UVa goes with Leitao
Dave Leitao leaves DePaul to become the first black head coach of a Cavaliers team.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

Even before Virginia had a position to offer, there was talk that the Cavaliers needed a new men's basketball coach who would cause fans, recruits and the general public to say "wow."

At the end of a whirlwind two days of intersectional flights, meetings and soul-searching deliberation, UVa administrators probably uttered a "whew" or two.

Dave Leitao informed his DePaul team late Friday afternoon that he had accepted Virginia's offer, according to Blue Demons' athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto.

"I hate to be the one to confirm it for you," Ponsetto said "but he's taken the Virginia job. Dave's already met with our kids."

Virginia sports information director Rich Murray said at 8:30 p.m. that he did not anticipate issuing a release Friday night.

"We're taking the night to put everything into place because there are a number of moving pieces on this," said UVa athletic director Craig Littlepage, who headed the search. "You can imagine, though, that I'm ... happy."

Leitao, 44, will be the first black to serve as head coach of one of the Cavaliers' athletic programs.

He will take over a team that finished 14-15 this year in the last of seven seasons under Pete Gillen, who resigned March 14. The Cavaliers' pursuit of Leitao escalated after Kentucky coach Tubby Smith let it be known last weekend that he would not consider a move.

Littlepage asked for permission to speak to Leitao approximately one week before he flew to Charlottesville for a tour of the grounds Thursday. The only candidate to visit UVa, he returned to Chicago late Thursday but did not inform Ponsetto of his decision for 24 hours.

"I think Dave loved his job here at DePaul," Ponsetto said. "I really do. I just think it was such a nice opportunity for him and his family, financially, that it was something he really had to take a look at."

Leitao signed a renegotiated six-year contract this past fall and was making $660,000 per year, according to the Chicago Tribune. His UVa predecessor, Gillen, was making $900,000.

Ponsetto said she was "convinced" that Leitao agonized over the decision. He was 58-34 in three seasons at DePaul, including a trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2004, when the Blue Demons finished 23-11

"I think he'll be spectacular," Ponsetto said. "I think he will be absolutely spectacular. I think he's a wonderful coach and I really enjoyed the time I worked with him here at DePaul and wish him nothing but the best.

"He's really one of the bright stars in our profession. If people are patient with him, he'll be successful. I really don't know much about the personnel, but Dave's a proven recruiter, a proven technician."

Leitao is a 1983 graduate of Northeastern, where he played for Jim Calhoun, who would be his boss during two stints as an assistant at UConn.

For the first four years that Leitao was at Connecticut, current UVa president John Casteen was the UConn president.

In 1990, Leitao interviewed for a position on the staff of then-new Virginia coach Jeff Jones, but remained at Connecticut after the Huskies boosted his salary.

Leitao later accepted the head-coaching job at his alma mater but resigned following a 4-24 season in 1995-96.

Leitao, who had gone 18-11 in his first season at Northeastern, returned to Calhoun's staff at UConn and got his next head job when he replaced Pat Kennedy at DePaul in 2002.

Leitao had said that he hoped to have the matter resolved by this weekend, when coaches are allowed to recruit off campus for the first time this spring.

It is unclear what approach Leitao will take in recruiting for Virginia, which will have 12 scholarship players next year, provided all nine players with remaining eligibility and three fall signees enroll in September.

Virginia will not have a scholarship senior on next year's team and already has awarded its 13th allotted scholarship for 2006-2007 to Charlottesville resident Stephen Kendall, who plays at the Blue Ridge School.

Gillen's teams were hurt by attrition but there is no firm indication that any players plan to transfer, despite word from two Division I head coaches that rising junior Gary Forbes might be contemplating a move.

"He ain't going nowhere," teammate J.R. Reynolds said.

Unheralded 'jumbo' athlete moving up prospect charts
Governor too big not to notice
By Doug Doughty
THE ROANOKE TIMES

There probably aren’t a dozen football prospects in Virginia who have as many scholarship offers as Sean Gottschalk, a 6-foot-5, 250-pound tight end with whom I was unfamiliar until the last week.

Duke this week became the seventh school to make a scholarship offer to Gottschalk, whose earlier offers had come from Syracuse, Boston College, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia and Virginia Tech.

“If you get an offer from, it usually means you’re a pretty good student,” said Deep Run head coach Lenny Pritchard, who said Gottschalk has a 3.7 grade-point average and scored more than 1,000 on the SAT, with hopes of going higher.

Gottschalk is entering his third year as a starter at Deep Run High School outside Richmond. He played on the junior varsity in 2002, the first year that Deep Run was open.

“He might be the first and last of our college prospects,” said Pritchard, whose quarterback and Gottschalk dwarf most of his offensive lineman.

(As an intern with the Richmond Times-Dispatch in the summer of 1973, I was a regular at the Deep Run Hunt Club, acquiring a knowledge of horse shows for which I have found no subsequent use.)

Pritchard, a former Virginia lineman and 1988 lettermen, is one of the few ex-Cavaliers who have gone into coaching. Gottschalk’s father is a Naval Academy graduate with a degree from UVa; Gottschalk’s mother is a Virginia Tech graduate.

“Not much of an angle there,” Pritchard said.

It will be interesting to see what position Gottschalk plays in college. He was big enough to play the offensive line at Deep Run, but Pritchard felt Gottschalk was too athletic not to use at a skilled or semi-skilled position. He had 10 receptions for 96 yards last season, when he also had 56 tackles and six sacks, according to numbers published by recruiting analyst Chris Horne.

NOT LONG AFTER I covered those horse shows, one of my first professional assignments for hire was in Lovington, where I covered the Brookville Bees’ football team against host Nelson County in September 1974.

I wasn’t sure if Nelson County had produced a college prospect since that time, but coach Tim Crawford said Friday that the Governors sent John Scott to Virginia Tech, where he was a four-year letterman (1979-82).

OK, without looking, what position did John Scott play?

(The 1979 Tech media guide says that Scott, No. 3, was a safety.)

In any case, Crawford thinks Nelson finally has another Division I-A prospect in 6-5, 300-pound offensive guard Robert “B.J.” Cabell Jr. Among the schools who have requested tapes are South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, Georgia Tech, Florida, Florida State, Oklahoma and Nebraska.

“That’s what happens when you’re 6-5, 300, and your name gets listed somewhere,” Crawford said.

