Ever since Paul Dunn was fired as Pitt’s O-line coach (as opposed to last year’s “leaving to pursue other opportunities” in LB Coach Curtis Bray), the immediate rumor/speculation/leak was that NY Jets O-Line Coach, Tony Wise would be hired. Here’s Wise’s bio on the NY Jets site.

Well, for now. There’s a reason, beyond being a longtime friend of Coach Wannstedt’s that Wise might be the guy.

I’m hearing that the Jets might be trying to hire a “running-game coordinator.” Haven’t nailed down any candidates as of yet, but this would be an interesting move for Mangini. In two seasons under Mangini, the Jets haven’t been able to run the ball on a consistent basis. Obviously, the line needs to be upgraded, but there are scheme and philosophy issues here, too. It sounds like Mangini wants a fresh approach.

This certainly doesn’t bode well for line coaches Tony Wise and Mike Devlin. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote that both guys were in trouble, and that seems to be the case.

That’s from the NY Daily News Jets beat writer. Always better to jump than be pushed, I guess.

Of course Bruce Feldman thinks this will be (is?) a great hire (Insider subs.).

I’m getting on the Pitt Panthers’ bandwagon now. They have a lot of reasons for optimism (I’ll write more about that later this week) and the latest bit is Dave Wannstedt hiring his old buddy Tony Wise to take over the O-line. Wise is a very good technician and should make a big impact at Pitt.

We can only hope.

In case you didn’t see Gateway HS’s Shayne Hale choose the Pitt hat during the Army All-American Game.

NBCSports.com Video Link

It should also be noted that WR Jonathan Baldwin impressed scouts.

Baldwin was right with DeVier Posey all week when it came to being the best receiver on the East and his touchdown in the game was a thing of beauty. He’s too big to handle for cornerbacks.

He is generally ranked as a 4-star recruit but after his showing over the last week, he could get bumped up to a 5-star prospect. As if stars even mattered…

Here’s a shocker. The national theme of Pitt’s loss is that the team is struggling without Levance Fields. Now, before you just scream, “duh!” Keep in mind that going into the season, the national writers presumed Pitt would be a top-25 team, but wasn’t exactly sure how. To a large degree that applies to the national audience — or at least the presumption. So, there is a belief or need to explain now how much that hurts Pitt and to explain the loss.

Mike Cook is gone for the year. LeVance Fields is out 8-11 weeks. Jamie Dixon is down to seven scholarship players, and while he’ll undoubtedly keep Pitt battling, can he really keep this injury-riddled team competitive in the Big East? It missed a golden opportunity in Sunday’s 64-63 loss to Villanova. Maybe it was fatigue (six Pitt players went at least 23 minutes) or the fact that they’re down to three guards (one of which, Ronald Ramon, [above] is battling injuries) but the Panthers were done in by 22 turnovers, including one with 10 seconds to go. Big East play is not the place to find a team’s identity but Dixon has to discover new-look Pitt’s in a hurry.

Yes, factual error in number of scholarship players, but it effectively is 7 until Dixon plays Diggs or McGhee.

And this bit.

Sunday offered a glimpse of how badly Pittsburgh is going to miss Levance Fields. The Panthers needed a game-winning play in the final seconds, and in normal circumstances the ball would’ve been in Fields’ hands. But because the junior point guard is out with an injured foot the ball was in Ronald Ramon’s hands, and his hands turned it over for the fifth time and allowed Villanova to escape with a 64-63 victory.

Former Philly area sportswriter, now with ESPN.com did a whole article on Pitt trying to adjust.

So, understandably, when the question was posed, Young paused for a considerable time before answering truthfully.

“I don’t know,” the Pitt forward said. “I’m trying to figure that out right now. I’m sure the coaches and the rest of my team are trying, too. We’re trying to see how it will work. There’s a lot of stuff going on, and we’re trying to figure it out. In the process, we’re trying to win games.”

…

Afterward, it would have been easy for Dixon to throw up his hands and say, “What can you do?” No doubt, most hoops aficionados across the country are doing just that.

But Dixon isn’t one of them.

“There’s no excuse for this. We should have won,” Dixon said. “We had it. We played well enough to win.”

No, you won’t find the Panthers crying in their soup. They shed tears after Cook went down, got through the shock after Fields hobbled off, but quickly have realized January is not the time for the group pity party. Young admitted his team is a little lost in the game plan department, but he quickly followed up by insisting that his team will find its way.

The Panthers (12-2, 0-1 Big East) even have a morbid sense of humor about the whole thing. On the pregame press release, underneath the roster, associate media relations director Greg Hotchkiss prints the team’s disabled list.

The article also says that Ramon is “playing with one dislocated shoulder and likely a torn rotator cuff in the other.” You know, I see teams playing with 4 guards. Wonder if Pitt will end up playing with 4 forwards at some point?
Coach Dixon appears to really be pushing the point publicly that regardless of the injuries, there are no excuses. I imagine that is as much for the players. To let them know the coaches and players are still accountable, and that the season isn’t over just because bad things have happened. Something the players are also saying publicly.

“Levance … I’d love to have him on the team, but he’s not here right now,” Blair said. “We have to play with who we got. We just have to keep our heads. We have to have trust in everyone..

“We can’t get Levance back. We can’t get Cook back.

Someone has to step up. We just have to play through it and not think about it.”

Villanova got huge contributions from a freshman and reshirt freshman in Malcolm Grant and Antonio Pena. Grant who already this season showed tremendous accuracy and range on his three-point shooting put it on display against Pitt. Pena, provided a much needed extra body inside for rebounding and put backs with Drummond out.

Villanova Coach Jay Wright, did acknowledge that his team won in large part because of who Pitt didn’t have.

“Let’s not make any mistakes about it,” Villanova coach Jay Wright said. “This is a game where Levance Fields steps up big-time.”

But he’s not available right now.