Virginia contacts Leitao
By Jerry Ratcliffe and Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writers
April 9, 2005

University of Virginia officials requested and received permission to speak with DePaul men’s basketball coach Dave Leitao late Friday afternoon, according to multiple sources. UVa is conducting a search to replace former coach Pete Gillen, who stepped down on March 14.

On Friday, Leitao attended the Portsmouth Invitational, an event that features 64 college seniors in a tournament that is played in front of NBA scouts and officials. The event winds up today at Churchland High School in Portsmouth, which is located near Norfolk.

Sources indicated that Leitao talked to UVa officials Friday. They met early Friday morning in the Norfolk area and Leitao reportedly was back in Chicago by early afternoon.

Leitao was at the Invitational to watch two of his players from DePaul - Drake Diener and Quemont Greer - perform. He previously denied that he had had any contact with Virginia.

“I don’t seek jobs,” Leitao told the Daily Press in Friday’s edition. “Virginia obviously has a great athletic tradition, but with my job right now that doesn’t mean a whole lot.”

Virginia received official permission to speak to Leitao within the last 24 hours, according to DePaul Sports Information Director Scott Reed. For weeks, sources have told The Daily Progress that Leitao is “coveted” by many Virginia officials for his youth and his association with the University of Connecticut.

Leitao, 43, is 58-34 in three seasons with the Blue Demons. Before taking the DePaul head coaching job, Leitao was a longtime assistant to Jim Calhoun at Connecticut and was a coach on the Huskies’ 1999 National Championship team.

Also attending the Invitational was Kentucky coach Tubby Smith. Smith, who was there to observe Kentucky senior Chuck Hayes, refused to talk about the opening at UVa, which he has been tied to for weeks.

“We can talk about Kentucky basketball, but not that,” Smith told the Daily Press in Friday’s edition when asked if he had been contacted by Virginia. “I’ve got a good job now.”

Smith has long been the top choice of the majority of Virginia officials and sources indicated Friday that UVa was trying to work out a financial package to lure the coach from the basketball rich Kentucky program. It is not clear whether the contact with Leitao on Friday is in any way connected to possible negotiations with Smith.

Meanwhile, yet another source said that Kentucky’s Smith has declined to discuss the Virginia situation with even his closest friends. The Wildcats announced Thursday that underclassman Kelenna Azubuike, a 6-foot-5 swingman, had signed with an agent and will enter the NBA Draft. Azubuike was Kentucky’s leading scorer and second-leading rebounder.

Cavs meet with DePaul hoops coach
Blue Demons coach Dave Leitao talks to a UVa delegation before heading back to Chicago.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

Three-year DePaul men's basketball coach Dave Leitao met Friday with a Virginia delegation and discussed the Cavaliers' vacancy.

Scott Reed, the DePaul sports information director, confirmed the meeting and said that Leitao was back in Chicago by 1 p.m. CDT.

"I know, within the last 24 hours, that Virginia has requested and DePaul granted permission for [the Cavaliers] to speak to Coach Leitao," Reed said Friday night.

"He was in Portsmouth watching two of our players compete in the Portsmouth Invitational. I'm not sure where, but I know he did meet with somebody this morning and then returned to Chicago."

Reed said that Leitao was at a DePaul staff luncheon at 1 p.m.

"I talked to Coach [Leitao] throughout the afternoon but we didn't discuss that," Reed said. "Coach Leitao has really played it close to the vest in terms of not saying a lot. We talked more about the Cubs game."

Leitao later was interviewed during the WGN telecast of the Chicago Cubs' baseball game with Milwaukee and professed his happiness in Chicago and said it would take considerable money to get him to leave.

Leitao, who turns 44 in May, signed a six-year contract extension in September that is said to have a $3-million buyout.

"I'm not privy to his contract," Reed said, "but that's been reported in various publications. DePaul, as a private institution, doesn't have to disclose any of that."

Leitao has a 58-33 record at DePaul, including a 22-10 finish and a first-round victory in the NCAA Tournament in 2004. This past season, the Blue Demons lost to Texas A&M in the second round of the NIT and finished 20-11.