Crawford thinks Cabell should qualify academically. His overall grade-point average is 2.7 and his core GPA, now at 2.4, has been rising steadily since his freshman year.

“The two schools that interest him the most are Virginia and Maryland,” said Crawford, who reports that Cabell was at Virginia for camp last summer and has been courted by Maryland for its camp this summer.

Virginia Tech has not had any contact with Cabell but “if they’re not looking at him, there’s got to be something wrong,” Crawford said. “As close as we are (35 miles) to Charlottesville, it seems like they only get as far as Amherst (10 miles west on U.S. 29) and turn around.”

ANOTHER PROSPECT in UVa’s back yard is Asa Chapman, a 6-5, 340-pound defensive lineman from Orange County (35 miles east of Charlottesville).

“Oh, he’s a Division I athlete all right,” Orange coach John Kayajanian said. “He’s too big and too fast not to be.”

Grades could be an issue for Chapman, who arrived at Orange’s doorstep when his grandfather brought him south from New Jersey two years ago. Kayajanian already is giving some thought to Chapman playing at nearby Fork Union Military Academy.

IT PROBABLY COMES as little consolation to ex-Virginia basketball coach Pete Gillen that no team with a losing record finished higher in USA Today’s final Sagarin rankings than his Cavaliers (14-15).

Moreover, UVa’s schedule was rated No. 1 after the national championship game. The next-highest rated team with a losing record was Gillen’s old school, Providence (13-17), at 72nd.

Virginia Tech (16-14) was 87th in the final Sagarin rankings, with a schedule that moved up to No. 60 with some early season clunkers. Florida State, the only ACC program to finish lower than the two Virginia schools, was 97th.

TWO DIVISION I head coaches have told me this week that Virginia sophomore Gary Forbes is looking into the possibility of transferring. A member of the Gillen staff said he had spoken to Forbes earlier in the week and “it seemed that everything was all right.”

Repeated attempts to contact Forbes on Friday were in vain, so I’m reserving judgment.

AS OF 4 P.M. FRIDAY, there was no news on Dave Leitao’s acceptance of an offer to succeed Gillen, with terms of the contract the likely reason for a delay.

Yes, Virginia
DePaul's Dave Leitao will take over a struggling basketball program facing a crossroad.
BY DAVE JOHNSON
247-4649
Published April 16, 2005

Thirty-two days after it began, the University of Virginia's search for a men's basketball coach ended when DePaul's Dave Leitao agreed to terms Friday night.

Leitao, the only candidate to formally interview for the job, told his players he was leaving during a Friday night team meeting.

Virginia officials offered no confirmation Friday night, but U.Va. athletic director Craig Littlepage wrote in an e-mail that the school expects to have an announcement today. Leitao could not be reached for comment Friday night.

Virginia first met with Leitao regarding the job on April 8, when Leitao was in Portsmouth watching two of his former players in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. U.Va. flew in a delegation to meet him Friday morning and returned him to Chicago in a university jet that afternoon.

Leitao and his wife, Joyce, flew to Charlottesville this past Thursday to tour the campus and meet school officials. One was Rick Turner, the university's dean of African-American Affairs.

"I was extremely impressed with him and his wife," Turner said. "When I first met him, I immediately thought about how effective he's going to be when he goes into a parent's home."

By the time the Leitaos left Charlottesville Thursday night, he already had received an offer from Virginia. The Chicago Tribune reported it to be for as much as $1.5 million a year, nearly double his salary at DePaul.

"In three seasons with our program Dave has shown tremendous class, integrity and dedication to producing student-athletes DePaul University can be proud of on the playing floor and in the community," Blue Demon athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto said. "We wish him well at Virginia."

Leitao has been a head coach for five seasons. He spent the last three at DePaul, where he went 58-34 and took the Blue Demons to postseason appearances in 2004 and '05. From 1994-96, he was the head coach at his alma mater, Northeastern, where he was 22-35.

Sandwiched around his two seasons at Northeastern were separate stints on Jim Calhoun's staff at Connecticut. During his first, from 1986-94, he met UConn president John Casteen, who now holds that office at U.Va.

Leitao's was one of the early names to surface when Pete Gillen announced his resignation on March 14. Virginia's dream candidate was Kentucky coach Tubby Smith, who, according to sources, the Cavaliers were willing to pay nearly $3 million a year.

But talks with Smith never reached the serious stage, and at least twice he publicly denied he was interested in the position.

Leitao takes over Virginia's program at an interesting point of its evolution.

The Cavaliers have had four losing seasons in the last 10 years, during which time they are 0-2 in NCAA tournament games. It is U.Va.'s worst stretch since before Terry Holland arrived as head coach in 1974.

Blue Devils, Cavaliers vie for ACC crown
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
April 16, 2005

Another Saturday, another big test for the Virginia men’s lacrosse team.

This one’s magnitude, however, may be a notch above the others.

No. 3 Virginia travels today to Durham for a meeting with No. 2 Duke in a game that will determine the ACC regular-season title.

Both teams sport gaudy records - Virginia is 8-1, Duke is 11-1 - which is interesting considering both had rather un-gaudy marks just a season ago.

Both the Cavaliers and Blue Devils, regular NCAA participants, were saddled with 5-8 marks last year and missed the postseason.

“I think Duke is better than they thought they would be at this moment. I hesitate to compare the teams and the seasons we’ve had. It could be that the two teams are more similar now,” Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. “Last year what we went through with some injuries and such was different from Duke’s 5-8 record. Again, right now I think there are a lot of similarities between the two teams more than anything else.”

One trait the teams share this season? Losses to Johns Hopkins.

Virginia fell to the top-ranked Blue Jays, 9-7, three weeks ago in Baltimore while the Blue Devils lost a double-overtime thriller to JHU last Friday.

Starsia admits there is a certain familiarity with all three ACC foes but especially with Duke.

“You feel that this will be a battle on both sides. I don’t know the [other] personnel better than I know the Duke kids. Even more than Maryland and Carolina, we run into Duke in recruiting for the kids that are good students and good players,” Starsia said. “Sometimes I feel that I know them as well as I know my own.”

That familiarity has usually resulted in some fairly close contests in recent years. One-goal games are certainly not uncommon and several games in the recent history of the series have been nailbiters.

