If hired, will Leitao make a difference?
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
April 14, 2005

A few of us sportswriter types were riding through the night back in February when it appeared Pete Gillen’s job status was on very shaky ground. We surmised that if the axe fell on Pete, that it only made sense for Virginia to go after a big name basketball coach.

With the program at a crossroads, a renewed commitment to become a serious contender in the ACC and on the national scene, how else could Virginia make it to the top, while at the same time exciting its fan base to fill and pay for a new

15,000-seat arena.

Top notch

We agreed that Virginia had to hit a home run with this hire, seduce an A-List guy away from a powerhouse. The only alternative was to take a risk by hiring a diamond in the rough, who could turn into the next Paul Hewitt.

As we navigated through the darkness, we began to assemble the A-List: coaches with winning percentages in the high 70s; top two finishes on a regular basis in their conference; consistently recruiting top 50 talent; regular appearances in the NCAAs and good records in the Big Dance.

Well, you’ve got your Bob Knight, Eddie Sutton, Lute Olson, John Chaney, Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Bob Huggins, Mark Few, Roy Williams, Tubby Smith, Rick Pitino, John Calipari, Jim Calhoun (69.7) and Tom Izzo (69.2).

Then you have to figure how moveable any of those guys are. Just how improbable would it be to get them to leave great and comfortable situations to take over a program that has won one ACC Tournament Championship in 52 years. You also have to figure in that some of these guys might not fit in at Virginia, which leaves a very small number to shoot at.

Obviously, Virginia felt as if Kentucky’s Tubby Smith would be a perfect fit in every category to head the Cavaliers’ program and that a shot in the dark, attached to crazy cash and family ties, might do the trick.

Apparently Tubby thought about it long and hard all the way through last Saturday night, when sources say Virginia was still on the Kentucky coach’s mind. That courtship ended sometime Sunday or Monday morning and couldn’t be revived.

You have to give UVa President John Casteen and Athletic Director Craig Littlepage credit for going after Smith, armed with a Brinks truck.

Big bucks

According to sources, when Virginia started its pursuit of an A-Lister, it thought it would take about $2 million a year of investment. Those searchers were rudely awakened when they needed to go back to the bank and return with bigger numbers ... much bigger numbers.

When it became apparent that even tons of cash wasn’t enough to steal a big name from coaching paradise, Virginia turned to its second choice, DePaul’s Dave Leitao.

Now, this becomes somewhat of a dilemma. Leitao is not an A-Lister, though Virginia hopes he will become one someday. Most Wahoo fans had never heard of him until a few weeks ago. Most still don’t know how to pronounce his name (Lay-

toe) and couldn’t pick him out of a crowd.

But there’s a good chance he will become their new basketball coach within a few days.

Our spies say that Virginia’s lawyers are drawing up a contract proposal as you sip your morning coffee and will present an offer to the

43-year-old candidate in the very near future. There are indications from Chicago that if things look in order, Leitao will accept, but probably only after a visit to Charlottesville for a closer look-see.

The question is, how will he be received?

Had Virginia not swung for the fences, there’s a good chance Leitao would have been the

No. 1 candidate on Littlepage’s list from the outset, which would mean that the Cavaliers got their man.

But will the big name fantasy be a burden upon Leitao’s back if he is introduced as UVa’s next coach?

Some Wahoo fans have said they will welcome him with open arms and support him even though they were hoping for someone else. Others have doubts.

Is that fair? No, but it is reality.

Leitao will have to prove himself, win over the skeptics and create excitement in the program to put it on the upswing that Littlepage guaranteed a few months back when he spoke of UVa’s basketball future.

The DePaul coach comes from good stock. UConn’s Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun considers Leitao family. He loves the guy and is confident Leitao will become a great coach, enough so to convince Casteen, the former prez in Storrs, to dial up Lincoln Park.

But some UVa fans won’t be won over without evidence that Leitao can get the job done.

