"He always told me, 'You're going to be in the major leagues some day,' " Knapp recalled.

Gebhardt died a week before Knapp, 47, was hired as pitching coach of the Detroit Tigers .

When Rick Knapp Sr. eulogized Gebhardt after his son was hired, he said, "I can't help but think Pop had something to do with the whole thing."

Knapp, the Minnesota Twins' minor-league pitching coordinator for the past 12 years, had never interviewed for a major-league position.

But he caught the eye of Detroit general manager Dave Dombrowski. And Tigers manager Jim Leyland liked the way Minnesota's young, home-grown pitching rotation of Scott Baker, Nick Blackburn, Glen Perkins and Kevin Slowey had developed. He liked what Twins manager Ron Gardenhire had to say about Knapp when searching for a replacement for Chuck Hernandez.

And when he invited Knapp, who lives near Port Charlotte, Fla., back to Lakeland for dinner, his mind was made up.

They met in the Marchant Stadium parking lot, and Knapp recalled the conversation which began with Leyland asking him why he looked so nervous.

"I've been in the minor leagues 26 years," Knapp told him.

Leyland immediately eased his mind, saying, "Hell, you're my guy."

Grandpa, who only saw Rick Jr. pitch once in college or pro ball, had been prophetic. Knapp said that game Gebhardt saw was one he pitched for Virginia Tech against Florida State, which started current Tigers major league scout Bruce Tanner. Knapp said that coincidence linking his Detroit possibilities to a special game in his career got him thinking that something was happening.

"Today is a huge day for him," Leyland said Saturday. "I'm thrilled to death for him for all those years in the minors. I told him, you are a big league pitching coach, you just had a minor league uniform on."

Knapp couldn't sleep after getting up at 2:30 a.m.

"This is the first day of school." Knapp said. "It's the Super Bowl for me, good God. It's exciting for me. I want the pitchers to make themselves better.

"The Tigers weren't very good last year. That's why I'm here. If they won the World Series last year, I'm not here."

Hernandez, also the pitching coach for Detroit's 2006 World Series team, became the fall guy for a pitching staff free fall. The Tigers' 4.90 ERA was 12th in the league. Only one team in the league had more than their 644 walks and 28 blown saves. The two shutouts and one complete game were major-league lows.

Justin Verlander was 11-17 with a 4.84 ERA after many tabbed him a Cy Young Award favorite. He could end up being the pitcher most critical to how Knapp is judged.

"We've already spent a decent amount of time talking," said Verlander, who lives in Lakeland. "And I'm excited to work with him. We went over stuff to get me back to my roots. I changed my throwing program to have a lot of long toss, and I feel great."