Going back to 1998, seven of the last 12 games have been decided by one or two goals. All three of Duke’s wins over UVa since 1996 were by one goal (1999, 2001, ‘02). In fact, of all the Blue Devils’ wins since 1956 (7), five have been by one goal and another by three.

“I think familiarity breeds contempt. We know each other well. Jokingly, I told the team the other day that we’ll review an exercise called ‘win the close game’ because we haven’t done that for a while and haven’t had a lot of close games this year,” Starsia said. “I told my assistant [Marc Van Arsdale] that this will be a close game. You just feel that this will be a battle.”

Given the expectations of a “battle” by Starsia it will be interesting to see how much energy the Cavaliers have left, win or lose, with a makeup contest with Denver on Sunday night at Klockner Stadium.

Virginia was originally supposed to play Denver on Feb. 28 but the game was postponed because of a snowstorm.

“It’s a unique situation with both these games. We told the kids Monday that we would really only prepare for the Duke game all this week,” Starsia said. “Then I told them that the minute the Duke game ends until the minute the Denver game is over, we need your undivided attention.”

Note. Former Covenant standout Bo Carrington is a freshman on the Duke roster. Carrington, a two-time first team All-Central Virginia selection, has appeared in two games this season. He scored his first collegiate goal against Mount St. Mary’s.

Virginia rolls past Va. Tech
By Kris Wright / Daily Progress staff writer
April 16, 2005

It had been nearly two weeks since the Virginia women’s lacrosse team had played a home game so forgive the Cavaliers if it took a half to get back into the Klockner groove.

UVa controlled the entire first half against Virginia Tech en route to a five-goal lead at intermission, but it still was apparent that the Cavs weren’t clicking on all cylinders. A halftime talk and some minor adjustments quickly fixed the missing precision, however, as Virginia ripped off eight goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half and cruised to an 18-3 victory.

“In the first half, we weren’t finishing our chances like we wanted to do. … After getting a talk by the coaches at halftime, we came out in the second half and executed and played our game,” UVa sophomore Kate Breslin said. “We wanted to work the ball around more and not just force it to the first cutter. We wanted to move the ball better and work for better shots and find the open cutters.”

Breslin was a major contributor to the early second-half surge, scoring two of the Cavs’ first three goals after intermission. On the first, she blew past Virginia Tech’s Jessica Galindo on the right side of the fan and uncorked a scorching sidearm shot that gave the hosts an 8-2 lead just 1:01 into the second frame.

On Breslin’s second tally, she took advantage of a shooting space opportunity by driving hard toward the cage. Along the way, she absorbed a stiff bump from a defender before depositing the shot at 27:45.

Also jumping into the early second-half act was midfielder Cary Chasney, who scored twice in the first three minutes of the half. A goal by Nikki Lieb (1 assist) at 24:45 capped the five-goals-in-five-minutes burst as the Cavaliers took a 12-2 lead and the Hokies just took a timeout. The break in action did little to stymie the tide as UVa added three more goals in the next four minutes and coasted to the win.

“That starting group is so good and so greedy [to make a play] sometimes. They only need a half a step or to get half a stick free to make a play and sometimes they don’t wait for things to happen,” Cavalier coach Julie Myers said. “The second group is more patient and they’re more likely to work it around and make that extra pass to get something wide open. A lot of times if you make that extra pass, things will just open up and that second group does better with that sometimes. … They did a nice job tonight.”

In the end, Virginia’s big guns - Tyler Leachman and Amy Appelt - each registered three goals and Appelt added an assist as well. Other goalscorers were Jess Wasilewski (2 goals, 1 assist), Megan O’Malley (2 goals), Meredith Lazarus (1), Ashleigh Haas (1) and Megan Havrilla (1).

“Teams always focus on them and we know anytime a team does focus on Amy and Tyler that it’s going to open things up for all the other attackers and midfielders,” Breslin said. “They do a good job of dishing it to the other attackers when teams do that.”

With all the drama removed from the scoreboard, much of the focus shifted to a good-natured sibling rivalry in the waning minutes. Virginia goalkeeper Ginger Miles, who had another solid outing in goal with five saves, had given way to freshman Kendall McBrearty between the pipes.

For the Hokies, freshman attack Kady McBrearty had already logged significant minutes - the difference now was any shots would be straight at sis. Eventually with just less than two minutes to play, Kady slipped free on the left side of the net and unleashed a solid shot toward the cage that Kendall knocked straight down for her only save of the game.

Moments later, UVa scored in transition for the 18-3 final. After the game, the two sisters embraced before sharing a laugh.

“When she came around and got free, I thought I was dead,” Kendall McBrearty said. “She shot it and it was a good shot. I just managed to save it.”

It was not the first time the two sisters had faced off. While attending different high schools last year, the siblings met on the basketball floor. Kendall McBrearty said it’s always a little strange to be on opposing sides.

“It’s different. We played basketball against each other last year because we went to different high schools and she kept getting frustrated. I didn’t want to keep pushing her like with other people. It’s just different. ... She always builds it up beforehand and says this is one of the biggest moments of our lives,” Kendall said before adding with a slight laugh. “If she had made it, I would be happy for her and I’m sure she’s happy for me. But I’m glad I saved it.””

Leitao is new UVa basketball coach
By Jerry Ratcliffe and Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writers
April 15, 2005