One e-mailer wrote this about the probable hiring of Leitao:

“How about bringing in a guy whose five-year record as a head coach [Northeastern and DePaul] is 80-69? Scary isn’t it?”

The author went on to predict that Wahoo fans will continue to sit on their hands and their checkbooks until mid-February of next season to see if this guy can get over the .500 hump in the ACC.

For every B-List coach, every diamond in the rough who evolves into a household name, there are several dozen who get fired four years later.

Leitao can probably double his salary and then some by accepting the Virginia job where his last two predecessors failed to raise the Cavaliers’ record to fans’ expectations. Some describe those expectations as delusions of grandeur of competing with Duke and Carolina. Others argue that if Wake Forest can do it, then why not Virginia?

Leitao would be leaving the safety of a program where he might be able to coach forever. Or could he? ESPN’s Digger Phelps, who coached Notre Dame to glory, calls DePaul “the best job in the country” now that the Blue Demons are headed to the Big East.

“It has the best recruiting base, one of the three biggest media markets, realistic expectations, a great city, a great school. You can’t beat it,” Phelps said.

But there are issues. DePaul is largely a commuter school, with only a few thousand of the 22,000 students living on campus. The school plays its home games in the off campus Allstate Arena, which makes it difficult for students to get to games. According to a WSCR radio reporter we chatted with this week, usually the 17,500-seat arena in close by Rosemont, usually sits about half empty for DePaul games.

And what if DePaul’s entry into the Big East flops? It’s a competitive league and somebody’s got to finish with a losing record in the league. How safe would the DePaul coach be if that happened on an annual basis, even at a private school that places more emphasis on graduation rates than winning basketball games.

Every indication is that other than his won-lost record, Leitao is a terrific candidate and a good fit for Virginia. Only time will tell if Littlepage and Casteen made a brilliant decision or whiffed in a pursuit of greatness.

Heart abnormality endangers UVa tight end
By Doug Doughty
981-3341
The Roanoke Times

CHARLOTTESVILLE - People have died from the same heart condition that required Virginia tight end Jonathan Stupar to undergo surgery last winter.

It made Stupar's two earlier foot operations seem insignificant by comparison. In the second of those operations, doctors stabilized his right foot by replacing one screw with a larger screw, but if there was a temptation to ask, "Why me?" Stupar said, it was quickly quieted.

Stupar's father, Steve, said the need for a second foot operation was a blessing that may have saved his son's life.

After returning from Virginia's trip to Idaho for the MPC Computers Bowl, Stupar was in the training room when he off-handedly mentioned that he had fainted and had suffered a momentary loss of vision while on Christmas break.

"A trainer happened to overhear the conversation and said, 'Hold on a minute,'" Steve Stupar said.

When tested, the 6-foot-5, 248-pound Jonathan Stupar was found to have a resting heart rate of about 240 beats per minute - more than three times an average rate - and later was diagnosed with Wolfe Parkinson White Syndrome.

According to Stupar's father, there are four circuits that regulate blood flow to the heart and Jonathan had a fifth, an abnormality that could pump blood to his heart at a dangerous rate.

"The doctor told him that he had a 90 percent chance of dying from this up till the time of the surgery," Steve Stupar said. "It was a very trying time for all of us."

Corrective surgery was far from routine.

"It's not as risky as it used to be," Stupar's father said. "If the extra circuit is on the right side of his heart, which it was, and if it's too close to one of the good circuits, [often] they won't do the surgery."

The Stupars have come to learn that cardiologist Dr. J. Paul Mounsey from the University of Virginia Medical Center is one of the experts in the field.

"Dr. Mounsey said, 'If I get in there and find it's too close, I'll come out and we'll have a conversation about John's life after football,'" Steve Stupar said. "I know Jon wasn't thinking that way, but they won't eliminate one of the good circuits to eliminate this one.

"He's less than a quarter-inch away from being done playing football. Dr. Mounsey said if it was anyone else doing the surgery, he wouldn't have recommended it be done. He felt, because of his experience and his confidence in his own ability, that he could do it."

