Last week Deadspin had a bit about trademarks and they brought up how Robert Morris likes to go as “Bobby Mo” at times. Yet the university does not own the trademark. Honestly, I never knew they went by that. You would think in the storied rivalry that is Pitt-Robert Morris, I would know these things.
Liveblog in a couple hours. As usual, right below, or you can break it out by Clicking Here.
I am concerned that Pitt is slacking off on its ’stache quotient in the coaching staff. The departure of Tumpkin meant Pitt lost a fine pencil-thin stache. Hiring Scott Turner didn’t change things. Now Pitt went and hired another stache-less guy.
2010 will be [Bernard] Clark’s 13th season coaching college football. He most recently served as the defensive coordinator for Hampton University in 2009. Prior to last season, he was a defensive assistant Florida International in 2007 and 2008.
2006 saw Clark coach the defensive line at South Florida, and he spent 2004 and 2005 as the defensive coordinator at FIU. He got his start in college coaching in 1998 when he coached the defensive ends at James Madison for two years, after which he coached linebackers and special teams are Liberty from 2000-03.
Clark’s connection to Pitt comes through his college playing career, as he was as standout linebacker - nicknamed “Tiger” - for the University of Miami in the late 1980’s. In the 1987 national championship game, Clark started at middle linebacker in place of a suspended player and went on to earn Orange Bowl MVP honors for his performance.
It’s not a Pitt connection so much as a Wannstedt connection. That fits Coach Wannstedt’s general approach to go with guys he knows and trusts.
The official line in recruiting this year has been that Pitt didn’t demphasize Florida, they were just focusing on other areas. Since Pitt was the only Big East school without a Florida recruit finding a guy with Florida ties made sense.
“To be a part of a program so rich in tradition as that, it’s huge,” said Clark, 43, a Leto graduate who coached at USF for the 2006 season. “It’s a great opportunity for me.”
Clark is reunited with Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt, who was defensive coordinator at Miami when he played linebacker there in the late 1980s. Since his year at USF, Clark spent two seasons as defensive line coach at Florida International before going to Hampton last summer.
Clark doesn’t know his exact recruiting territory yet, but he’ll use his state ties to help recruit Florida for the Panthers, especially the Tampa and Miami areas.
We’ll just pencil him in for recruiting most of Florida.
I’m still concerned about the lack of staches in the last two hires.
Usually a late-January or February non-con game takes place because ESPN or CBS wants to carry it. Pitt has had a couple of these in recent years. This year it is Robert Morris. Not sure if this is some sort of placeholder or to replace something that fell through. Whatever the reason, RMU Coach Mike Rice says he won’t do it again. Either schedule in November or December to get all the major conference beatings out of the way at once or not at all.
Robert Morris is on top of the NEC with an 11-1 record and boasts a 9 game winning streak. They have non-con wins over Cleveland State and Ohio and an RPI in the 150s. Of course RMU also lost to Penn State, Duquesne and Kent State.
Pitt, though, has yet to lose to Robert Morris in 27 tries. Still, there is familiarity by the players so intimidation is not going to be in the equation.
Freshman guard Karon Abraham said he believes the Colonials have a better chance of beating Pitt than Syracuse.
“Everybody knows their role now,” Abraham said. “We’re together. We don’t break down anymore. And we’ve played under pressure.”
Freshman guard Velton Jones said he and his teammates relish the opportunity to compete against teams from the Big East, which is considered the best conference in Division I this season.
“Playing a Big East team is pretty big,” Jones said. “I think a lot of people are really looking forward to it.”
RMU opened their season at Syracuse, losing by 40.
The Colonials have had season long distractions of sorts with their coach coming up for many NY-area jobs. Fordham — his alma mater — already fired their head coach, and has been the biggest name at this point. Not sure what his ties truly are to Fordham, but that seems like a graveyard job these days.
Just as a sidenote, Pitt commit for next year (grades willing), J.J. Moore looked very impressive at the National Prep School Invitational, dropping 30 points in a game.
