The Pitt Athletic Department has confirmed the new logo through a press release to the media, an e-mail to Panther Club members, and on the website.

The University of Pittsburgh’s torch-cut Panther head, first unveiled in 1997, is being reintroduced with a sleeker, more polished look. The new mark is the result of the creative efforts of the Pitt Athletic Department and Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC).

I called that they would use the word “sleeker”. By the way, we also know who to blame for coming up with this.

But wait, there’s more of this drivel…

The new Panther head will be a secondary mark for Pitt Athletics. The primary logo will remain the arching block-style PITT, first introduced in 2005. The PITT logo will continue to be the featured mark on the uniforms for each of the University of Pittsburgh’s 19 intercollegiate teams.

“We have been known as Pitt for more than a century and that name and logo will continue to be our primary identity,” Athletic Director Jeff Long said. “After receiving consistent public feedback, we felt the time was right to give our Panther head a more refined, contemporary look and one that is easily reproduced and recognized.”

Merchandise with the “sleeker” Panther will be available in stores beginning July 2. Those of you who can’t wait that long can shop on the Pitt online store which is carrying the new clothing as we speak.

Now that the underclassmen decisions have been made (Jeff Green going NBA; Dominic James back to Marquette), it will be time for another round of early top-25 predictions. Gary Parrish at Sportsline puts 5 Big East teams in his top 25. Louisville — 5, Georgetown — 8; Marquette — 10; Villanova — 12; and Pitt — 24.

The Panthers are similar to Southern Illinois in that regardless of what leaves, it’s safe to assume they’re going to be pretty good.

Well, it’s a compliment to the consistency of the program at this point. There is a bit less underestimating Pitt after players leave. Personally, I’m not that sold on Marquette being that high. I still question their inside presence (or lack thereof). That said, the Big East will be a jumble with Syracuse, ND, UConn, Providence and WVU all going to be pretty good which is 11 of the 16 teams.

Scout.com/Dale Grdnic had a couple stories on the Pitt assistants. New assistant Tom Herrion says all the right things about staying awhile.

“Few coaches stay a real long time at any one program, and young assistants are mostly looking to move on to head coaching jobs,” Herrion said. “But I’ve already done that. That’s not where I’m at right now in my career, so I’m very glad to be at Pitt. Clearly, Jamie’s success speaks for itself during his four seasons as a head coach at Pitt.

“And he’s not threatened to bring in someone with head coaching experience. That certainly speaks to his level of confidence. As we got to know each other, he found out that wasn’t my agenda. I’m part of a team here, in terms of working with other talented coaches, and we all have a niche to help this program build on its winning tradition.”

Herrion’s big niche is of a top recruiter. He also has experience running a more up-tempo offense. Two things to watch.

Orlando Antigua also gets a piece.

“We want to show the kids that we bring in here that getting a good education, getting a college degree, is just as important as success on the basketball court,” Antigua said. “And they can get both here at Pitt.”

As a native of the Dominican Republic and hometown of the Bronx, N.Y., he has become a key recruiter for Pitt.

“Orlando has played a key role in our recruiting since he joined our staff,” Dixon said. “He understands what type of players we look for and what type of student-athletes we want to represent the University.”

Coach Dixon says the right things about Antigua, but there may be some pressure on him with regards to recruiting. Mike Rice came in last year to really bring in a bunch of recruits to give Pitt it’s best recruiting class in almost 20 years. Tom Herrion this year comes in with a reputation for being an ace recruiter.

Orlando is a former player and is well liked, but he hasn’t received a lot of credit — even if he was the one to keep DeJuan Blair in the ‘Burgh.

This year, the big recruiting target is Eloy Vargas. Pitt had been the presumed favorite for him because Pitt was recruiting him early — before he started making a big impression on coaches from other schools on the AAU circuit — and he had a relationship being built with Antigua. Now that Vargas is getting lots more attention and offers, Pitt seems to be falling back into the pack and it is unclear if Pitt is even considered a lead anymore. If Pitt doesn’t get Vargas that raises some questions about Orlando Antigua’s ability to close on the recruit.

Manny Williams apparently impressed the Pitt coaching staff enough during the camp they held over the weekend to be the first to make him an offer from a BCS school. Williams, apparently didn’t hesitate.

Williams made a verbal commitment to the Panthers over scholarship offers from Akron, Buffalo, Eastern Michigan and Toledo. He had favored West Virginia, which had yet to offer, before picking Pitt.

“I liked Pitt and West Virginia, but I’d rather play for my hometown team,” Williams said. “I love the idea of staying home to play for the team everybody talks about in town.”

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Williams opened scouts’ eyes when he ran stride for stride 50 yards downfield with Penn State receiver recruit Derek Moye, a PIAA 400-meter champion, when Clairton defeated Rochester in the WPIAL Class A championship last November.

Williams is a safety who, himself, says he might grow into a linebacker. He sounds exactly like the kind of athlete that Coach Wannstedt wants at linebacker. Rivals.com may not have any ranking for him and Scout.com puts him at 3-stars. His fit, though, in Pitt’s defense may be the big thing. If you think about the way Greg Schiano at Rutgers built his defense with speed over size, that is very similar to what Wannstedt has been doing.

The fact that Williams is not resistant to the possible position change (think Tommie Campbell) makes it very probable in the long-term that he would be used as a linebacker.

Pitt and Clemson have agreed to cancel the home-and-home for 2010 and 2011. I think this was a mutual thing. While, it may have been a mutual thing, I think Pitt really wanted out for a couple reasons. The 2010 schedule already had Miami and ND making it a bear of a non-con even assuming they added patsies from 1-A and 1-AA to round out the schedule. It also means they might be able to do a home-and-home with a team starting in 2009 where they already have 7 home games set (UCF, Navy, ND, Cinci, UConn, USF, ‘Cuse) where Pitt can start on the road.

Unrelated, but with amusing timing, an early Clemson verbal now appears ready to switch to Pitt.

Madison (Ohio) tight end Nic DiLillo, ranked No. 12 nationally by Scout.com, has reneged on his commitment to Clemson and favors Pitt.

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The 6-5, 225-pound DiLillo took an unofficial visit to Pitt on Friday, then called Clemson coaches last night and informed them that it was too far away from home, according to the fan site, CUTigers.com. Thanks to the recruitment by newly promoted Panthers tight ends coach Brian Angelichio, Pitt appears to be the frontrunner for DiLillo.

Scout.com has DiLillo as a 4-star recruit and Rivals.com puts him at 3-stars and the 19th best TE prospect. Michigan and Syracuse are also interested. Not sure what that does for Pitt’s recruitment of Hubie Graham and possibly still going after Mike Cruz. Kevin Gorman seems to think Pitt may also land Graham as well. Graham is ranked higher than DiLillo and holds offers from Michigan and Oklahoma as well.