Jon Stupar was awake throughout the procedure and saw the doctor run tubes through his groin and shoulder.

"They were allowed to keep you awake and I was like, 'Yeah, sure,'" he said. "I was really kind of excited to see it. It was amazing, truly amazing."

The extra circuit was removed with a freezing agent because it did not radiate through the other circuits as quickly.

"He got it on the first try," Steve Stupar said. "He had told us that Jon could be in surgery anywhere from eight to 12 hours. It takes a full hour to make one attempt because you're trying to hit something that's microscopic. It goes from minus-30 degrees centigrade to minus-60 degrees centigrade. He holds it there for five minutes and then it snaps."

Stupar missed hardly any class time and, when spring practice started April1, he was ready for any work the coaches wanted to give him. The extra circuit is no longer an issue.

"The doctors say it's like an electrical cord to a lamp," his father said. "Once you cut it, the problem is solved."

UVa's orthopedic doctors also have inspected Stupar's foot and given him full clearance, welcome news for a UVa football program that is looking to replace Heath Miller, winner of the John Mackey Award as the nation's top tight end, and dependable Patrick Estes.

The only other scholarship tight end in the program, Tom Santi, is not taking part in spring practice as the result of offseason shoulder surgery.

Stupar, a consensus All-American in high school, is far from a fill-in. He was rated the No.2 tight end in the country by SuperPrep in 2002 as a senior at State College (Pa.) Area High School.

Stupar, redshirted as a freshman in 2003, suffered a broken foot two days before UVa broke camp last season. He was scheduled for surgery almost immediately and returned for the Oct.16 game at Florida State, where he was on the field for nearly 35 plays and had a reception for 13 yards.

That turned out to be his last reception of the season. One week later, after the Cavaliers played at Duke, he underwent a check-up X-ray that showed a screw inserted in the first operation had come loose.

"I was just crushed," he said. "I was so looking forward to the remainder of the season. After the first surgery, everybody wanted to get me back as soon as possible. I just went a little bit too fast for it to heal. The second time, I was just like, 'Let's just get it fixed.'"

The second operation required a bone graft and was followed by a much longer convalescence, a sequence of events that has only strengthened the Stupars' faith.

"He was on the sideline for four months," Steve Stupar said. "For maybe the first time in his life, he was out of shape. He had always gone from football to basketball to baseball and track. He never noticed any symptoms. Only when he started to get back into shape did he start getting these symptoms.

"Once they found out, they wouldn't let him do one push-up or jumping jack. Because of him, I think the University of Virginia has changed its policy now and every single athlete gets this test."

Stupar's father played at Penn State and his son's college decision attracted considerable attention, "but if Jon only left Penn State for this purpose, whether he ever plays or not, it was well worth it," Steve Stupar said.

"He's a walking miracle in my estimation."

DePaul on guard if Leitao leaves
By David Haugh
Tribune staff reporter
April 14, 2005

The fatigue in Dave Leitao's voice Wednesday night suggested he was as tired of speculation over him leaving DePaul for Virginia as Blue Demons fans were.

Leitao vowed to end the suspense "sooner rather than later because it's affecting a lot of people," but felt awkward discussing a job that had not been officially offered to him.

"It hasn't happened yet," Leitao said of a contract offer from Virginia. "There's nothing really to go on or say beyond that."

Leitao called it premature to assume he was leaning toward taking a Virginia job believed to be more lucrative than his $660,000-a-year deal at DePaul.

He acknowledged hoping the situation would be resolved by the end of the week but called Virginia's overture nothing out of the ordinary for a successful program.

"It's part of what you go through and all part of the coaching profession," Leitao said.

The profession also demands that employers of coaches as hot as Leitao prepare emergency plans, and DePaul has.

While athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto still may not know if Leitao will stay, she already has begun planning for when he might go.

DePaul athletic officials have made preliminary phone calls to gather information and gauge the interest of potential successors to Leitao, according to two college basketball sources with knowledge of the process. Ponsetto also has received calls from interested coaches, a source said.

