It appears David Perno’s stay in the unemployment line may be a short one.
Just four days after being dismissed as Georgia’s baseball coach, Perno has emerged as a candidate for the same job at the University of Cincinnati. Perno acknowledged his interest in the Bearcats’ position Thursday but said he has not been formerly contacted by the school.
“I hope it moves that way,” Perno said of possibly landing the job. “I don’t know anything to this point, but I’m definitely very, very interested. Just doing homework on my end, that’s a great situation and they’re hungry to win.”
Georgia Athletic Director Greg McGarity asked for Perno’s resignation Sunday night, one day after the Bulldogs’ completed the 2013 season with a 21-32 overall record (7-20 SEC). Perno, 45, has been Georgia’s coach since 2002 and led the Bulldogs’ to three College World Series appearances, including the 2008 national championship game. Perno also helped Georgia reach the CWS as a player (1990) and assistant coach (2001).
But Perno’s teams had struggled since reaching the 2008 national finals, particularly in SEC play. He was 31 games below .500 in conference play the last five seasons. Over 12 seasons he was 399-334 and 160-189-1 in SEC play.
The Bearcats fired Brian Cleary, their coach of the last 17 years, last week. He was 435-528 at Cincinnati.
“It all came about fast and I didn’t have much time to think about it,” Perno said of Cincinnati’s interest. “But I did do my homework and I looked at their facilities and I was absolutely blown away. I saw that and talked to a couple of coaches and athletic directors and told them I’d definitely be interested.”
Meanwhile, McGarity, attending the end-of-the-year meeting of the UGA Athletic Board here Thursday said there is no timeline for hiring Perno’s replacement and declined to discuss potential candidates.
“We will hire a great coach. I’ll leave it at that,” he said. “We’re not boxing ourselves in saying we want to have it done by this date. We’ll do our due diligence. We have worked hard on this the last three days and will continue to work on it. But a lot of institutions are still in conference play and a lot will be in NCAA play. So we want to handle this the right way and be respectful of teams that have teams in NCAA play.”
Some names have emerged as strong candidates. Butch Thompson, who is associate head coach and pitching coach at Mississippi State, is considered one of the top head coaching prospects in the SEC. Thompson was Perno’s pitching coach at Georgia from 2002-05.
Other strong candidates include Florida assistant Brad Weitzel, who played for the Bulldogs and graduated from UGA in 1983, and Central Florida head coach Terry Rooney. Rooney is a former LSU assistant who is 168-124 in five seasons at UCF and has led the Knights to two NCAA Tournaments.
For what it’s worth, he has Perno’s endorsement.
“I would think he would be a great candidate,” Perno said. “He’s ready. He’s really a great person and he’s done a great job wherever he’s been. I’d probably still be coaching (at Georgia) had he never left. But that’s how it works sometimes.”
McGarity said dismissing Perno, a native Athenian he has known for decades, was difficult.
“Those are really the toughest days in our business, in our profession,” McGarity said. “In every situation we’ve had, they’re good people. A lot of them are friends. We’ve always said, and my staff has heard me say it many times, you have to do what’s best for the institution. It may not be best for the individual, but those are the decisions I have to make and I’m accountable for those. So, yeah, they’re extremely difficult. There’s not fun in that at all.”
