The challenge in front of Jeff Long when he was named Pitt's athletic director in May 2003 was an enormous one: Succeeding Steve Pederson, the dynamic visionary whose imprint on Pitt athletics was historical.

It was Pederson who had the courage to tear down Pitt Stadium and move the football program to Heinz Field and the South Side complex. It was Pederson who reached beyond the talk and got the Petersen Events Center built.

There was no way Long, who left Pitt yesterday to become athletic director at Arkansas, or anyone could duplicate Pederson's success.

If only he had tried.

No one expected another Pederson, who became athletic director at Nebraska. In fairness, with all that Pederson had done, the job description didn't call for such a person. But it did call for an active, vibrant leader who was willing to get out in the community and press the Pitt cause forward. Long never seemed to see that as his job. He acted more like a caretaker, overseeing what had been placed before him. He was good enough at his job, but that wasn't good enough for Pitt.

His two most notable undertakings were the hiring of Dave Wannstedt as football coach and a fundraising campaign tied to season-ticket purchases for men's basketball. Wannstedt, who also was enthusiastically endorsed by Chancellor Mark Nordenberg, remains a work in progress. He has been a disappointment thus far, but it's too early to make any kind of final judgment. The fundraising program was a success but not before it enraged some fans and forced a lawsuit that, in effect, was won by the plaintiffs.

Under Long, the men's basketball program continued to flourish and he was able to fend off schools, notably Arizona State, trying to hire coach Jamie Dixon. The women's program grew significantly under coach Agnus Berenato, who, like Dixon, was at Pitt before Long. Pitt's hosting of the NCAA women's basketball tournament first- and second-round games last season was a major step for the program and that success came on Long's watch.

The Big East Conference was in crisis when Long was hired, reeling from the defections of football powers Virginia Tech and Miami. The day after the hiring, a meeting of Big East athletic directors was held in Florida with conference survival at the top of the agenda. Inexplicably, Long did not attend. New on the job or not, he should have insisted on attending instead of allowing another administrator to handle his duties.

But that seemed to be his style. He was content to be under the radar locally. That wasn't the case nationally, where some people felt his time spent serving on NCAA committees was at the expense of his job at Pitt.

This is not to suggest Long is not an acceptable administrator. Obviously, Arkansas was impressed. It's a great job. Arkansas is the primary school in its state. Pitt is the primary school in Western Pennsylvania, but Penn State is the primary school in the state. The athletic programs at Arkansas are on a higher level than those at Pitt. The Razorbacks are members of the prestigious Southeastern Conference. Under famed coach Nolan Richardson, they won an NCAA basketball championship in 1994. The Arkansas track program is nationally elite.

It's usually foolish to attempt to speculate on a successor. Whoever it is, it probably will be a person no one in Pittsburgh has as heard of -- as was the case with the enormously successful hires of Chuck Noll, Jim Leyland, Bill Cowher and Ben Howland.

But here are two names that deserve serious consideration.

Donna Sanft was named the interim athletic director yesterday. This is no cosmetic hire. Sanft, the senior associate athletic director for administration, student life and compliance, is hugely respected. Her title indicates she has a broad variety of experience. She was a standout athlete and coach at Pitt in gymnastics before becoming an administrator.

Mark Boehm, who was the interim athletic director before Long was hired, also should be considered. When Boehm was passed over, he followed Pederson, his mentor, to Nebraska. Although Boehm was in charge for only a few months, both Dixon and Berenato were hired on his watch. He was Pederson's key lieutenant at Pitt and a man who knows his way around college athletic administration.

Surely, Pitt will look beyond the obvious. It must. The next athletic director needs to be the best person, not the person most available. These are critical times in college athletics and critical times at Pitt. There should be no rush. Haste would be a mistake. But a larger mistake would again be picking the wrong person.