The Dave Wannstedt era is in its fourth year, but had things gone differently in the days leading up to the Panthers' previous Sun Bowl appearance, perhaps the Wannstedt era could be closing in on two decades.

Pitt finished its 1989 regular season with a 7-3-1 record and a No. 24 ranking. The Panthers were invited to play No. 16 Texas A&M in what was then called the John Hancock Bowl.

Despite such success, coach Mike Gottfried was fired about two weeks before the bowl game.

Paul Hackett was named interim head coach, and two other candidates eventually received serious interviews -- Barry Alvarez, then Notre Dame's defensive coordinator but soon to be Wisconsin's coach, and Wannstedt, in his first season as the Dallas Cowboys' defensive coordinator.

Ed Bozik, Pitt's athletic director at the time, stopped in Dallas on his way back to Pittsburgh from a visit in El Paso the week before the game and interviewed Wannstedt at the airport.

Wannstedt laughed the other day when the interview was brought up because he said it was fairly obvious to him that he was the perfect man for the job based on the description Bozik provided.

"When we met, I said 'Ed, what are you looking for in a head coach?' " Wannstedt said. "He said 'Dave, I'm looking for a guy who can be on one side of the tracks and talk to the top CEO of U.S. Steel and walk on the other side of the tracks and relate to the guys working out in the steel mills.

"He told me that's what he was looking for; that's what, in his mind, was a 'Pittsburgh guy' and that's what this program needed at that time."

Wannstedt, the son of a steelworker, had long ago worked in a mill a few summers. He figured he'd be a shoo-in for the job.

Not quite.

"I thought when [Bozik] was talking, he was describing me," Wannstedt said, then chuckled. "It was a nice visit, but then they called me a few days later and said they were hiring Paul Hackett -- a California guy. So I guess you could call it an interview, but I'm not sure what was really going on.

"Everything happens for a reason. The timing wasn't right then or the couple of other times I had talked to Pitt about the job, but it was right in 2004, and we have a great thing building here."

Hackett was fired three years (1992) after he was hired.