Game tonight is 8pm. There will be a liveblog.
Well, unless you were a Seton Hall fan. It sure didn’t help the Hall’s chances that one of the few players on the team that plays defense like he actually enjoys it — Keon “wrong-way on the highway” Lawrence was still back in New Jersey (very vague reasons that SHU Coach Gonzo swears are minor and personal).
What amazes me about this Seton Hall season is that it isn’t going anywhere near their two expected scripts. The first was that they would rip themselves apart with the assembled transfers and all the baggage brought with them. At the very least it would be entertaining theater. The other scenario would be that the team would gel and with that talent finish in the upper-half of the conference and be a NCAA Team — they were a trendy BE darkhorse darling.
Instead it is neither. Just like the past couple years under Gonzalez. They are unpredictable with effort and how good or bad they play. Part of it is that they remain an undisciplined team that can’t control their emotions. The whole team is like that starting with their coach. He can’t control himself, the players act the same way.
Little factoids about the reason to go forward with the game was the Big East rules enforced to the letter.
“It is Big East policy that as long as the opposing team is in town and can arrive at the arena safely and the officiating crew is in town and can arrive safely, you play the game,” Pitt associate athletic director E.J. Borghetti said.
The game was played with two officials, the NCAA minimum, because one of the scheduled refs, Evon Burroughs, was reportedly stuck on the turnpike en route from the eastern part of the state.
Seton Hall arrived on a chartered flight from the New York metro area Friday afternoon, beating the brunt of a storm that piled nearly two feet of snow on Western Pennsylvania and prompted Gov. Ed Rendell to declare a state of emergency.
“Taking off was fine,” Seton Hall sports information director Matt Sweeney said. “Landing, we really couldn’t see much until we were about 150 feet off the ground.”
The weather conditions forced the entire Seton Hall contingent — coaches, players, managers — to walk about five blocks in the snow to their downtown hotel when the chartered bus got stuck after a yesterday morning shoot-around.
On the return trip later in the afternoon, the chartered bus needed a couple of tries before making it up the steep hill to its parking spot at the Pete loading docks.
As for the lack of TV, it was all on the hill.
We’ve been told ESPN Regional did send its people to Pittsburgh but that the production truck could not make it up the hill to the Petersen Events Center due to the icy road conditions. ESPN can rule the world but it can’t rule mother nature.
I’m sure that the hill was eventually cleared — or the SHU bus would never have made it — but not early enough.
Pitt did a lot of things right in the game. They shared the ball, played strong defense — stifling and frustrating Pope which encouraged bad shooting and dumb fouls, but most importantly — scoring. The assists come when Pitt makes baskets. Frankly, Pitt has been horrible at scoring. They’ve had a chances, but haven’t finished or done anything on the perimeter.
You don’t get many assists when you shoot between 30 and 40%. When much more of the offense seemed to come from just driving to the basket. You get a lot more when you shoot over 50%. The offense showed much more flow and there was a lot more movement without the ball.
“The main focus was running our motion, setting screens and creating shots for other people,” Brown said. “The last couple of games we hadn’t been getting many assists on baskets. We had a lot of one-on-one plays. Coach emphasized that the last couple of days and that improved our offense.
“I think we really struggled the last couple of games when our offense was stagnant. You didn’t see a lot of movement and that really hurt us. Even in the games we won we got away from what we do best. Tonight was a prime example of what we need to do on offense.”
One example of that was in Pitt’s assist total. The Panthers had 20 assists on 31 field goals. Pitt had a season-low five assists in the West Virginia game and had only 13 in the previous two games combined.
“I thought we moved the ball better today,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “That was something we emphasized the last two days. I think that was the key. That got us going. We were smoother.”
Watching the game on the computer video feed makes it hard for me to give fair evaluations of individual players. For live-action computer video, it wasn’t bad. But it was still a computer feed. Choppy, blurry and a small screen do not lend to seeing details.
So, there isn’t much more I can add to this and the box score.
Here’s what we know.
– Pitt is saying to stay away if you can’t walk to the Pete.
