Pitt after practice Tuesday morning that he was meeting with Wisconsin. Chryst did not say he had accepted the job - or even that it had been offered - but he also did not say he would be staying at Pitt.

Pitt has reached out to at least three candidates the past few days regarding its job, a source told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. One candidate, the source said, is former Rutgers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano. Panthers offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph also is being encouraged to apply for the job. Rudolph likely would serve as the interim head coach for the Air Forces Bowl Jan. 2 in Fort Worth, Texas.

Chryst has been linked to the Wisconsin job since Gary Andersen left the Badgers last week to take a similar position at Oregon State.

The reason for the delay is a Wisconsin state law dictating that the job must be posted for five business days before it can be officially offered to a candidate. The earliest Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez could offer Chryst the job would be Monday, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. All indications are that Alvarez will do so, and Chryst will accept.

Chryst has spent the past five days in a sort of limbo, seemingly on the verge of taking the Wisconsin job but also leading the Panthers as they prepare to play Houston in the bowl game.

Earlier this week, Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson said Wisconsin reached out to him the same day Andersen left expressing their desire to talk to Chryst.

“This is his alma mater,” Pederson said Friday. “You could understand why that would give him pause to think a little bit. I can’t blame him for that. I don’t think most people would blame him for that.”

Chryst is a Madison native and played for the Badgers from 1986-88. He also served as an assistant coach for Wisconsin for eight years before taking the reins at Pitt in 2012. He is 19-19 in his three seasons with the Panthers.

Including interims, Pitt’s fifth-year seniors likely will be playing for their seventh head coach in the bowl game.