Leitao is a 1983 graduate of Northeastern, where he played for then-Northeastern head coach Jim Calhoun. Leitao later had two separate stints as an assistant under Calhoun at Connecticut.

In between, he was the head coach for two years at Northeastern, where he went 18-11 and 4-24 before returning to UConn. During Leitao's first stint as a Huskies assistant, current UVa president John Casteen was the UConn president.

If Smith wants to come, UVa will find the money
Harvin’s coach doesn't rule out Tech, UVa
By Doug Doughty
THE ROANOKE TIMES

After doing some research Friday, I’ve determined that University of Virginia benefactor Paul Tudor Jones II doesn’t have to worry about gas prices.

What was it I paid this morning? Was it $2.13 or $2.23 for regular? It makes me wonder if I can afford to go to Blacksburg on Saturday for Virginia Tech’s scrimmage or to Charlottesville on Sunday for UVa’s open practice.> >

Based on the Nov. 22 New York Magazine article that I uncovered Friday, Paul Tudor Jones II can go wherever he wants, including the private island he owns in the Bahamas.> >

Tossed into the 18th paragraph was the notation that Jones’ income “last year” (presumably 2003) was $300 million.> >

If you’re making $300 million per year, presuming his earnings remained fairly steady for 2004, you might be able to help with the $3.2 million per year that it might cost UVa to get Tubby Smith to leave Kentucky.> >

If money is an object in the recruitment of Smith, the only issue is the furor that a $3.2-million package for the men’s basketball coach would raise among the faculty and inside the athletic department.> >

“Then tell them to learn how to coach basketball,” one professor said.> >

I don’t claim to have any inside information, but knowledgeable observers believe that the delay in naming a new coach can be attributed to the attempts to woo Smith, not indecisiveness when it comes to other candidates.> >

One interesting theory I’ve heard espoused is that Littlepage is leaning to South Carolina coach Dave Odom and that UVa President John Casteen would prefer DePaul coach Dave Leitao, with whom he has a connection from the days when Casteen was president at the University of Connecticut and Leitao was an assistant on Jim Calhoun’s Huskies staff.>

I don’t know whether I believe that, but some UVa fans shudder when they think of Casteen’s last excursion into the realm of college athletics. Of course, Virginia Tech fans think Casteen’s a pretty sharp guy.> >

THERE IS SOME good news for Virginia and Virginia Tech football fans fretting over the word that the state’s top prospect, Landstown High School wide receiver Percy Harvin, is going to Florida State.> >

Landstown coach Brian Beatty said Friday that Harvin and fellow Landstown wideout Damon McDaniel “definitely will” consider the Hokies and Cavaliers.> >

Just don’t expect them at either of the schools’ upcoming spring games, summer camps or, in Tech’s case, the Nike All-Star Camp scheduled for Blacksburg on April 24.> >

“I kind of think they’re over that,” Beatty said. “So many people want to pull you so many directions. It’s every week. There’s a photo shoot or a junior day or a combine or something that somebody wants you to go to. That’s tough on a kid to say ‘no’ to.> >

“I don’t think either of them is going to go to any camps. I don’t think there’s really any need for them to. Damon is planning to see some out-of-state schools at some point. Percy, I don’t really foresee him going anywhere. I think we’re going to sit down after May -- all three of us and their parents -- about where they want to go.> >

“They’ll go to the combine at the beach. There will be so many coaches here to see those two that it can help all the kids in our area, not just the ones on our team.”> >

Beatty thinks that Brandon Monroe, a 6-3, 286-pound senior, is an ACC-caliber offensive-line recruit. He has a number of promising underclassmen, perhaps headed by 6-4, 200-pound rising sophomore quarterback Xavier Boyce.> >

McDaniel, with 4.51 speed for 40 yards, was not originally projected on a par with Harvin, but he has gotten offers from many of the same schools, including Florida State.>

Coaches are always asking Beatty if Harvin, with 4.4 speed, is a lock for the Seminoles.> >

“I get that a ton,” Beatty said. “A lot of that has been blown out of context. It kind of gets exaggerated nowadays with the Internet the way it is. Right now, he’s real wide open. If anything, he’s more wide-open than the people I’ve had in the past.> >