Virginia’s lengthy search for a new head basketball coach came to an end Friday evening when DePaul’s Dave Leitao accepted an offer to take over the Cavaliers’ program.
A well-placed source close to the Virginia search confirmed that Leitao has been hired and that the school planned to release an official statement sometime this morning. The source also indicated that Leitao would be officially introduced as the Cavaliers’ coach at a Monday news conference.
Meanwhile, sources in Chicago confirmed that Leitao met with his DePaul team at 7 p.m. Friday to inform them of his decision to take the Virginia job. A DePaul player later confirmed that the coach told the team he was leaving.
Leitao will be the first black head coach in any sport at UVa.
Over the last three years Leitao resurrected his head coaching career at the private Chicago school where he led the Blue Demons to a 58-34 record, including one trip to the NCAA Tournament and two NIT appearances. He previously served a two-year stint as head coach of his alma mater, Northeastern University, where he resigned with a losing record.
Prior to taking over Northeastern’s struggling program, Leitao had worked as an assistant coach and chief recruiter for Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun’s Connecticut program. After leaving Northeastern, Leitao returned to UConn as associate head coach and has been given credit by Calhoun for helping build the Big East school into a national basketball powerhouse.
While no terms of the Virginia contract were available, sources indicate that Leitao likely will be awarded a deal worth approximately $1.1 million annually. The length of the contract was unknown.
Leitao leaves a DePaul program with six years remaining on his contract, which paid him $660,000 annually. The Blue Demons’ program, formerly a member of Conference USA, will join the Big East beginning with the 2005-2006 season.
Exactly when the 44-year-old coach accepted Virginia’s offer wasn’t known. He flew to Charlottesville on Thursday morning, spent much of the day meeting school officials and touring athletics facilities, including the construction site of the 15,000-seat John Paul Jones Arena, which is due to be completed in May 2006.
Leitao returned to Chicago on Thursday night via Virginia’s private jet.
The former DePaul coach is expected to bring a solid brand of basketball to Virginia and a strong recruiting presence.
“He’s a Jim Calhoun clone,” said respected recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons, who has known Leitao for years. “His persona is like Calhoun’s. He learned a lot from [Calhoun]. Dave knows how to win and what it takes to win a National Championship. I think he is a perfect fit for Virginia.”
George Washington University coach Karl Hobbs, who has known Leitao since their high school days and was a former assistant coach with him at Connecticut, also offered a strong endorsement.
“Dave was part of the whole process in turning UConn into a national power,” Hobbs said. “His personality is different than Calhoun’s, but in terms of work ethic, style of play and the way he goes about his business, he really is a Calhoun clone.”
Having built a reputation as a tireless recruiter, Leitao is expected to broaden Virginia’s basketball recruiting territory because of his ties to the Northeast, Midwest and California.
“I think that’s one of the major assets he’ll bring to Virginia,” Hobbs said.
“He’s very well connected in the recruiting world,” Gibbons said. “He’s known as a player’s coach but he also has a strong code of ethics he expects his players to adhere to.”
Leitao will take over a Virginia program that went 14-15 last season, including 4-12 in the basketball-rich ACC. He will replace Pete Gillen, who resigned March 14. Gillen recorded an overall record of 118-93 in seven seasons, including only one trip to the NCAA Tournament.

Virginia TE Miller's work ethic, attitude put him at top of list
Friday, April 15, 2005
By Benjamin Hochman
Staff writer

Heath Miller is a big kid from a small town who defied the odds to become a football legend in his home state. Blah, blah, blah. We've heard this story before.

There must be something scandalous about this guy. Criminal background? Attitude problems? Leaves the toilet seat up? Anything?

"I wish I could give you something juicy," said Evan Marcus, the strength coach for the Virginia football team. "But this kid is as All-American, apple pie as you can find."

Miller, Virginia's unflappable tight end, is the pride of Swords Creek, Va., and he's the top tight end entering this month's NFL draft.

The 6-foot-4, 252-pounder has "Velcro-hands," as the draft gurus like to say. And, Marcus said, he has a rare work ethic.

Marcus should know. He has spent the past 15 years coaching in weight rooms.

"There's not many I've had better," said Marcus, who previously worked for the Saints. "I found out in my first week on the job that this kid's something special. He comes for extra workouts 'Hey Coach, are you going to open on Saturday?' He's there on Saturday (in the offseason). Our day off is Wednesday 'What can I do Wednesday?' He's always looking for ways to get better. He's never moody. Every day, he's upbeat and positive."

And he's arguably among the best tight ends in Atlantic Coast Conference history. The three-time All-ACC tight end caught a record 144 passes in his career. After a sophomore season in 2003 in which he caught 70 passes for six touchdowns, he caught 41 passes and five touchdowns last season. In his freshman year, he caught nine touchdowns. He has 20 for his career, also a conference record.

Miller is likely the only tight end that will go in the first round.

He brings average tight end speed, but fantastic instincts and the ability to slip open through a defense's front seven. He isn't regarded as a down-field threat, or a superb blocker, but he makes up for it with his timeliness -- 60 percent of his catches last year were for a first down or touchdown -- and his brains -- he scored 39 out of 50 on the Wonderlic test.

"I think there's a number of talented tight ends in the league, and it's really opened the door for the guys on the college level to be able to contribute in a number of different ways," Miller said. "They're used in a lot of different ways. They're not just blockers anymore."

"He'll handle the adjustment from college to pro so well," Marcus said. "He's mature. He's just ready. I hope New Orleans gets him."

Miller probably will be available when the Saints draft 16th, and one reason is he suffered a hernia and had surgery in early January. He's still rehabilitating.

"It's going along smoothly," Miller said.

"But the negative right now is, if you can't work out, it has to at least weigh on the minds of people: Is this going to be a lingering injury? Which it can be," said John Murphy of Next Level Scouting.

"It's an issue that has caused him (to drop) from being a mid-first rounder to more of that 20-32 range. Whereas the Jets would have had to trade up for him before, he may actually slide down far enough for them to take them with their own 26th pick. That's a team with an obvious need to fill at tight end."

Perhaps the best thing going for Miller is this is regarded as the weakest draft for tight ends in years. After Miller, there is potential second-rounder Alex Smith of Stanford. But after that, a tight end might not be selected until the second day. So a team yearning for a tight end will have to scoop up Miller, or end up combing through the lackluster free agents.

But whatever team gets Miller will get a darn good guy who also won the national award for being the top tight end, Marcus said.

"He won the Mackey Award, and he was almost embarrassed," Marcus said. "He's just shy, a quiet kid. I said, 'Congratulations,' and he just said, 'Thanks,' and put his head down. You're waiting for an 'Aw shucks' to come out of his mouth."

Fulmer wants Spurrier off his case about Vols arrests
By Elizabeth A. Davis, The Associated Press

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Still upset about the number of his players arrested recently, Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer on Thursday jabbed back at an old coaching nemesis who took a dig at the Volunteers' situation.

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier, who routinely poked fun at Tennessee while he coached at Florida, threw in a comment about the Vols when he was asked about criminal charges being dropped against Gamecocks receiver Syvelle Newton.

"I guess at one time somebody accused (Newton) of slapping him or something," Spurrier was quoted as saying in Thursday's edition of The State newspaper. "But this was not a full-blown fight. If you want to read about some full-blown fights, read about the Tennessee players, not our guys. We've not had any knockdown, drag-out fights amongst our players."