– The Big East Network (ESPN Regional) canceled the telcast for the safety of their contract hires.
– The Big East is still making this game happen. After all, Seton Hall is already here and the refs have been paid for their appearance.
– If you are a student and not in the Oakland Zoo, you can go to the game free of charge as long as you remember your student ID.
– PittPanthers.com is offering a free video feed of the game (allegedly). Check under the “live events” tab to find the game.
– Streaming radio broadcast should be found at 970.
– Pitt really needs this game.
Pittsburgh vs. SetonHall BIG EAST Network broadcast has been cancelled due to inclement weather.
Now, the way I am reading all of this. The game itself is on. There just won’t be any broadcast of the game. Not on FoxSports Pittsburgh. Not on MASN, SNY or Altitude. Not on ESPN360.com.
Just cancel the whole game if they can’t even get a TV crew there. That means it is too unsafe for anyone to make the trek.
UPDATE 1:49 pm: Here’s the official weasel statement from the Big East.
ESPN Regional Television (ERT) has had to cancel this evening’s “Big East Network” production of the Seton Hall at Pittsburgh game scheduled for 6 p.m. (ET) tonight. Although the game is still scheduled to be played, the weather and road conditions throughout the area prohibit ERT from assembling production facilities and personnel in a timely fashion to originate a telecast. We regret the inconvenience, but the safety of our staff and employees is always a primary concern.
Safety of fans in the area. Not so much. If you want to see the game you paid for, gut it out.
Just wondering. Since the Pitt Athletic Department is encouraging anyone who can’t walk to the game to stay home, any chance they are going to offer refunds? Any chance? Any?
/crickets chirping
UPDATE 3:00: Just for fun, here are some other locations that got hit by the storm, yet managed not to have their telecasts canceled:
State College (Minn-PSU), Big 10 Network
Charlottesville, VA (WF-UVa), Raycom
Richmond, VA (Temple-Richmond), ESPNU; and (ODU-VCU) Comcast
Blacksburg, VA (Clemson-VT), Raycom
UPDATE 3:33: Here’s how ESPN Regional works. They are based in Charlotte, but have production facilities in various areas that are dispatched. One of them is located in Huntington, WV. They pull in people — usually w/in driving distance from the region to do the job. For example, John Sanders (”bending, bending…) who regularly calls games for the Big East also shows up on Big 11 Network broadcasts and MAC because he lives in the Cleveland area and can drive to a lot of the games (or catch quick flights).
ERT didn’t plan or adjust. They just hoped that it would work out.
I still blame the Big East for deciding to push the game through. ERT knows they can’t safely have their people come in for the game. Pitt is saying that if you can’t walk to the Pete, don’t come.
Yet the Big East is saying that the game has to take place. That’s on the conference for screwing fans in Pittsburgh and outside.
UPDATE 4:50: I suppose it’s better than nothing, but apparently there will be a free video feed at Pitt’s web site. Here’s the direct link.
Also, all Pitt students get in free with a valid student ID. Lots of seats available.
No it isn’t particularly original, but it had to be done.
Wow, the issue of Dante Taylor has become a raging point of debate.
Let’s stipulate that we don’t actually know anything for certain. And by that I mean, what is really going on in Taylor’s head. How things are going in practice. Whether he can really handle playing power forward better in the Big East. All of that. We do not actually know. We observe, we speculate. we perceive, we believe.
Let’s put aside the issue of being a McDonald’s All-American. It’s a very high honor for high schoolers, and yes it indicative of the talent and expected success the kid will have in the college level. It is not a guarantee, or a clincher that the player is a future NBA-talent.
We can agree that Taylor was considered a consensus top-30 player under the RSCI (Recruiting Service Consensus Index) nationally coming out of high school.
Using the RSCI here, in order of rank were the top PF and C’s:
(*Sidney has yet to play for MSU because of eligibility issues)
I think we can all agree that Favors and Cousins are both one-and-done. They are and should be the only ones on this list aside from perhaps Sidney. After that, well it is a little more interesting.
