Victory Could Help Sweeten the Deal for Bill Curry : Sugar Bowl: Alabama coach tries to downplay talk of a possible contract extension as he prepares team to meet No. 2 Miami.

And, to sweeten up the Sugar Bowl game, a little controversy perhaps?

When No. 2 Miami (10-1) plays No. 7 Alabama (10-1) tonight in the Superdome, a lot of this mess ought to be cleared up, not the least of which is a possible national championship for Miami.

But first things first. So, to begin with, what of Crimson Tide Coach Bill Curry’s ongoing contract problem at Alabama?

Curry was so warmly greeted after he arrived in Tuscaloosa as head coach in 1987 that he received death threats and someone tossed a brick through his office window.

Now, there are chants of “We Want Curry!” and banners that read “Curry, Our Next Winning Legend.”

After back-to-back seasons of 9-3 and 10-1 and high rankings, they should be pelting his office with roses, but Curry, 47, has found himself the reluctant subject of one of the bowl’s biggest brouhahas.

The dispute concerns Curry’s contract, which still has two years left on his original five-year deal. Alabama officials, including President Dr. Roger Sayers, and Athletic Director Cecil (Hootie) Ingram, want to extend the deal for three more years.

Sounds pretty good, right? Not to Curry, who apparently wants the extension to include language that he would be paid his perquisites as well as his base salary if he is fired. Curry’s base pay is reportedly $100,000, but his perks are worth four to five times that sum.

However, university officials are balking at Curry’s suggestion, so the coach has adopted the tactic of trying to brush aside an unwanted distraction, perhaps one no worse than that All-American linebacker Keith McCants will turn pro a year early.

“We’ve put those things to rest and we’re going on about our business,” Curry said.

“We’ve talked about it and talked about it and beat it to death. Anything that has to do with that (contract) matter will come probably a couple days after the game.”

Whatever is going on with this cash and Curry business, it won’t have any effect on how the Crimson Tide plays, according to Alabama quarterback Gary Hollingsworth.

“It’s not a distraction because there’s nothing we can do about it,” Hollingsworth said. “It’s between him and the university. We’re just going to go out and play.”

Alabama leads its series against Miami, 13-2, even though they haven’t met since the 1979 season. They did meet on Bourbon Street last week, though. It was ruled a draw.

About 30 Miami players got into a razzing match with a smaller group of Alabama players.

“We were yapping at each other,” said Miami’s Dale Dawkins.

Said Miami’s Mike Sullivan: “We gave them some hard stares and they gave us some--I think everybody was waiting for us to start throwing bottles.”

One of those present was Alabama tailback Siran Stacy, who is the key to the Tide’s running game. And he identified the key to beating Miami as feigning deafness.

Whether on Bourbon Street or the Superdome, Stacy said the Hurricanes like to, well, chat.

“They’re doing a lot of talking,” Stacy said. “That’s their style. But they usually back up what they say. It’s their way of trying to intimidate you. And if you listen too much, you might start to believe them.”

The Hurricanes have finished in the top 10 six of the last seven years and have the second best record (98-20) in the 1980s, behind Nebraska (102-19). Over the last five years, Miami is 54-5 overall, 52-3 in the regular season and 33-2 in their last 35 games.

Playing on New Year’s Day for the seventh consecutive year, Miami won national titles in 1983 and 1987 and finished second in 1986 and 1988.

Finished with all the accounting, Hollingsworth said he realizes that Alabama will have its hands full with Miami.

“From what I’ve seen, there’s not a weak spot,” he said. “It is an exceptional team. Their guys are big enough up front to stop the run and quick enough in the secondary to stop the pass.”

McCants is a 6-foot-5, 256-pound junior from Mobile who was runner-up to Michigan State’s Percy Snow for the Butkus Award. He led Alabama with 119 tackles and has impressed Miami Coach Dennis Erickson.

“I’ve watched Superman I and Superman II and that’s who he compares with,” Erickson said.

McCants may soon leave another impression. Gone. He could be moving to the NFL next year, buoyed by a recent statement by Lawrence Taylor of New York Giants that McCants would be the linebacker of the 1990s. But before that happens, McCants seemed to anoint the Hurricanes as the team of the 1990 Sugar Bowl.

“This team is a one-of-a-kind team--the best in the country,” McCants said.

Not surprisingly, the Hurricanes enjoy it immensely when such praise is leveled at them. Sure, they’re good, they admit, but unlike Erickson, they seem to be wondering if Alabama is on the same plane.

Linebacker Bernard Clark on himself and McCants: “If they’re not talking about me now, they will be after the game.”

Linebacker Maurice Crum: “If Stacy can’t run, they may be in trouble.”

Free safety Charles Pharms: “I don’t hate Gary Hollingsworth, but he sure looks like he is pretty thin.”

Which brings us back to Curry, who at one time was truly hated. Alabama alumni wanted to buy out his contract with four years left on it.

After all, why would the school of Bear Bryant actually hire someone who had a losing (31-43-4) record at hated Georgia Tech? But then-Alabama president Joab Thomas named Curry to replace Ray Perkins, swayed more by Curry’s concern for academics and his reputation for integrity.

Curry knew he had to do a selling job, but he felt he was pretty well prepared.

“I used to sell women’s shoes and I’ll guarantee you, that’s good training for anything,” Curry said.

Yet there were those who wished for nothing more than to see the back of Curry’s heels when Alabama went 7-5 in 1987, lost to lowly Memphis State and finished with three consecutive defeats.

Last year, Curry’s second Alabama team lost to Auburn a second time, blew a 15-0 lead and lost to LSU to ruin the Tide’s Southeastern Conference title chances.

Still, the Tide was 9-3. And despite some unusual criticism by Pepper Rodgers, whom he replaced at Georgia Tech (“He had no credentials”), Curry has withstood death threats, bricks, alumni pressure and three losses to Auburn in three years.

Now, as his reward, Curry is with an SEC champion Alabama team playing the Sugar Bowl, an event he surely should be used to by now. One lump or two?