“They always seemed to have an idea where they were going in advance. I just think, other than some place warm, Percy wants to go somewhere that he’s going to get utilized.”> >

One of Beatty’s former wideouts, Shannon Lane, didn’t pan out at Virginia. But, Beatty has a connection to Cavaliers’ assistant and Tidewater recruiter Bob Price, who coached Beatty in the Canadian Football League. Two former Landstown players, wide receiver Jeremy Gilchrist and linebacker Deveon Simmons, will be at Tech in the fall.> >

“Percy and Damon are their own thinkers, but, at the same time, both of them look up to Jeremy because he’s been there and done ‘that,’ ”, Beatty said. “When Jeremy comes in and has good things to say, they’ll listen, but, again, they play the same position as Jeremy, so that’s both good and bad.”> >

I’VE BEEN MILKING last week’s vacation and Thursday’s diversity training session for as much copy as possible, but I did come out of vacation with one of the best pieces of sports/rock music trivia I’ve seen.> >

While looking through Rolling Stones’ encyclopedia of rock music, I was amused to learn that the Seattle grunge band “Pearl Jam” once went by another name.> >

Want to guess?> >

Believe it or not, Pearl Jam previously was known as Mookie Blaylock, named after the former University of Oklahoma point guard who spent 13 years in the NBA with New Jersey, Atlanta and Golden State -- but never Seattle.> >

When Pearl Jam released its landmark disc “Ten” in 1991, it got its name from Mookie Blaylock’s number.>

U-Va. Moves Quickly in Pursuit of DePaul's Leitao
By Mark Schlabach
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 9, 2005; Page D12

Virginia Athletics Director Craig Littlepage yesterday received permission to interview DePaul Coach Dave Leitao and there are indications Cavaliers officials didn't waste much time in meeting with him.

According to flight tracking data, the University of Virginia Foundation's Cessna jet flew from Charlottesville to Norfolk yesterday. Leitao, who is 58-34 in three seasons with the Blue Demons, was attending the Portsmouth Invitational, a basketball tournament of NBA draft hopefuls being held near Norfolk. The U-Va. Foundation plane then flew to Midway Airport in Chicago and returned to Charlottesville.

DePaul sports information director Scott Reed said Blue Demons Athletics Director Jean Lenti Ponsetto granted Littlepage permission to interview Leitao yesterday. Reed said Leitao was on DePaul's campus yesterday afternoon.

Leitao, who turns 44 next month, signed a six-year extension with DePaul last fall and the Chicago Sun-Times reported that the deal included a buyout of as much as $3 million.

Leitao did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

The Cavaliers are seeking a replacement for former coach Pete Gillen, who took a buyout after leading Virginia to only one NCAA tournament appearance in seven seasons.

Before he was hired at DePaul, Leitao was a longtime assistant at Connecticut when current Virginia President John T. Casteen III was president at the school. Leitao was Huskies Coach Jim Calhoun's associate head coach from 1996 to 2002. South Carolina Coach Dave Odom, a former Virginia assistant, remains a candidate for the position and might be Littlepage's top choice. Odom denied a Washington Post report this week that he had been offered the job, but has admitted having interest in the job and said he met with Littlepage during the Final Four in St. Louis.
 

Leitao talks with Virginia
DePaul's basketball coach interviews for school's job opening
By Bill Jauss
Tribune staff reporter
April 9, 2005

DePaul basketball coach Dave Leitao interviewed Friday for the University of Virginia coaching vacancy, DePaul's sports information director said.

Scott Reed said Friday night that Virginia contacted DePaul athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto and received permission to talk to Leitao, who was at a basketball tournament for NBA prospects in Portsmouth, Va. DePaul seniors Drake Diener and Quemont Greer are playing in the tournament.

Reed said Leitao talked to Virginia officials Friday morning and was back on campus later in the day. He told the Associated Press that Leitao said nothing about the meeting.

Virginia is seeking a replacement for Pete Gillen, who resigned after seven seasons and just one NCAA tournament appearance. Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage declined to comment Friday night on the search, including the Leitao interview, the AP reported.

Just one year ago, Leitao announced that he had withdrawn his name from consideration for the then-open coaching job at St. John's in New York.

