The other part of puffing a team, is puffing up the coach. That’s what this piece on Walt Harris is all about. It talks of Harris’s personal growth and changes since he came to Pitt. Harris claims that this year will be different. This year he won’t be micro-managing the QB. He won’t be breathing down the guy’s neck each time. It doesn’t say whether Harris will finally figure out how to make halftime adjustments and change things that aren’t working when the other team adjusts to them.

I’m still having mixed feelings about Harris. He has done a lot of positives. He has rebuilt the football program. He is a hell of a good recruiter. He does a great job with the QB and WR. He has let the defensive coordinator do his job, and do it well. As far as his coaching, though. Er, um. I’m still not sold. He does not like or appear willing to make adjustments to his game plan once the game starts. It is a certain inflexibility that can cost games, or make them much closer than they should be.

The article talks about the 2001 season, when Pitt had a 1-5 start after high expectations for the year. It lets Harris downplay the whole thing.

“We lost to a South Florida team that, if people did their research, was a good one. Then it was Miami, Notre Dame, Syracuse and Boston College. It was a tough road to travel. We were affected emotionally by the South Florida loss, but we faced some tough teams afterward.”

I was at or watched these games. It wasn’t that Pitt lost. It was how badly Pitt was beaten in these games. They were all embarrassing losses. Not truly close. It was because Harris had decided to go with the latest offensive fad in college football — the spread offense. The problem was, the players had no clue. It was painful to watch: delay of games, false starts, wasted time-outs, predictable play calling, ugh. But Harris was sticking with it, come hell or high water. Finally after the 45-7 drubbing by Boston College, Harris dropped the spread offense and they went back to a pro set offense. The result was a big win over a top 15 Virginia Tech team.

I’m hoping he makes me eat my words.