Eleven Tennessee players have been arrested or cited since February 2004 on various charges, and four players were charged this week with assault stemming from two separate fights on campus.

"He needs to take care of his own house and leave mine alone. He's got plenty of issues over there, I'm sure, to deal with," Fulmer said Thursday after practice. "We've had a lot worse things than this that we've gotten through."

South Carolina has had nine players arrested in recent months.

Spurrier will be facing Tennessee this season for the first time as South Carolina coach when the Gamecocks come to Knoxville on Oct. 29. One of his most famous jokes about Tennessee was that "You can't spell Citrus without UT," referring to the many times the Vols had to settle going to the Citrus Bowl after losing to Florida.

"It doesn't bother me one bit," Fulmer said about Spurrier. "Maybe it rained that day and he didn't get to play golf."

Fulmer apologized earlier this week to university administrators and fans for the spate of arrests. Quarterback Brent Schaeffer and receiver Bret Smith were suspended from the team Monday, a day after they were charged with misdemeanor assault for allegedly hitting a fellow student in a campus dorm. The student had a cut on his head that required four staples to close.

On Tuesday, defensive end Robert Ayers and linebacker Jerod Mayo were charged with aggravated assault in connection with a fight at a party last month on campus that left another student unconscious and with a broken jaw.

Ayers was suspended from the team, Fulmer said Thursday. Fulmer doesn't believe Mayo did anything wrong and has not suspended him even though former Tennessee football player Thomas Stallworth told police Mayo was involved.

"(Stallworth's) wrong. I told him at the time he was wrong. He thought he saw something. That's the thing with that whole deal. A lot of people thought they saw things," Fulmer said.

DePaul loses Leitao to Virginia, avoids bidding war|
By David Haugh
Chicago Tribune
(KRT)
CHICAGO — Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and Cavalier basketball fans
hope to appreciate the gift DePaul sent them for many years to come.

Dave Leitao ended a week of speculation Friday when he decided to leave DePaul
and replace Pete Gillen as Virginia’s head basketball coach.

The deal is believed to be for seven years and is expected to pay Leitao at least
$1.2 million per season with incentives that could increase that to $1.5 million, more
than double his $660,000 DePaul salary.

‘‘On behalf of the entire DePaul community I would like to thank Dave for his hard
work and for returning a winning brand of basketball both on and off the court to
DePaul University,’’ DePaul athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto said Friday night.

Virginia officials had no comment Friday night and it remains unclear when the
university will introduce its new coach. But DePaul will address its situation Monday
when Ponsetto meets the media.

A search for Leitao’s successor will begin immediately, with names such as former
Utah coach Rick Majerus and such current coaches as Dayton’s Brian Gregory and
Western Michigan’s Steve Hawkins likely to be bandied about by Ponsetto this
weekend.

Combined with the $2 million Virginia paid to buy out the remaining years of Gillen’s
contract, the $1.5 million it cost to pry Leitao out of his DePaul deal and Leitao’s
salary, the school will have approximately $4.7 million invested in its basketball
coach next season.

DePaul evidently chose not to compete with an athletic department with such deep
pockets and did not get into a bidding war for Leitao.

‘‘We’ll have something out (Saturday) on this,’’ Virginia athletic director Craig
Littlepage said in an e-mail exchange with the Newport News (Va.) Daily Press.

Ponsetto initially felt encouraged Friday that Leitao might decide to stay the longer
the afternoon dragged. Leitao had returned from a quick trip to Charlottesville, Va., on
Thursday night conflicted, according to sources, and when he had not agreed to the
job first thing Friday morning, the DePaul community gained hope.

But just before dinner, Leitao visited the athletic director’s office to tell Ponsetto
thanks for three good years, but he was leaving.

‘‘In three seasons with our program, Dave has shown tremendous class, integrity
and dedication to producing student-athletes DePaul University can be proud of on
the playing floor and in the community,’’ Ponsetto said. ‘‘We wish him well at the
University of Virginia.’’

DePaul waited several hours Friday evening to release the news to give Leitao a
chance to meet with his players on the Lincoln Park campus. Players were kept off
limits to reporters seeking their reaction.

Besides Leitao’s emotional struggles in making the decision, Friday’s delay might
have been caused because final details needed to be hammered out concerning the
length of Leitao’s contract. Contract length became a sticky issue in Virginia after
the school awarded Gillen a 10-year deal after the 2001 season only to have
mediocre years follow.

The presence of Virginia President John Casteen probably helped assuage many
concerns Leitao might have had and made him more comfortable about moving.
Casteen was the president at Connecticut during Leitao’s first of two assistant
coaching stops in Storrs, with an unsuccessful stop at Northeastern as head coach
in between.

It also helped that Virginia has invested $130 million in a new 16,000-seat campus
arena and has shown no hesitation in flexing its financial muscle for the good of the
basketball program. DePaul drew an average on 9,160 fans last season at Allstate
Arena in Rosemont.

The legacy of Leitao will be maintaining stability to a DePaul program that had
slipped at the end of Joey Meyer’s tenure and that of Pat Kennedy. The guy whose
name was mispronounced around Chicago at nearly every turn after he was hired
three years ago achieved enough notoriety in his short stay to command some of the
city’s biggest headlines in the final week.

In three seasons under Leitao, DePaul went 58-34 and returned to the NCAA
tournament in 2004 for the first time in 15 years. The Blue Demons are coming off
back-to-back 20-victory seasons and will carry into the Big East a reputation for
being a tough, defensive-minded team.

Still, to some fans he will be remembered as the latest example of a greedy coach
leaving for supposedly greener pastures, the same way Gary Barnett bolted
Northwestern for Colorado and Bill Self exited Illinois for Kansas.

‘‘Coach Leitao is just going to be an asterisk in the DePaul program,’’ said
season-ticket holder Jorge Farr, a 1996 DePaul graduate. ‘‘We need a coach who is
going to be here a long time. We need another Meyer.’’

Added freshman Claude Palacios of Wilmette: ‘‘He was a large part of our success.
... (But) it’s frustrating. That’s business, I guess. I just thought he wasn’t into that
stuff. I thought he was dedicated to the team.’’

Big day for Duke men's lacrosse team
By NOLAN HAYES : The Herald-Sun
nhayes@heraldsun.com
Apr 15, 2005 : 6:58 pm ET

It's a day of celebration and dedication for the Duke men's lacrosse program.

