Here's the best thing a coach could have heard this new year: Steve Pederson wants to fly you to Lincoln.

Not because Nebraska is a popular winter getaway. And not because the Cornhuskers' head football job was any hotter than the tundra-like weather there, judging from the list of rejections.

A call from Pederson, the Nebraska athletic director who previously held the same job at Pitt, meant red-carpet treatment, such as being whisked by private jet for a tour of the Midwestern city with Pederson as your host and chauffeur.

It meant when you received one of Pederson's non-offer offers, you might be able to milk your boss for a raise of, oh, say, half a mill, then give Pederson the old we-can-still-be-friends line.

That's what Arkansas coach Houston Nutt and Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer did over the past week. They each reportedly got their salaries sweetened by $500,000 simply for listening to Pederson's overtures.

Seeing that, others began lining up for interviews, including former Oakland Raiders coach Bill Callahan, who joined in-house candidates Bo Pelini and Turner Gill. All three interviewed Wednesday, and it looked last night as if Callahan was going to finally fill the opening.

Pederson spent a lot of time making guys rich, or at least richer, in his search for a replacement for Frank Solich. Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Al Saunders, Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Brad Childress and possibly Miami Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt also spurned interest from the Cornhuskers.

The Nebraska coaching search became a national joke.

The problem isn't so much that Pederson, one year on the job at his alma mater, fired Solich after a 9-3 season. That took guts along the lines of tearing down Pitt Stadium, but it was Pederson's call to make. Athletic directors, general managers and the like often want to bring in their own guys, and that decision probably was made months ago.

The mess emanated from the timing of things, the power trip Pederson seemed to be on with his one-man search, and the understandable concern among fans that the Cornhuskers will have a wrecked recruiting season and a coach who is far from Pederson's first choice.

Perhaps Pederson overestimated the appeal of the job, especially after he fired a 9-3 coach. Perhaps he had someone in mind at the time of the firing who subsequently changed his mind. Perhaps several prospective coaches were turned off by the idea of working for Pederson. Certainly, Callahan is walking into an extra-pressure-packed situation.

Pederson fired Solich Nov. 29, defended his action and said he expected the new coach to contend for the Big 12 title every year and a national championship every few years. Then he clammed up for several weeks and didn't begin his search in earnest until last week. Many of the faithful apparently wanted Pelini, the defensive coordinator and interim head coach who led Nebraska to a win at the Alamo Bowl. But mostly they just wanted somebody.

Pederson thought he had somebody in Nutt, who left that private plane sitting at the airport for four hours a week ago, then announced he was staying at Arkansas.

After Razorbacks officials confirmed an offer, a counteroffer and a Nebraska topper for $2.5 million annually, Pederson hastily called a news conference to deny it all and try to calm fears. But people aren't that stupid. Of course it was Nutt's job if he wanted it, regardless of the semantics.

"That first night, he probably thought he had me, and we were feeling pretty good about them, too," Nutt told The Associated Press. "He didn't actually ever offer me the job, but I'm protecting him a little bit, too."

The fact that Pederson couldn't lure a coach who had 10 fewer wins at Arkansas than Solich had in the same six seasons at Nebraska, on top of Pederson's perceived arrogance and attempts at sugarcoating things, made the corn belt natives more restless than ever.

There's a firestevepederson.com Web site, and one post on the Huskers Illustrated Internet message board this week suggested Pederson's head had gotten so big he needs to butter his ears to get through a doorway. Until recently on that board, those who were critical of Pederson mostly got shouted down.

It seems Pederson got those ears clipped by chancellor Harvey Perlman. It's stunning that Pederson, who never met a control issue he didn't like, broke his silence and started offering updates on the coaching search this week. You have to believe that was at Perlman's insistence for some damage control at a school where football is the state religion.

Now that Pederson has apparently finally hired a coach, perhaps all will end well, and the Cornhuskers will again be a perennial top-5 program.

If not, it could be Pederson who gets an escort to the airport.