The UNC system spent more than $140,000 on the search that eventually narrowed its focus to a private college president just two hours away.

But UNC leaders say the money was well worth it. Searches for presidents and chancellors are intricate and logistically challenging, and paying a search consultant to assist - which eats up most of the cost - pays for itself, they say.

And believe it or not, 140K isn't much to pay for one of these searches. Many others cost far more.

Here's today's story about the search that brought Tom Ross to the UNC system. He starts work as Erskine Bowles' successor on Jan. 1.

UNC Chapel Hill is turning once again to a search consultant for help finding a top administrator.

William Funk, whose Dallas-based search firm was paid more than $100,000 to lead last year's chancellor search that resulted in the hiring of home-grown Holden Thorp, will earn $72,800 plus expenses to find the university's next provost.

The university will pay Funk with private sources, not state money.

Funk knows Carolina well. Along with running last year's chancellor search, he advised the University of Kansas during its recent search for a new president. The result? The hiring of Bernadette Gray-Little, the UNC-CH provost whose departure now necessitated the new Carolina search.

Of course, a campus search committee has been assembled as well. Its task will be to evaluate candidates Funk brings to them. Shelton Earp, who directs the university's Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, will chair the committee.

Bruce Carney, a professor of physics and astronomy, will serve as interim provost. Carney is apparently the university's go-to interim guy; most recently, he served as interim dean of the university's College of Arts & Sciences, a post left vacant when Thorp was elevated to chancellor.

It is not unusual for a university to employ a consultant to run this sort of search.

Funk is well-known in education circles. He has conducted searches for about 300 university presidents or chancellors and, according to his website, is responsible for placing about 70 current university leaders in their jobs. He was once dubbed "the matchmaker" by the Chronicle of Higher Education. Here's that story, though you may need a password to access it.

"He knows everybody in higher education," said Roger Perry, chairman of UNC-CH's Board of Trustees. "He knows who all the prospects are and he really knows how to check them out. When you get interested in somebody, he really knows how to vet that person as far as strengths and weaknesses."