Chas – Happy New Year to you and your family.
Thank you for all your hard work and efforts which allow us to have this forum.

Great comments about the 24 hour period. I was out last evening w. my old Pitt roomate and his wife and we were not as angry as stunned. The problem goes deeper than Stull and we all know it.

This year represented a nice move upward w. our program in a very weak BE Conference. The mark of a good coach and team is to improve every game and every year. Yesterday was a huge step backward….unfortunately. We’ll see about 09!

Happy New Year to all the bloggers….Hail to Pitt!

Chas – A very thoughtful post. Happy New Year and thanks for all of your efforts throughout 08′. I agree with your comments. These ARE kids representing our school. That’s why I try to attack the performance issues but not the players responsible. Bill Stull doesn’t wake up in the AM and want to fail. Sometimes players have a bad performance (especially at the college level). Blair got 4 fouls in the Rutgers game and sat on the bench for most of the game. Does that make him a bad player? Hell No! He’s a stud out there who’ll play NBA ball. Stull is not an NFL player, he’s not a Heisman candidate either but I bet he wouldn’t be on the field if Wanny and Cavanaugh didn’t see him as the best option to win the game. Let’s all try not to make it personal. These are kids playing for our school.

Chas, best wishes for a happy, healthy New Year. Thank you for your efforts toward this blog. dan_72 and The Hagen have eloquently expressed my thoughts and opinions.

Happy New Year also to all of the bloggers.

rumor from a VERY VERY reliable source, Shady is fed up with this offense (or lack there of) and is going to go pro and not come back. he doesn’t want to SUFFER through this next year……

the future looks BAD!! I think this was as good as it is going to get!

ohno… I wouldn’t be too surprised, but for some reason, I have the feeling that you are BS-ing.

From a reliable source…Shady has been a more prolific RB in his first two years at Pitt than any RB in the history of the Program was in their first two years…Shady already projects as a first round NFL pick after just two years in the Pitt system…Yeah, this offense sucks for him! Lastly, if he does go, we will not see a giant drop off at the RB position next year. This system is built to showcase the RB.

I agree with your commment on civility. The venom spewed towards Stull yesterday was fueled by another horrible performance and probably some much needed NYE consumption. But these athletes & coaches represent the University of Pittsburgh, not vice versa. They are praised when they succeed and subject to legitimate criticism when they fail—-like yesterday. That game performance by the offense was an embarrassment. Stull may be a nice kid, but he should not be our starting QB. Cavanaugh was a great player at Pitt, but a mediocre OC in the pros and a bad one here. Wannstedt deserves to stay as he has made progress in 4 years and won 9 games, but Stull and Cavanaugh have to go. The donors, fans and supporters of this great university deserve better. Another OC would have better utilized Dickerson, Cross, and Beyam when teams defense McCoy. Shady should stay another year, given the number of backs coming out this year that will be drafted ahead of him, and with Nix replacing Thomas he should have a better line and another great year. But he needs a QB who can complete the open passes when teams stack the box on him. Happy New Year and now let’s enjoy our talented hoop team as they march on to Motown.

Chas,

Well Put…the season is over…I am thankful for 9-4! ‘Nuff said!

It’s now time to celebrate the New Year and wish You and all Panther fans everywhere, the best of all things this year!

Hail to PITT!
-al-

I wouldn’t put any stock in anything a player says after losing a bowl game. Emotions are too high (see all the comments posted yesterday)

Pitt went from 5-7 to 9-4. That’s a 4 game difference with a bowl game, another beating of the hoopies, and road wins against navy, nd, uconn, and usf.

We have two options going into next year: complaining about this year or looking ahead to next.

We can all agree that Stull isn’t a good qb but remember the infamous Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State. Cavanaugh, on the other hand, is a man and we can brutally attack him without reservation. Give your best player the ball more than 3 times in the 1st quarter? Throw short passes off of 3 step drops instead of deep balls? Using other weapons? other formations? Is Greg Cross even on the team anymore? The list goes on…

But I digress, lets be optimistic and hope for an open qb competition next year. If McCoy comes back, he’ll be a potential heisman candidate. Wannstedt just won 9 games, lets hope he takes the offseason to make adustments to win 10 or 11. There were a ton of injuries this year so the O-line should make long strides.

How does recruiting look this year? Anyone going to pick us in the upcoming high school game?

Go USC!!