Henson (McDonald’s All-American)is averaging under 11 min/game and until last night’s VT game had played 10 min or less for 5 straight games.
Yarou was out with Hepatitis, so measuring him might be iffy. He’s playing 13 minutes averaging a 3 and 3.
Duke’s two 6-10 freshmen, Kelly and Plumlee (both McDonalds All-American) are combining for 6.5 pts and 4.8 rebounds in a combined average of under 23 min/game.
Thomas Robinson, who Pitt was also after as an either/or with Taylor, is down to 8.8 min/game and has played 8 minutes total in the last three (admittedly on a loaded Kansas team) with a 3-and-3 average.
Daniel Orton is playing 13 min/game and a 3.5-and-3.6 guy for Kentucky.
Wally Judge (McDonald’s All-American) at K-State is similar to this list. 12 min, 3.6 pts, 3 boards per game.
Milton Jennings was Clemson’s biggest recruit ever — yes another McDonald’s All-American. Guess what? 11.5 min, 3.5 pts, 2.6 rebounds per game as a 6-9 forward.
The only two players (aside from Favors and Cousins) having significant impact this year are Tiny Gallon for Oklahoma (24 min, 10.6 pts, 8.4 rbds) and Alex Oriakhi for UConn (27 min., 5.4 pts and 7.8 rbds). Both were also McD’s. Neither of whom will likely see their teams in the NCAA at this point.
I pointed out in December, an article from Luke Winn about what to legitimately expect from the “elite” freshmen.
Turns out, Taylor is not doing much too different from a lot of others.
Pitt signed more kids out of Ohio than at any time since the Walt Harris era — at least by my faulty memory.
St. Ignatius teammates TE Brendan Carozzoni and QB Mark Myers signed together on Wednesday.
Playing at the same college never crossed either player’s mind until Carozzoni mentioned his friend to the Panthers’ coaching staff.
“I told them about Mark, then they saw him at their summer camp and they liked him a lot,” said Carozzoni, who resides in Rocky River. “So I guess I’m kind of his agent.”
Myers estimated he hooked up with Carozzoni for “about 4-5 touchdown passes” during their careers as Wildcats but said they don’t have a specific goal at the next level.
“I just want to throw as many TD passes as possible to him while we’re at Pitt,” said Myers.
They plan on maintaining their bond and being able to privately display Browns gear by being roommates.
Carozzoni will have competition in time at the TE spot from another NE Ohio signee, Dan Schneider, who was named AP All-Ohio 1st team.
One of the more significant aspects of his visit to Pittsburgh was a lunch meeting with senior tight end Nate Byham. Byham came into Pitt as one of the top tight end prospects in the country, was named to the All-Big East Team and was able to give valuable insight to life as a Panther.
“It was good to hear from a player,” Schneider said. “Sometimes coaches say things that might not turn out being true, but players will always tell you how things really are.”
While Schneider loved the fit of Pitt right away, he took time to look at a lot of schools.
“It’s been a great process and I feel very fortunate,” said Schneider, who expects to play tight end. “I knew at the beginning of August. It was kind of a perfect storm. I knew it came together after visiting.”
Schneider and his parents, Kevin and Mary Kay, said they spent the summer visiting numerous schools, including Ohio State, Michigan, West Virginia, Illinois, Florida State, Notre Dame and Virginia Tech. Even after orally committing to Pittsburgh, there were still some feelers.
“Some Big Ten coaches called and wondered if he would reconsider,” said Kevin Schneider. “I told him once he committed, you don’t look back. You could see the tension leave.”
Finally, WR Andre Givens out of Hubbard liked what Pitt had to offer rather than the ITT School of Criminal Justice.
Givens looked at academics as much as football when making his choice. He wants to study criminal justice.
“I want to be a detective, and they have a lot of hands-on programs with that,” Givens said. “What amazed me the most was that some of the Pitt players are in the secret service now.”
Hopefully none were on the security detail for a White House dinner.
