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Where once coaches came begging for high-profile posts in football with hats in hands, now it is the schools who must say pretty please with sugar on it to land their first choices. Sometimes, even that isn't enough.

NHL players must be envious of the clout these coaches hold over their perspective employers.

Pitt's search for a new football coach, which seems to be nearing a conclusion, has not avoided this phenomenon of rejection.

Dave Wannstedt, at liberty because of failure with the Miami Dolphins, has told Pitt he's not interested in a homecoming. Generally considered the front-runner in the Pitt search for the next Walt Harris, Wannstedt chose to take himself out of the running.

This seems to have opened the door to Oklahoma assistant Bo Pelini.

Second choices aren't necessarily a bad thing. Current Pitt men's basketball coach Jamie Dixon wasn't the first choice when Ben Howland answered the siren's call to UCLA.

Instead, Pitt went after former Pittsburgh guy Skip Prosser, who was then plying his trade at Wake Forest. The romancing was fierce, but Prosser opted to honor his commitment to his Wake players. The 10-year contract Wake dangled in front of him no doubt helped, too, with his April 2003 decision to stay put.

Pitt quickly audibled to picking Dixon. What Pitt learned from its basketball search was to regroup quickly. That seems to be the tack taken by athletic director Jeff Long, who was not yet on board when the basketball job was filled.

Pelini is available, indirectly, because of the choices made by former Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson, now holding that post with Nebraska. It was Pederson who sent Frank Solich packing after a 9-3 record in 2003 and ahead of a Cornhuskers Alamo Bowl date with Michigan State.

The interim Cornhuskers coach for that bowl was none other than Pelini. He won the game, 17-3, but Pederson was not sufficiently impressed.

Pederson coveted Houston Nutt of Arkansas, who used that interest to extract a pay raise from the Razorbacks. Ditto for Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer.

With the search in its sixth week, Pederson tabbed deposed Oakland Raiders coach Bill Callahan, who installed the West Coast offense at Cornhusker U the past season, and produced a 5-6 record, the school's first losing record since 1968.

If Pitt hires Pelini, and it works out, a thank-you note to Pederson would be in order.

There are Pittsburgh themes running through many of the coaching soap operas of recent seasons.

When Notre Dame hired George O'Leary for all of five days in 2001, before his resume indiscretions became public record, it was to replace Bob Davie, a one-time Pitt assistant.

Tyrone Willingham, who Notre Dame canned this season after three years, had come from Stanford, which just happens to be where outgoing Pitt coach Harris has relocated after his divorce from the Panthers.

Ron Zook, who has latched on with Illinois after being fired by Florida, is a former special teams coach for the Steelers.

Zook is an example of a third choice who went wrong. Florida had romanced Oklahoma's Bob Stoops and the Denver Broncos' Mike Shanahan as replacements for Steve Spurrier, before settling for Zook, who went 23-14 in three seasons.

Zook's replacement at Florida is Urban Meyer, who used Notre Dame's interest in him this time around to lever a seven-year, $14-million deal from the Gators.

By the way, Meyer's Utah team is Pitt's opposition in the Fiesta Bowl.

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