Syracuse, NY -- Syracuse, NY --

The advertisement ran last Thursday in the bottom left corner of Page 5A of The Buchtelite, the student newspaper at The University of Akron.

This was no classified. It was a display ad covering three columns and sought immediate job applicants.

“Looking for ANY former HS quarterback with SIGNIFICANT game experience,” said the ad. Potential quarterbacks were asked to contact the director of player relations for the University of Akron football program.

Welcome to the world of Walt Harris, the assistant football coach and passing game coordinator at Akron . And, yes, he coaches the Zip quarterbacks, what’s left of them

Harris is the former head football coach at the University of Pittsburgh (1997-2004) and Stanford University (2005-06). He is no stranger to facing the Orange or playing in the Carrier Dome, where he returns on Saturday when the Zips take on Syracuse at 3:30 p.m.

Some of the toughest days of Harris’ coaching career were spent facing – and losing, often in painful fashion – to Syracuse .

Yet that may pale to the situation Harris finds himself dealing with at quarterback this season at Akron .

“It’s real unfortunate,” Harris said this week of the situation at Akron . “That’s the cards been dealt to us. Our job is to make it happen.”

Harris was out of coaching for two years after his dismissal at Stanford. He moved back to Pittsburgh where his sons lived and bought what he called an “antique house.” It was a serious fixer-upper only Harris said he’s not exactly a serious handy man.

There was endless painting. It got hairy at times trying to paint the 11- and 12-foot ceilings. He bought himself a riding mower as a birthday present and said the yard work was tougher than the interior. There was one memorable 10-hour day when he tackled vines that were choking trees on his property. For three hours, he fed debris into a $25,000 chipper.

“We got a lot of mulch,” Harris said. “Some people call it a labor of love. Some might call it a money pit.”

It reminded him of what he missed – coaching football.

Harris landed at Akron and joined the staff of J.D. Brookhart, who served as assistant coach for Harris at Pittsburgh . He admitted it was tough being out of coaching.

“It’s kind of what I do. It’s what I’ve done,” Harris said. “I didn’t know a whole lot else. A lot of coaches are like that. They’ve got so much invested in one thing. J.D. offered me the opportunity and I jumped at it.”

His assignment is coaching the quarterbacks. Instead of having a senior and three-year starter, Harris finds himself with a true freshman going on the road to play an opponent from a Bowl Championship Series league in Syracuse .

Nicely has completed 26-of-57 passes for 298 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns in six quarters of action since the injury to Rodgers. Harris said Nicely played “a little better” against Buffalo than he did against Ohio .

“We’re trying to speed up his learning curve,” Harris said.

On Saturday, Harris finds himself returning the Carrier Dome to face a team which dealt him some of his most anguishing setbacks at Pittsburgh . Harris was 2-6 against the Orange . From the outset of his first game against Syracuse in 1998, the losses were killers.

Harris said he doesn’t remember a lot of particulars from playing at the Dome, only that when he and the Panthers came to Syracuse , the Orange had a lot of talented players and what he called “outstanding coaches.”

And thus, he hasn’t thought much about his return this week to the Big East or the Carrier Dome. That may change a bit when he and the Zips arrive on Friday.

“I haven’t spent much time on the nostalgia part of anything,” Harris said, “other than I do remember the last time I was there. We didn’t win. It wasn’t a good feeling.

“I’m sure (old recollections) will happen. Memories are part of life, you know.”

But so is coaching and Harris is enjoying his return to the football field.