In 2004 the University of Washington wanted him. Chris Hill was offered a job as athletic director for the Huskies. He would have been in a more prestigious conference at a school where having its football team play in the Rose Bowl is a distinct possibility nearly every year. It certainly would have meant more money.
In the end, however, it wasn't enough.
Hill, 54, announced then that he would continue in his position as the athletic director at the University of Utah.
"It really came down to what I wanted to do. It came down to my emotions," said the man who has been and is in charge of athletics at Utah since 1987.
Hill then would neither confirm nor deny that a job offer was tendered by Washington.
"I have a lot of respect for the search process and a lot of respect for different institutions, and I don't think it would be fair to spend time talking about Washington," he said.
You got to like a man who would turn the Huskies down.