"My family and I are pleased to know we'll be continuing our stay at DePaul," Leitao said at that time.

When Leitao said he would remain at DePaul for the remaining three years of his contract, Ponsetto said, "We know now why Dave is considered such a jewel by other top programs in the country."

Leitao, who is 58-34 in three seasons at DePaul but failed to make the NCAA tournament this season, later signed a contract extension in September 2004, a six-year deal that contains a buyout clause. When he signed the new deal, Ponsetto said the contract offered "protections for him and DePaul."

So if Virginia hired Leitao, it could be looking at two buyouts—Leitao's and the approximately $2 million buyout Gillen received in March.

South Carolina coach Dave Odom denied a published report earlier this week that he had been offered the Virginia position. Odom, a former Cavaliers assistant and Wake Forest's head coach, met with Littlepage during the Final Four in St. Louis but has said they did not talk about his "potential interest" in the Virginia job.

U.Va. meets with DePaul coach
Leitao could be second choice behind Smith for basketball opening
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Apr 9, 2005

CHARLOTTESVILLE - DePaul basketball coach Dave Leitao visited Virginia this week to cheer on two of his former players at the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. Leitao apparently never made it to Charlottesville, but the University of Virginia remains interested in the former Connecticut assistant.

U.Va. requested and received permission from DePaul late this week to speak to Leitao, Scott Reed, the Chicago school's sports information director, said last night. Reed said he was under the impression that U.Va. representatives met with Leitao yesterday then flew him back to Chicago on the school's jet.

The Washington Post, which cited flight tracking data, reported last night that a U.Va. jet flew from Charlottesville to Norfolk yesterday. The plane later flew to Midway Airport in Chicago, the Post reported, and then returned to Charlottesville.

Leitao attended a luncheon at DePaul yesterday afternoon, Reed said, and gave him no indication of his level of interest in the U.Va. opening.

John T. Casteen III, president of U.Va., formerly held that post at the University of Connecticut. During Casteen's tenure at UConn, Leitao was an assistant there under Jim Calhoun. The Huskies' Hall of Fame coach has recommended Leitao highly to Casteen.

Virginia's decision to officially initiate discussions with Leitao, 43, might indicate that the school no longer views Kentucky coach Tubby Smith as a realistic option in its search to replace Pete Gillen, who stepped down last month.

Smith has long been at the top of U.Va.'s wish list, numerous sources have told The Times-Dispatch.

In college basketball circles, few have taken seriously the notion that Smith would leave one of the nation's most storied programs for Virginia, which has advanced to the NCAA tournament once in the past eight seasons. But U.Va. officials, most notably Athletic Director Craig Littlepage and his No. 2 man, Jon Oliver, believed otherwise, sources told the T-D. And so the Cavaliers continued to court Smith, who recently completed his eighth season at Kentucky.

At UK, Smith earns more than $2 million annually and stands to receive another $4 million in bonuses in the next six years. Like Leitao, Smith was spotted Thursday at the PIT at Churchland High. It's unclear if U.Va. officials met face to face this week with Smith or his representatives, but sources said the school launched an ambitious bid to land one of the nation's most respected and successful coaches.

Virginia has been prepared to offer Smith more than $3 million annually, sources said.

The Scotland, Md., native is no stranger to ACC country. Smith attended High Point (N.C.) University and spent seven years as an assistant coach at Virginia Commonwealth. His wife, Donna, is from Richmond and still has family there.

Smith has compiled a 219-58 record at UK. In his first season with the Wildcats, they won the NCAA title.

Leitao, 44, recently completed his third season at DePaul, where his record is 58-34. He guided the Blue Demons to the NIT his first season, to the NCAAs his second and to the NIT his third. In 2004, DePaul lost to eventual champion UConn in the NCAA tournament's second round.

In two seasons as coach at Northeastern, his alma mater, in the mid '90s, Leitao went 22-35, after which he rejoined Calhoun's staff at UConn. Last summer, he agreed to a six-year contract extension with DePaul, which will become a Big East member this fall. His deal includes a buyout that reportedly could cost another school as much as $3 million to hire Leitao away from DePaul.