More than 90 former players will gather today for a reunion, which will occur at the rededication of renovated Koskinen Stadium.

The alumni will have an opportunity to remember the past at the reunion, but they hope the occasion gives them a chance to see something for the first time. No Duke team has finished 3-0 in ACC play, but the 2005 edition is in position to do it.

The No. 2 Blue Devils (11-1, 2-0) play No. 3 Virginia (8-1, 2-0) at 3 p.m. for the ACC regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament.

"It's a big game, the biggest game of the year," Duke sophomore defenseman Tony McDevitt said. "Not only because it's an ACC battle, but it's got some implications toward the future in the NCAA Tournament. And it's senior day. Obviously we've got a great group of seniors here, and you want to play hard for them. You want to make sure they go out on a high note."

The game is part of Super Saturday at Duke. The women's lacrosse team precedes the men at Koskinen Stadium with a noon matchup against Loyola, and the baseball and men's tennis teams also play at home this afternoon.

Before the season, few people would have predicted that today's Duke-Virginia contest would be for first place.

The Blue Devils had not won an ACC regular-season game or been to the NCAA Tournament since 2002 and were coming off a 5-8 season in 2004. But they won their first 11 games this season, a school-record, and they went on the road to push top-ranked Johns Hopkins to double overtime before falling 11-10 last week.

"I knew we were going to be good, and I knew we would surprise some teams," said junior attackman Dan Flannery, who is third on the team with 24 goals. "But I didn't think we'd be this good."

Duke coach Mike Pressler, in his 15th season at the school, began laying the groundwork for Duke's turnaround during the summer. He had coached lacrosse for 22 seasons at that point and had spent all 22 coordinating his team's defense.

But he decided he was going to switch to offense for the 2005 season and put assistant coach Joe Alberici, who had been running Duke's attack, in charge of the defense. Pressler sat on his decision until September, when he informed Alberici and fellow assistant Jon Lantzy of the change.

"It really wasn't up for discussion," Pressler said. "Joe just bought into it. I'll never forget his comment to me. He said, 'As coaches, we ask our players to change and adapt as they move on in their careers. If I don't do that, I sound like a hypocrite.' "

Pressler had the same opinion and figured the change could spark his team. He was right. The Blue Devils lead the nation in scoring (12.8 goals per game) and rank fifth in goals allowed (6.5 per game).

Attackmen Matt Danowski and Zack Greer are tied for the team lead with 48 points, and they rank tied for sixth place nationally in scoring. Goalie Aaron Fenton is second in the country in save percentage (.640).

Duke's players choose their words carefully when discussing the change -- they want to make clear that they think both coaches performed well in their old assignments -- but they like the new look. They say that the offense is more free-flowing under Pressler and that the defense relies more on communication and teamwork under Alberici.

"Sometimes it's just good to get a little mixture, switch things up a little bit," McDevitt said. "It's worked well."

In addition to the coaching switch, Duke has had several other factors working in its favor. The Blue Devils played 17 freshmen and sophomores in 2004, and those players experienced the disappointment of one-goal losses to North Carolina, Georgetown and Johns Hopkins.

The experience paid off in 2005. The Blue Devils beat UNC 12-10, dismantled Georgetown 12-3 and improved from a 16-9 loss to Ohio State in 2004 to a 21-8 victory over the Buckeyes this season.

"Being in those games and coming out on the losing end, you see what it's like," McDevitt said. "And you see how you don't ever want to be there again. Now that we know what it's like to be on the losing end and how bad we don't want to be there again, it makes it easier to strive to be on the winning end."

Perhaps the biggest of Duke's victories was its 10-8 win at fifth-ranked Maryland in the fourth game of the season. That game was Duke's first road contest and its first matchup with an elite team.

Once the Blue Devils rallied from a 5-4 halftime deficit to win, they were off and running.

"I think that win gave our guys tremendous confidence," Pressler said.

And Duke has built on that, not only in games but also in practice. The Blue Devils hit the field Thursday for their 52nd practice of the season, and Pressler said each of them had been good to very good.

He never has gone a full season without sending a team home early or scolding players for lack of intensity, but this Duke team is in position to be the first. That's a big change from last season, when players and coaches agree that Duke had many bad practices.

"Last year, we were out of the playoffs early," Danowski said. "We still had like three games left, and there was no mathematical chance for us to get in the playoffs. That made it tough to go to practice every day.

"You're playing for pride and respect, but you want to play for a reason -- to win a championship. That's what we're playing for this year. We have a reason to go to practice every day and give 100 percent every day and just try to get better every day."

Actually, the Blue Devils have three reasons. They want to win the ACC regular-season title. They want to win the ACC Tournament, which begins April 29. And they want to secure a high seed for the NCAA Tournament and ride that as far as they can.

The good news for them is that the young team that rebounded from a 5-8 record in 2004 to start 11-1 in 2005 will remain in tact for 2006. Duke's only senior starter is Fenton.

Alumni will have fun today reminiscing about the past and wondering about the future. But for these Blue Devils, the future could be now.

"There's just so much good going on as far as the Duke men's lacrosse program," Pressler said. "Our goal now is to keep this thing going."

Leitao says yes to U.Va.
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Apr 16, 2005

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- A search that officially began March 14, when the University of Virginia announced that Pete Gillen was stepping down as its basketball coach, ended yesterday.

Dave Leitao interviewed for an assistant job at U.Va. in 1990 before deciding to remain on Jim Calhoun's staff at the University of Connecticut. Fifteen years later, Leitao finally is headed to Thomas Jefferson's university, this time as head coach.
The road to Charlottesville

2002-2005:

In Dave Leitao's tenure, DePaul posted consecutive 20-win seasons for the first time since 1991-92 and earned three straight postseason tournament berths for the first time since 1990-92. The Blue Demons won 30 conference games with Leitao on the bench, the highest total in any three-year period in school history.

1996-2002:

Before joining DePaul, Leitao spent six seasons as the associate coach at Connecticut, his second stint as a Huskies assistant. In those six campaigns, UConn compiled a 156-51 (.754) record, with the biggest win coming in the 1999 NCAA championship game, which the Huskies won 77-74 over Duke. Connecticut made three other appearances in the NCAA tournament, reaching the Elite Eight twice and the second round once. Connecticut also reached the NIT semifinals and NIT second round in that span.