The communication indicates how serious DePaul considers the overtures Virginia has made to Leitao, who is being compared by some critics to former Northwestern football coach Gary Barnett for listening to three schools in less than a year.

Ponsetto, who did not return a phone call, told WMVP-AM 1000 Wednesday morning she believed Virginia eventually will make an offer but expected Leitao to return for his fourth season. With NCAA rules allowing coaches back on the road this weekend to recruit, as Leitao indicated, it serves both schools' best interests to have the matter resolved quickly.

"There is a sense of urgency in that respect," Ponsetto said.

So much so that DePaul wants to waste no time in hiring a new coach if Virginia persuades Leitao that the ACC is more appealing than the enlarged Big East that DePaul is joining.

Virginia, which already paid $2 million to buy out the remaining years on Pete Gillen's contract, was said to be willing to offer Kentucky coach Tubby Smith as much as $3 million per season. It stands to reason Leitao would receive a raise that would put his salary beyond seven figures.

Add the $2 million it could cost Virginia to buy out Leitao's contract, and that amounts to as much as $5 million the Cavaliers might spend on the coaching position next season.

Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage told the Daily Press in Newport News, Va., in an e-mail message that "the search is progressing well within the parameters and time frame outlined originally."

Within days of forcing out Gillen on March 14, Littlepage estimated it would take four to six weeks to find a replacement.

The timing could not be worse for DePaul, which signed Leitao to a six-year contract extension last summer.

Asked if Leitao entertaining a job offer so soon after that deal was signed upset her, Ponsetto said, "I'm not disappointed. Would I like for the kids to not be in this position now? Absolutely. But that's the climate that has been created."
 

DePaul coach will get offer from U.Va., school's AD believes
DePaul AD Jean Lenti Ponsetto expects coach Dave Leitao to get an offer from Virginia but doesn't "have a sense" whether he'll take it.
BY DAVE JOHNSON
247-4649
Published April 14, 2005

DePaul athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto on Wednesday said she believes Virginia will make an offer to Blue Demons basketball coach Dave Leitao. What she doesn't know is how things will unfold from there.

"I don't have a sense that he's going to leave," Ponsetto said during a radio interview with ESPN 1000 in Chicago. "I know he's had conversations with them, but I don't know if they've offered Dave the position at this point in time. I fully expect that they would."

Leitao, who just completed his third season at DePaul, became the first known candidate to meet with U.Va. officials regarding the job on Friday. He is considered to be the front-runner to replace Pete Gillen, who resigned under pressure on March 14.

Leitao, 44, makes a reported annual salary of $660,000 and has five seasons remaining on his contract. He has had no public comment since Friday when, in a brief television interview with WGN during a Chicago Cubs game, he said he was happy at DePaul.

With coaches allowed back on the road this weekend for recruiting, Ponsetto would like the situation to be resolved quickly.

"He knows we have an important recruiting weekend upcoming," she said. "There is some urgency from that respect.

Ponsetto was also asked if she was upset with Leitao, who was awarded a six-year contract extension after flirting with the St. John's job last spring, for looking at another position.

"I'm not disappointed," she said. "Would I like for the kids to not be in this position now? Absolutely. But that's the climate that has been created. I don't want to mislead anybody by saying Dave will leave, but I don't want to be naïve enough to say he's not looking at that option."

Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage, who projected a four-to-six week process, would not say whether the school is close to making an offer.

"The search is progressing well within the parameters and time frame outlined originally," Littlepage said in a brief e-mail exchange on Wednesday.

If J.D. say so, hire Leitao
J.D. Moss, Cavalier Daily Sports Columnist

In writing last week, I was not quite sold on DePaul coach Dave Leitao to replace departed Pete Gillen. Perhaps my interest still lay with Marc Iavaroni, perhaps I was still holding off the pipe dream of Tubby Smith. Whatever the case, I had scratched the surface of Leitao but not really looked in depth at the likely next coach.

