From the AD’s Q&A:

Q: This May 16 will mark the third-year anniversary of your Pitt appointment. People might forget the fact that when you arrived at Pitt one of your first big challenges was the viability of the Big East, which was about to lose three key members. Three years later the conference is not only on stable ground but thriving. What are your thoughts about the future of the league and its unique structure?

JL: Once we recovered from having the wind knocked out of us, so to speak, when those teams departed, we regrouped and strategically planned for the future of the Big East. When we made the decision to add the new teams, we plotted a course that we genuinely believed would bring us back to an extremely powerful conference in not only basketball but football as well. I think we’re way ahead of schedule. Some developments that will be announced later this year will speak to the strength of the Big East. People will know that we’re a serious player and here to stay. I couldn’t be more pleased with the progress of our conference. I couldn’t be more pleased with the support and strength our chancellors and presidents have lent to the athletic directors in the conference. In the not-to-distant future we’ll see further evidence of an even stronger Big East, stronger than what many thought we could ever accomplish.

[Emphasis added.]

Hopefully he isn’t simply referring to the expected semi-SEC-Big East basketball challenge which will rotate 4 teams each year. Nor should he be referring to the next TV contract which will primarily on the back of the basketball offerings. The basketball portion of the BE is not in doubt. Oooh, WVU headlines the inaugural ESPNU Classic. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

The Q&A also touches on the new bowl tie-ins. While promoting 5-6 possible bowl bids for the 8 team conference, it doesn’t mention the risk of downgrading non-con schedules by the member schools in an effort to insure being bowl eligible. Something the Big East really can’t afford to do. If the conference wants to get beyond looking like the runt of the BCS litter, the member schools need to be aggressive in scheduling. Taking some risks and playing a respectable schedule (that means you, Hoopies).

Another article on the subject of football camps versus combines (Insider subs.) . As usual author bias and interest plays a huge role in the perspective. This one is by Tom Luginbill of ESPN’s Scouts, Inc. They don’t sponsor or presumably get to attend the combines. Can you guess which he thinks are better for the kids?

However, if a prospect can afford the cost of the camp, he should go that route. If a prospect has a few programs he really likes and is interested in playing for, the value of being instructed one-on-one by the position coach at that institution and other guest coaches can provide for outstanding exposure and possible opportunities down the road.
…
The bottom line is that many times combine combine results seem to be marketed to the public and fans as being an indicator of a player’s ability to perform in game conditions. However, when scouting and grading prospects for our rankings, we rarely — if ever — use combine results as a significant basis for a report. If a player performs well at a combine — or, on the other hand, performs poorly — what we see of him in game conditions will always take precedence.

No mention that the combines are sponsored by rivals in the market for recruiting information, and that these combines provide additional resources in making, maintaining and keeping contact with the recruits and their high school coaches. A competitive edge in the marketplace for Rivals.com and Scout.com over ESPN Scouts, Inc.

Now, to be fair, Luginbill does admit the cost of going to a camp is a big factor for a lot of kids and they are useful for both coaches and the kids. He even concedes that students from rural or less known high schools often benefit from the exposure of going to a combine.

However, marginal-to-good prospects who have not received the necessary exposure have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain by attending one or more combines in order to be seen and then later evaluated on film.

Regardless, the best way to get recruited is to get as much film out to as many schools as possible, then follow up with each program on a regular basis. There is no substitute for proof of how an individual plays the game.
…
College coaches, if nothing else, have been helped by the mass influx of accessible information on potential prospects nationwide that many of these combines help provide. That is a good thing, especially for the unknown or under-the-radar prospects who before all of this recruiting hysteria might have gone the Division I-AA route but now get seen or heard about enough for the big boys to take notice.

All in all, if combines are marketed correctly, do not make promises they can’t keep and most importantly always, always keep the student-athletes’ best interest as priority No. 1, it is a win-win situation for all involved.

I think the combines will continue and if the recruiting sites are smart they can turn it into an additional revenue stream. There is no reason not to tape every part of the combine. It seems they do that to some extent since some of the video is offered as clips to show what a particular recruit does on their sites.

They can package it as a full DVD of the combine and sell it to the coaches. Neatly getting around the rule of prohibiting coaches from attending the combine; providing the additional exposure for the recruits who might need it; additional revenue stream for the recruiting sites; and still providing the kids with an incentive to attend combines with the promise that coaches from other programs will see them.

It just seems so logical and reasonable.

It seems incoming Pitt freshman Kevan Smith will have an interesting one to make.

During the winter months, Smith continued to lift weights, study the Pitt playbook and prepare for the fall, secure in the knowledge of where he would be next year. However, as baseball season rolled around and Smith began his assault on area pitchers, scouts seemingly came out of the woodwork.

Now, it isn’t a question of if he’ll get drafted in a few weeks, it’s just a matter of what round he goes in.

“Last year, I wasn’t getting a lot of interest for baseball and now all of the sudden I’m getting all this attention,” said Smith.

“It’s like a whole new recruiting process. It’s been overwhelming at times because this stuff is all new to me.”

Raider head coach Eric Semega has been telling Smith for two years that he would get drafted because he has so many of the tools the scouts look for.

“He has the quickest hands I’ve ever seen with the bat,” said Semega.

“He’s big, strong, has a tremendous arm and has a great attitude. The scary part is that he’s been splitting his time between football and baseball. If he gets the opportunity to focus 100 percent on baseball, he will be incredible.”

With a dozen pro baseball organizations showing interest on one hand and a free education and the chance to play major college football on the other, Smith will have some difficult choices to make in the near future.

“I’m so grateful to have these options,” said Smith, who carries nearly a 3.9 grade point-average and plans to study engineering if he does indeed choose Pitt.

Wonder if Coach Wannstedt would let him walk-on with the baseball team?

You may have read or heard about ABC doing Saturday night football games this year. Some games are already set (3 ND games, go figure) and others look to be regionalized. The only Pitt games that coincide with open dates are:

October 7 at Syracuse

November 4 at USF

November 11 at UConn

Call me a pessimist but I don’t think the odds favor ABC picking up any of those matchups.