Stanford AD hired Harris at Pacific in '89

Associated Press

STANFORD, Calif. -- Pittsburgh coach Walt Harris interviewed at Stanford on Friday for the school's coaching vacancy.

Stanford officials said Harris was on campus to meet with athletic director Ted Leland, who hired Harris as football coach at Pacific in 1989 when Leland was the AD there. Harris met with Leland two days after Southern California offensive coordinator Norm Chow visited to interview for the job.

Now that Leland has interviewed his top two candidates, a decision on Buddy Teevens' successor could come soon -- perhaps by the end of the weekend. Teevens was fired Nov. 28 after three straight losing seasons.

Leland is looking for a coach with a strong offensive background after Stanford struggled to score during Teevens' tenure. The Cardinal went 4-7 the past two seasons, losing their last five games this year. They were 0-13 down the stretch the past three seasons.

Harris, Pitt's eighth-year coach, has plenty of connections to the Bay Area. He grew up in South San Francisco and attended college at Pacific in Stockton, where he also began his college coaching career directing the secondary.

He has the 19th-ranked Panthers in the Fiesta Bowl against Utah on Jan. 1 and was Big East coach of the year this season.

Pitt hasn't offered Harris an extended deal at more money than the estimated $600,000 a season he currently makes, though sophomore quarterback Tyler Palko has campaigned for the school to bring him back.

Chow has directed the top-ranked Trojans' offense for four years.

The 58-year-old Chow hasn't been a head coach since 1970-72 at Waialua High in Hawaii. Chow, who is of Chinese descent, has talked about wanting to be the first Asian American to be head coach at a major college.