PITTSBURGH - Three consecutive seasons of eight or more victories. Six bowl trips in eight seasons, including the Fiesta Bowl this season. Greatly improved attendance and recruiting at a school that won only 12 games in four seasons before he arrived.

Many college coaches would get a decade-long contract for such a turnaround, one all the more remarkable because it was performed at Pitt under the giant shadow of the Steelers - who, to many Pittsburghers, are the only football game in town.

Restoring a program that once was Western Pennsylvania's answer to Temple but now has regained much of its former prominence got Walt Harris nothing more than a one-way ticket back home to San Francisco.

Pitt has begun searching for the Stanford-bound Harris' successor, the first major challenge confronting athletic director Jeff Long since his hiring 18 months ago. What Pitt and Long still haven't fully explained is why they're seeking a new coach when their old coach seemingly was performing at a high level.

During a news conference Monday, Long strongly hinted Harris would not have returned next season despite steering the Panthers to an 8-3 record and their first New Year's Day or later bowl game in 21 years. Long could not even bring himself to say he was disappointed Harris was leaving.

Neither Long nor Harris has detailed their growing differences, which may have begun when Pitt stumbled to an 8-5 record in 2003 with a Larry Fitzgerald-led team that was its most talented and experienced in years.

After that, the school declined to extend Harris' contract, which was to run through 2006. Because of that, Harris couldn't promise recruits he would be at Pitt throughout their college careers. He later complained he couldn't attract top prospects to his summer camp, as nearby recruiting rivals Ohio State and Penn State do.

The breaking point may have come two months ago, when Harris' agent said the school should give him a new contract or let him look elsewhere. Harris wasn't in the strongest bargaining position following disappointing losses to Nebraska and Connecticut and near misses against Temple and Furman, and the remarks clearly angered Long.

Harris didn't have much trouble finding a new job, and is already being lauded by Stanford as one of its two best hires in the last 75 years. But Harris hardly seems overjoyed with the job switch, showing far less enthusiasm at his introductory news conference Monday than he did at a routine weekly news conference at Pitt two weeks before.

Now, with Harris done at Pitt except for the bowl game, Long has increased the pressure on himself to make sure he hires the right replacement. Pitt already knows the consequences of unsuccessful hirings; Harris needed years to undo the damage created during the Paul Hackett (1989-1992) and Johnny Majors (1993-96) eras.

Long is a former college assistant coach, but said he won't hire a new coach based on the system that coach runs. Pitt returns nearly all the starters, including quarterback Tyler Palko, from an offense that has thrived in Harris' West Coast-style system since midseason.

"We hire a football coach to run the football program," Long said. "It is their responsibility to hire the (assistant) coaches and administer the program. It's not my place to tell him what the best offense for him is."

Long already has in mind the kind of coach he wants, though he has dropped no hints who that coach might be.

"I think successful coaches adapt their plans to the players they have," he said. "I will hire a coach I think can lead this program, and that includes everything from Xs and Os to academics to conditioning, all those things."