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Saturday, December 21
 
Central Florida coach Kentucky's top candidate

By Len Pasquarelli
ESPN.com

The most prominent college football programs in The Bluegrass State, the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville, are accustomed to doing battle on the playing field.

Now, the two schools could be competing for the same coaching candidate.

ESPN.com has learned Central Florida head coach Mike Kruczek has emerged among the leading candidates for the opening at Kentucky, where Guy Morriss departed last week to take over the Baylor program. Kruczek is also being considered by officials at Louisville, where a vacancy was created earlier this week when John L. Smith accepted the Michigan State job.

Of the two schools, sources told ESPN.com that Kentucky is further along in the process with Kruczek, and he is believed to have spoken with Wildcats athletic director Mitch Barnhart. It is not known if Kruczek has yet been formally contacted by Louisville, but he is on the so-called "short list" that is being compiled by athletic director Tom Jurich.

A source said Jurich is also "very interested" in current Auburn offensive coordinator Bob Petrino, once a Louisville assistant coach (1998).

Kruczek, 49, has posted a 33-23 record in five seasons at Central Florida, and the Golden Knights were 7-5 in 2002, including a solid showing in their first season in the Mid-America Conference. A former NFL quarterback, who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the '70s and won a pair of Super Bowl rings with the team, Kruczek is noted for his exciting offenses.

Under his direction, Central Florida ranked among the top 20 in NCAA total offense for seven straight seasons. Kruczek was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the school for 13 seasons before being named the head coach in 1998.

Also under consideration by Kentucky officials are New Orleans Saints assistant head coach Mike Riley and Norm Chow, the offensive coordinator Southern California. West Virginia University coach Rich Rodriguez might be on the school's "short list" as well.

Petrino, 41, served as an assistant coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars three seasons (1999-2001) and was offensive coordinator his final year with the NFL franchise. He returned to the campus ranks at Auburn this season and added to a long resume at the college level.

In addition to his one season at Louisville, he was an assistant coach at six other schools: Carroll College (1983, 1985-86), Weber State (1984, 1987-88), Idaho (1989-91), Arizona State (1992-93), Nevada (1994) and Utah State (1995-97).

Still stunned by Smith's hasty departure, Louisville officials hope to have a replacement in place by next week.

Vikings offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, who worked as Smith's offensive coordinator from 1999-2001, said Saturday that Jurich contacted him Friday night about the job, but Linehan said he wasn't interested.

"I feel really good about my job here,'' Linehan said after the Vikings beat Miami 20-17. "I'm staying.''

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer at ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.




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