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NEWPORT, R.I. -- The contract is still in Jim Leavitt's office somewhere. Sign it and he would have been Alabama's coach in 2003.
"We're always going to keep it, in case anybody ever wonders," said the South Florida coach. "I was the guy who would have had the job and was going to lead them through the probation years."
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| Ray Rice is one of four legitimate Heisman contenders who call the Big East home. (AP) |
"I made the right decision," Leavitt said. "Hell, Shula, an Alabama guy who won 10 games, was let go."
In a cramped meeting room here during Big East media day, it's strange that Alabama is hanging so heavy in the air. Over in one corner West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez is describing his brief fling with the Crimson Tide. There's Leavitt, who was courted again last year after Shula was let go.
Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm is asked how serious Nick Saban was about hiring his brother Jeff, the Cardinals quarterbacks coach at the time.
"He went down there," Brian said. "They offered him. They didn't want him to leave without signing."
The contract was left as blank as the one in Leavitt's office. A few years ago it would have been below Alabama to pick up the phone for the likes of Leavitt, Rodriguez or Brohm. Even if 'Bama did dial the digits, it would have been even more preposterous for any of the three to turn down the Tide.
Circumstances, reputations and winning percentages change. All in the Big East's favor, it seems. Now it makes perfect sense to build a career in the conference. By staying put, these coaches added to the Big East's -- and their own -- rep, which in any given year now includes three national championship contenders -- Rutgers, Louisville and West Virginia.
"I just sat there one day and laughed," said commissioner Mike Tranghese, giddy about his sudden fortune. "Could this have happened three years ago?"
No. In fact, the Big East wasn't happening three years ago. Stripped to the bone by ACC expansion, Tranghese put on a brave face and hoped. The league inched along until West Virginia beat Georgia in the 2006 Sugar Bowl. Then three teams went into last November undefeated. Louisville won the league, then the Orange Bowl. Rutgers won its first bowl game. West Virginia won 11, losing only to Louisville and South Florida, possibly the next power to rise in the Big East.
Predictably, Big East coaches became hot commodities. Bobby Petrino broke promises, but not many hearts, in Louisville by going to the NFL's Atlanta Falcons. Michigan State snatched up Cincinnati's Mark Dantonio.
However, Rutgers' Greg Schiano could have taken the Miami job without interviewing but stayed, signing a long extension through 2016 that will pay him $1.6 million per year. Leavitt had signed a long-term extension in November 2005. Despite that, he had to stamp out offseason fires after his name came up at Alabama (again) and Miami.