Toledo’s Long Deal Might Get Longer

Six months after signing a contract extension, Coach Bob Toledo and UCLA are working on another, the school hoping to turn back potential NFL suitors while rewarding Toledo for a 10-1 season and Pacific 10 Conference championship.

Toledo has five full seasons left on the current package, signed in June, at $453,000 annually.

The school can’t match any of the multimillion-dollar offers that could come Toledo’s way as one of the hottest coaches, but it can extend his deal beyond 2003, currently the final season. That would offer long-term security at a place where he is happy anyway.

“I am not pursuing any other coaching job,” Toledo said. “I am working with the UCLA administration on extending my current contract and preparing for the Rose Bowl.”

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The Bruins practiced Friday for the first time since the loss to Miami, not counting a pair of conditioning workouts earlier in the week. The timing of the break, coming after such an emotional defeat, was coincidental. They were scheduled to have full practices only Friday and today so players could study for finals, which begin next week. They won’t practice again until next Friday and Saturday, after examinations.

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Center Shawn Stuart was named a first-team GTE academic All-American. A graduate student, he has a 3.62 grade-point average in education.