University of Cincinnati coach Rick Minter is one of three top candidates for the vacant Arkansas football job, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Minter, Boise State coach Houston Nutt, and University of Miami coach Butch Davis are the leading candidates, said the newspaper, citing ''sources close to the search.'' Arkansas on Saturday fired former coach Danny Ford.
Minter, 43, has Arkansas ties. He is a native of Texarkana, Texas, on the Arkansas border. He played collegiately at Henderson State (Arkadelphia, Ark.) and was a graduate assistant coach at Arkansas in 1978. The other candidates, Nutt and Davis, also played and - or coached at Arkansas.
''I haven't been contacted by anybody at Arkansas,'' Minter said Sunday.
''My No. 1 concern right now is whether we go to a bowl game, and then we start recruiting (today).'' .
Minter has one year left on his original five-year UC contract. Athletic Director Bob Goin said he would like Minter to stay, and will discuss his future once UC's postseason bowl hopes are settled.
UC still hopes to reach the Sports Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho. But Arizona's upset of Arizona State Friday may give Oregon the at-large bid against Big West champion Utah State in the Dec. 29 Humanitarian Bowl.
''I still believe we're being seriously considered by a couple of bowls,'' Goin said. ''We should find out in a day or so.''
Oregon had been waiting to bid for a better bowl, but is still considering the Humanitarian Bowl. Even though UC agreed to play a home-and-home men's basketball series with Boise State, the Idaho Statesman newspaper reported that Oregon was the Humanitarian Bowl's top choice as of Sunday.
SEASON IN STORIES