1994-96: Leitao spent two seasons as the head coach at his alma mater, Northeastern. In his first year, he directed the Huskies to an 18-11 record, which was the biggest one-season turnaround in the nation. In his two seasons at Northeastern, Leitao compiled a record of 22-35.

1986-1994: Joined Jim Calhoun at Connecticut as an assistant coach for eight years. The Huskies' 162-91 mark included four NCAA tournament berths and the 1988 NIT championship.

1984-86: Leitao joined Calhoun's coaching staff as an assistant at Northeastern in the fall of 1984 and spent two seasons at the Boston school. With Leitao on the bench, the Huskies reached the NCAA tournament both seasons (1985,'86) and compiled a record of 48-14 (.774). He followed Calhoun to UConn in the spring of'86.

1978-1982: Leitao began a longterm playing and working relationship with Calhoun as a four-year standout at Northeastern from 1978 to 1982. With Leitao on the floor, the Huskies sported a sparkling record of 79-34 (.699) and reached the NCAA tournament in 1981 and 1982. During his senior season, he helped the Huskies to the second round of the tournament with a 63-62 win over Saint Joseph's before bowing out to Villanova 76-71 in a triple-overtime classic. In that game, Leitao played 54 minutes.

Source: DePaul University
Leitao, 44, comes to U.Va. from DePaul, where he went 58-34 in three seasons. He informed his players at the Chicago school yesterday that he was leaving, DePaul Athletic Director Jean Lenti Ponsetto told reporters from several newspapers last night.

Officials at U.Va., meanwhile, issued no news release and declined to discuss Leitao's status. Athletic Director Craig Littlepage, in an e-mail to The Times-Dispatch last night, said, "We will have something out tomorrow."

Leitao will be the first black head coach in U.Va. history. He was not available for comment last night.

A 1983 graduate of Northeastern University in Boston, where he starred for Calhoun, Leitao is from New Bedford, Mass. He and his wife, Joyce, have three sons. Leitao was an assistant under Calhoun for two seasons at Northeastern and for 14 -- in two stints -- at UConn.

"He's one of the highest-quality people I've ever known," Calhoun told the Daily Press of Newport News at the Final Four. "If he didn't have his own father, I'd adopt him."

At U.Va., Leitao is likely to earn about $1.2 million annually, a source said yesterday. Leitao signed a six-year extension with DePaul last summer that reportedly was to pay him about $660,000 annually.

"There isn't any value in us getting into a bidding war with the University of Virginia or anybody else," Lenti Ponsetto told the Daily Herald, a suburban Chicago newspaper, on Thursday. "This is not about us not wanting to compensate somebody fairly. That's what we did with Dave."

Leitao's contract with DePaul includes a buyout, but the exact figure hasn't been made public. The Chicago Tribune reported today the buyout was for $1.5 million. A U.Va. source close to the search told the T-D last weekend that the figure isn't close to the $3 million that had been reported.

Virginia agreed to pay Gillen a $2 million buyout when he stepped down last month. Gillen was making about $900,000 a year.

In seven seasons under Gillen, the Cavaliers went 118-93. They made one NCAA tournament appearance and advanced to the NIT four times during his tenure.

Leitao became the Cavaliers' No.1 target after Littlepage learned last weekend that Kentucky coach Tubby Smith, with whom he'd had numerous informal conversations, didn't plan to pursue the opening at Virginia.

During this search, Leitao first met with U.Va. officials April 8 while he was in Virginia for the Portsmouth Invitational Tournement. He didn't make it to U.Va. on that trip, but Leitao flew to Charlottesville on Thursday for a formal interview. He returned home to Chicago that night and met with DePaul officials yesterday.

For Leitao, this will be his third job as a head coach. At Northeastern, he went 18-11 in 1994-95 and 4-24 in 1995-96, after which he returned to UConn as Calhoun's associate head coach.

It's not clear which of Leitao's assistants will follow him to U.Va., whose basketball teams will move into the 15,000-seat John Paul Jones Arena in 2006-07.

DePaul finished 9-19 in 2001-02, its final season under coach Pat Kennedy. Leitao guided the Blue Demons to records of 16-13, 22-10 and 20-11, respectively. DePaul lost to North Carolina in the NIT's first round in 2003, to eventual champion UConn in the NCAA tourney's second round, and to Texas A&M in the NIT's second round this season.

In 1990, after Jeff Jones took over as U.Va.'s coach, he tried to hire Leitao away from UConn. Leitao went so far as to look for houses in Charlottesville but chose to accept a pay raise and remain at UConn.

At U.Va., Leitao will be re-united with John Casteen. During Leitao's first stint at UConn, Casteen was president for four years. Casteen left to become U.Va.'s president in 1990.

Leitao leaves; DePaul looking to Gregory?
April 16, 2005
BY TONI GINNETTI Staff Reporter

Dave Leitao made official late Friday his decision to leave DePaul for Virginia, accepting a lucrative multimillion dollar deal to attempt to turn around the Cavaliers' losing years in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

DePaul athletic director Jean Lenti Ponsetto's search for his replacement will begin immediately, with Dayton coach Brian Gregory the projected top candidate.

Gregory, 39, was among the finalists for the job three years ago but withdrew because of concerns about the program's future. Indications are the Mount Prospect native, who grew up a DePaul fan, will be willing to reconsider now.

Gregory has been Dayton's coach for two years after a long career as an assistant at Michigan State and briefly at Northwestern during Kevin O'Neill's tenure there. The Flyers reached the NCAA tournament last year in his first season -- ironically facing DePaul in the first round and losing in double overtime.

Gregory's Midwestern background also is seen as a plus to DePaul officials, who are hoping it can influence longevity in the job.

Leitao, 44, told Ponsetto of his decision late in the day Friday after a meeting, then met later with the DePaul players. Leitao made a point to ask Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage not to announce his hiring until after he met with Ponsetto, with whom he had developed a strong relationship, and with the players.

Earlier in the day, Ponsetto talked to the current players and placed calls to the program's top three incoming recruits, forward Wilson Chandler of Benton Harbor, Michigan; guard Jabari Curry of Detroit, and guard Rashad Woods of Houston.

She offered assurances about the program's future even if Leitao left, her commitment to maintaining the program's competitiveness and interest in the DePaul coaching job.

