Lubick To Stay, Spurns Miami

Colorado State football coach Sonny Lubick withdrew Tuesday as a candidate for the Miami Hurricanes’ vacancy, throwing the job search wide open.

Lubick, a former Miami assistant, had been regarded as the front-runner to succeed Dennis Erickson.

“Certainly Miami has its attractive lure of a great university and its football tradition,” Lubick said in Fort Collins, Colo. “But CSU is a place that’s treated me tremendously over the last two years. I fit in here - that’s the basic ‘why.”’

Lubick, 57, had repeatedly expressed concern that his courtship with Miami would hurt Colorado State’s recruiting. Still, his announcement represented the rejection of a powerhouse program.

“Kind of a shocker,” former Hurricanes coach Jimmy Johnson said.

Lubick is expected to sign a contract extension that will increase his pay at Colorado State to $115,000. Erickson made $550,000 last season at Miami.

Lubick’s announcement provided a twist that fit a trend, because the Miami vacancy has produced widespread lack of interest among potential candidates.

Duke’s Fred Goldsmith, who grew up near the Miami campus, became at least the second coach to turn down an interview invitation from Hurricanes athletic director Paul Dee. Several other coaches ruled themselves out.

Six days into the search that Dee hoped to conclude this week, the only known candidates were two NFL assistants and a Division I-AA coach, Jim Tressel of Youngstown State.

“It may be that they may have to go for someone that has not had head coaching experience,” Johnson said.

That category includes former Hurricanes assistants Gary Stevens and Butch Davis. Stevens, the Miami Dolphins’ offense coach, interviewed with Dee on Friday. Davis, the Dallas Cowboys’ defensive coordinator, wants to be considered.

The growing list of coaches who denied an interest in Miami included Goldsmith, Glen Mason of Kansas, North Carolina’s Mack Brown, Wisconsin’s Barry Alvarez and Brad Scott at South Carolina.

The level of wariness is perhaps surprising considering the Hurricanes have won four national championships since 1983 and sent their last two coaches to the NFL. But Miami’s search may be hindered by an anticipated NCAA investigation of a Pell Grant scandal and play-for-pay scheme. In addition, prospective candidates are aware that Erickson was widely criticized in South Florida despite a sixyear record of 63-9.

Pigskin matchup

Virginia has been selected to play Michigan in the 1995 preseason Pigskin Classic, one of two preseason games sponsored by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, at Michigan Stadium on Aug. 26.

The association announced two weeks ago that Michigan had been selected to be the host team. The game had been played in Anaheim, Calif., the past five years.

Virginia, which held opponents to 63.6 rushing yards per game in 1994, went 9-3 and beat Texas Christian 20-10 in the Independence Bowl. The Wolverines finished 8-4 in 1994, capped by a 24-14 victory over Colorado State in the Holiday Bowl.

Ole Miss appeals

Drastic cuts in scholarships and recruiting visits have inflicted excessive damage on the University of Mississippi’s football program, the school says in its appeal of NCAA penalties.

The school is seeking relief from having scholarships cut in half and is fighting an NCAA charge that improper offers were made to a former recruit

In its appeal, Ole Miss said the findings regarding the athlete who never attended the school are “clearly contrary to the evidence presented to the committee.”

The NCAA on Nov. 17 placed Ole Miss on four years’ probation, including no postseason bowl games in 1995 and 1996 and no televised games next season.

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