Okay, Pitt has given us dates (and probable times) for the non-con.
Sept. 2 —- Thursday — at Utah ——- TBA — CBS Coll. Sports
Sept. 11 — Saturday — New Hampshire — 1 p.m. — n/a
Sept. 23 —- Thursday —– Miami ——- 7:30 p.m. — ESPN
Oct. 2 —- Saturday —– FIU ———– TBA —– doubtful
Oct. 9 —— Saturday —- at Notre Dame —3:30 p.m. — NBC
Yeah, that season opener at Utah is going to be rough. My impulse with Pitt’s team, a new QB. Several new O-lineman starting. New D-linemen and a new secondary. Well, I’m halfway to assuming a loss. Granted I haven’t looked closely at what Utah is returning, so maybe I’m overreacting.
I like the Thrusday night game in September (the wife will hate it), if for no other reason then at least it will be warm. Plus, the nostalgia for that 1997 Thursday night upset of Miami.
Just a quick thank you to everyone. I’m not sure if there has been a busier day at this site. A lot of people came here yesterday for recruiting and the basketball stuff. That’s very humbling and still surprising even after many years doing this. That so many of you come here for Pitt information, thoughts and discussion; welll, it really does mean a lot to me.
Best quote of the day from Pitt’s 2010 football recruiting class came from Eric Williams.
Eric Williams had announced his intention to head to the University of Pittsburgh earlier in the summer. But that didn’t diminish the sense of pride on Wednesday morning when he faxed his paperwork to the university from the counselor’s office at Pennsbury High School.
“When the fax was done going through, I realized that I was a Pittsburgh Panther,” Williams said. “And I couldn’t begin to tell you how great a feeling that was. It’s something that you dream about and you understand what it means.”
Others were just glad to have the whole process over and done.
Arthur Doakes, a lineman for Lebanon, made his decision to go to Pitt official in the morning. Doakes, a 6-6, 330 offensive guard, signed with his mother, siblings and coaches around him.
“A lot of relief,” Doakes said of the signing. “Now I don’t have to worry about it anymore.”
Doakes made his verbal commitment in July. He said that the professional coaching experience of Panther head coach Brian Wannstedt and offensive line coach Tony Wise was one of the factors that helped him choose Pitt.
Yes, I know. “Brian” Wannstedt?
Two of Pitt’s commits played for the national high school champions Don Bosco prep — Brandon Sacco and Bryan Murphy.
Not only is Murphy, who is 6-foot-3 and 245 pounds, one of the most highly recruited prospects at the football factory that is Don Bosco, he’s regarded as one of the best to ever play for the Ironmen.
“Bryan is one of the most dominant players to ever play at Don Bosco, probably the greatest lineman,” Don Bosco coach Greg Toal said. “He’s just a tremendous leader, a tremendous worker. He’s tough and hard-working. Bryan is as high character a guy as we’ve ever had here, and he’s going to make us proud at Pitt.”
Murphy verbally committed to Pitt, which finished 10-3 and ranked 15th in the nation last season, in June. Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt visited Murphy at Don Bosco, an all-boys Catholic school in Ramsey, N.J., and at his Washingtonville home.
“I just felt really comfortable at Pitt,” said Murphy, a two-time all-state selection who had 47 tackles and nine sacks as a senior. “They run the same defensive schemes as Don Bosco, and I just liked the city. To play Division I football is great, to play at one of the top teams is even better. I want to play good enough to at least rotate in.”
At their team signing ceremony they got additional congratulations.
The Jones entourage included former Passaic Tech star Gerald Hayes of the Arizona Cardinals, who came by to support his fellow Paterson native. Hayes also congratulated Bryan Murphy and Brandon Sacco, who’ll be attending his alma mater, Pittsburgh.
Despite the snow in the Maryland-DC area DeMatha was determined to hold their signing day ceremony that included Pitt commits Shane Johnson and Jeff Knox.
Here’s a 1 minute signing day video from St. Joe’s (Montvale, NJ) which includes K’Wuan Williams.
Plenty more later.
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