Ponsetto had nothing but praise for Leitao, the unproven Connecticut assistant she hired three years ago for the task of rebuilding DePaul's tarnished program and image.

''On behalf of the entire DePaul community, I would like to thank Dave for his hard work and for returning a winning brand of basketball both on and off the court to DePaul University. In his three seasons with our program, Dave has shown tremendous class, integrity and dedication to producing student-athletes that DePaul University can be proud of on the playing floor and in the community. We wish him well at the University of Virginia.''

Leitao's new position is expected to pay him some $1.1 million annually, nearly double the estimated $660,000 salary he was getting from DePaul in a contract re-negotiated after last season. That contract also provided a six-year extension and a buyout provision estimated close to $2 million.

Leitao's new package will pay the kind of money usually reserved for coaches who already have reached a Final Four. But Virginia, which will open a new 15,000-seat basketball arena in 2006, was motivated by a sense of urgency to end the Cavaliers' long postseason drought. When several bigger-name coaches turned down Virginia, the school decided to offer Leitao a lucrative deal, hoping he can become the college game's next new impact coach.

Leitao is likely to take several if not all his assistant coaches, who include Chicago native Gene Cross, Josh Oppenheimer, Tyler Jones and Joe Tulley. If one or more remain, Ponsetto will ask Leitao's successor to consider retaining them.

Leitao leaves having put his stamp on a program that was in disarray when he arrived.

In his first season, the Blue Demons rebounded from a 9-19 record to finish 16-13 with an appearance in the National Invitation Tournament. His second season brought the program's greatest success in more than a decade as the Blue Demons finished in a five-way tie for the Conference USA regular season title and reached the final game of the conference tournament, losing by five points to Cincinnati.

The Demons went to the NCAA tournament and won their first-round game against Dayton, a first since 1989, and finished with a 22-10 record.

''We accomplished much more in 2003-04 than I could have hoped for at this juncture of building the program,'' Leitao said at the time.

That success is what made Leitao attractive to both St. John's and Auburn last season, both jobs he turned down. DePaul re-negotiated his contract after those interviews.

This year's Blue Demons fell short of the NCAA tournament but won a first-round game in the NIT and finished with a 20-11 mark. Leitao's overall 58-34 record was DePaul's best three-year resume since joining conference play in 1991.

Leitao has no direct ties to the ACC, but Virginia's president, John T. Casteen III, was Connecticut's president during part of Leitao's 14 years as an assistant to Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun.

Leitao's decision a big mistake
Skip Myslenski
ON COLLEGES
April 15, 2005

Dave Leitao is anything but stupid. He is media-savvy, attuned to public perceptions and, most certainly, familiar with the pockmarked landscape of college basketball. That is why there is just one question: Why?

Why would the DePaul coach, who has earned such respect in his three seasons with the Blue Demons, even flirt with Virginia, whose job he is now expected to accept?

Money is the only obvious reason, the chance to raise his salary from about $700,000 to $1.3 million, and that's a nice raise by anyone's standards. But that kind of base thinking hardly reflects what he has shown during his stay in Chicago. He has preached loyalty, a strong work ethic, teamwork and a higher regard for the scoreboard than any number on the stat sheet.

"I'm looking for them to respect this basketball program and to treat it as if it was a part of their own family," Leitao said of his players just two weeks after taking the DePaul job. "And if they don't do something, then they're hurting not only themselves, they're hurting their family."

That is the kind of message Leitao often delivered as he resurrected a program in disarray. He gave it structure, discipline, direction and a sense of community. Quickly, he proved the Blue Demons could succeed when so many doubted that was possible.

But now, resembling a mercenary both last spring and this, he has chipped away at his legacy and robbed it of its sheen. So, again, there is just that one question: Why?

By all accounts he has been happy in Chicago and happy at DePaul, whose basketball budget has increased since he arrived. In the midst of this big city and its myriad teams, he can go about his business without undue pressure. His wife, Joyce, can shop at a local market without the family's dinner menu being posted on some Web site.

He has laid a strong foundation, another concept he often has extolled, and he has restored some pride to a program that had little of that when he succeeded Pat Kennedy.

He has, most of all, a family at DePaul, an institution that espouses that most catholic of concepts.

All of the ideals and principles he pushes, they are there for him near the elevated train, where he has urged his players to add to the legacy Ray Meyer established. That is possible even in this environment that is so different from the one in which Meyer labored.

Leitao, in his short stay, has proved that, and so again the question arises even when confronting practical matters: Why?

Surely DePaul's task will be more difficult next season when it joins the expanded Big East, which will be the best basketball conference in the country. But will that task be any more difficult than the one at Virginia?

The Big East has two major powers in Connecticut and Syracuse, but the Atlantic Coast Conference's Big Two of North Carolina and Duke is even bigger. The Big East next season will include Georgetown, Providence, Rutgers, St. John's, Seton Hall, South Florida, Cincinnati and Marquette, teams the Blue Demons are certainly capable of defeating.

Last season Virginia lost by 34 to North Carolina, by 23 to Georgia Tech, by 22 to Wake Forest and by 19 to Providence. The Cavaliers finished at the bottom of the ACC with a 4-12 record and were 14-15 overall.

In the last 10 seasons they have managed a winning conference record just twice, and, with Virginia's rigorous academic standards, that will not be an easy trend to reverse. The addition of Boston College, which joins the ACC next year, will complicate that task further, and so will this: Leitao played at Northeastern for Jim Calhoun and was then a longtime Calhoun assistant at Connecticut, head coach at Northeastern and again an assistant at UConn, all of which means his roots are in the East rather than in the South.

That would be an advantage with the Blue Demons joining the Big East, a chance for him to ply his roots and draw recruits with the promise that they would be going home to play a number of times each season. But a move to Virginia would recall an observation by Notre Dame coach Mike Brey, who as an assistant at Duke turned down a chance to take over at Auburn.

"The people around me started whispering then, 'What's Mike doing?'" Brey said when recalling that decision. "They're thinking, 'Man, that's an SEC job.' But I would have been gone in three years. ... I didn't have roots in the Deep South. I didn't know the SEC. That's an example of how things have to fit."

Dave Leitao fits at DePaul--sure seems to, anyway--but now it appears he is leaving for a tougher job in a smaller town that will demand immediate results for its money and know just what is on the family's dinner table. So one last time, the question must be asked:

Why? Simply, why?