Over the last week, however, I delved into Dave Leitao, reading as much as I could about him. The more I read, the more impressed with Leitao I became.

With The Daily Progress reporting Tuesday that Tubby Smith had said "no," Leitao immediately moves atop Virginia's list.

ESPN's Andy Katz cited a source close to the DePaul staff who said Leitao was the top candidate and would accept if there was enough support for the program and the compensation was high enough. Perhaps it is time to learn how to pronounce it: LAY-Toe.

Given the wide array of inaccuracies in the press last week, I'm not quite sure I believe anything I hear. Last week, numerous outlets did incorrectly report South Carolina coach Dave Odom would take the job, and The Daily Progress erroneously reported that Leitao was in Charlottesville Thursday. Add that to rumors of a supposed stealth "big name" and nothing makes sense.

With all of these mystery "sources" saying conflicting things, either Athletic Director Craig Littlepage is a very confused man or there is far too much misinformation to guess reality.

As poorly conducted as this search has been and as much criticism as it has gotten nationally, if Virginia ends it with Leitao leading the program, it cannot be called a failure.

I am not saying that Leitao comes without question marks, but rather, that Virginia, a program that has only 15 NCAA tournament appearances in its century of existence, managed to attract one of the nation's up-and-coming coaches despite little success of late. If Littlepage hires Leitao, who would be the first African-American head coach at Virginia for any sport, it will be a fantastic hire on his merits.

As I've said in this space, Leitao has an impeccable pedigree. The fact that Hall of Fame Coach Jim Calhoun hired him not once but twice speaks volumes of Calhoun's opinion. He was the associate head coach when Connecticut won a national championship.

At DePaul, the 43-year-old immediately turned around a struggling program. This was a program that had a winning record just twice in the previous seven years. The two years before Leitao inherited the squad, DePaul won a combined 21 games. Leitao, however, won 16 his first year en route to the NIT and then 22 his second year, earning an NCAA bid.

Leitao may not have made the NCAA tournament this season, but he also saw his top incoming recruit go pro. He somehow convinced the nation's No. 10 recruit, Dorrell Wright, to commit to DePaul even though he was from California. Unfortunately for DePaul, Wright went pro and ended up being selected 19th overall. While a top-tier school like Duke can survive such defections, mid-majors like DePaul have significantly less margin for error.

Still, he has shown an amazing ability to recruit. His first class ranked in the top 25 in the nation as he snared top-100 players from Florida, Maryland and New York. Then came a class that still finished in the top 30 even with Wright not counting.

This year, Leitao went into Michigan and Texas to snare two of the nation's top-50 recruits. By comparison, Virginia has not gotten two top-50 players or three top-100 players since the fabled Mapp-Watson-Mason-Rogers class.

Let's remember that this was at DePaul, a Catholic University in the middle of Chicago with little tradition, no football and an off-campus arena.

Arm Leitao with the nation's most beautiful campus, the tradition and pageantry of the ACC and a state-of-the-art new arena, and it's almost scary to think what he may be able to do. I'd imagine recruiting will certainly pick up, even though the Cavaliers only have one scholarship available for 2006-2007.

What else can Leitao bring? Discipline, development and defense come to mind. In his first season at DePaul, he placed three players on the Conference Academic Honor Roll, the most in a decade. He put two on that list his second season, including the school's first College Sports Information Directors Association (CoSIDA) Academic All-District player in 12 years.

His players improved too at DePaul; I cannot recall one Virginia player getting noticeably better in his four years of coaching from Gillen. Leitao placed one player on C-USA first team and another on third team. Virginia has not had a first team All-ACC player since Bryant Stith in 1992 and did not have a single player on any team each of the last three seasons.

Leitao's teams also play defense, as his first team kept opponents under 65 points per game, something unheard of with old coach Pete Gillen.

No one is going to be upset if Virginia somehow were to land Tubby Smith, but I'm now convinced that Leitao will be a great fit in Charlottesville as well. I just hope Mr. Littlepage and Mr. Casteen are of the same opinion.