I have VERY VERY reliable sources that tell me that Pitt fans overreact to everything that happened. Rutgers went 7-5 and won a garbage bowl game, and they’re happy. We went 9-3 (after a 5-7 debacle last year) and barely lost a decent bowl game to a good team, and you’d think we finished the season 1-11.

I’m not one to blow sunshine up someones (you know what) just to do it, but things really aren’t that bad.

We went 9-4 (with the bowl) with a QB who we all knew was a placekeeper for Bostick (provided he improves) or Sunseri going into the season.

I’m mad about the game yesterday, and yes that offense was an embarassment. But on the bright side, we were the highest scoring team in the Big East this past year and we had some injury trouble on the line yesterday.

I’m just tired of reading the Rivals board and hearing people act like this entire year was a waste because of one (admittedly awfull) game. We’re not going to win every game, especially coming off of a 5-7 season last year. People need to realize that, at the moment, we’re not Texas or USC, and one loss in a bowl game that most of the country didn’t care about anyways isn’t going to make or break us.

Ok, I’m done with that.

Happy New Year to all of my fellow Pitt faithfull. And thanks Chas for another year of hard work for all of us ridiculously pessimistic Pitt fans!! The university is lucky to have you as an alumni and supporter.

Although I blog on this site frequently, I am not a Pitt alum. I am a Pitt fan … they are the local team which uses a lot local players and deserve my support. Noneteless, I believe I may bring a measure of objectivity and would like to offer some observations:

1. 2008 was a pretty good year and 09 promises to be even better — with or without Shady. Nonetheless, I really think that the 09 team may underachieve without a mobile QB. Pitt certainly has a top 10 defense, but without a dominant O-line it needs a QB that can make a play when the primary receiver is covered or he is getting pressure. I honestly can’t remember a play in the past two seasons when the QB avoided a sack and completed a key play while scrambling.

2. I honestly believe that Wannstedt/Cav was not real upset with the Sun Bowl since Pitt was in the game until the last play. I’ve heard Wanny say on a few occasions that the goal is to give us a chance to win in the 4th quarter.

3. I don’t think the bloggers on this site are much different than most other sites. Passionate fans overreact especially after a game that they feel they should have won. I do think, except for a few, that most are angered more with the coaching than with the QB and rightfully so.

4. It is hard for me to understand the obsession of the bloggers here with PSU. I understand the frustration that a great rivalry was ended, especially for the reason why it ended … the same reason that the ACC raided the Big East … GREED. Face it, as long PSU can sell over 100,000 tickets for Coastal Carolina, it has little incentive to play a home and home with a team that can beat them in a given year. Nonetheless, comparing Pitt to PSU is fruitless and frustrating. Pitt will always have the problem of playing in a major league city with much less alumni than PSU. And as good as Wanny has recruited, it must be reaized that only one of Wanny’s classes was rated higher than PSU’s. That is not to say that Pitt couldn’t compete on the field with PSU; Pitt certainly had the better teams ealier this decade, and I’m willing to say that they have a chance of being better next year if they can get good QB production …. but it will all just be conjecture, and while you can make a case on a given year, I just see this obsession about the Nits to be wasted energy.

In summary, I think Pitt is headed in the right direction, maybe not as fast as you would like but nonetheless, better days are ahead.

What’s worse: losing 31+ – 7 or 3 – 0?

Steve: 3-0 is worse. USC beats up everyone.

Happy New Year Panther Fans,

I too resisted the urge to bash Cav, Stull and the offensive line yesterday. I didn’t know Pinkston was out until I read the paper this morning.

How great is a defense that holds any team to 3 points when their offense is three and out most of the time? If Greg Williams makes the interception for a touchdown we probably win the game. By the way I am not blaming Greg, he played a great game. We will miss the great Scott in the middle.

While I was disgusted as any of you with our inability to make a first down and what I thought was poor play calling, give Oregon State’s D-Line credit. I have no idea why we would throw long sideline passes on third and five or why we kept running McCoy and LSH up the middle instead of trying to get them outside and in space. Their linebackers may have shut that down too, but I miss student body right and left.

Anyway, we won nine games, we will only lose two or three superstars. We will be better next year.
The defense is here and power running will be back next year.

Also barring a miracle. The Pac 10 is 5-0 and we came the closest to beating any of them. If Cinci wins the Big East is 4-1.

Wanny is building a program. (Where are the idiots that thought we should fire Dixon?)

Go Cincinnati, and HAIL TO PITT.

Hi All,

Does anyone know when season tickets go on sale for the 2009 football season?

Thanks-
Rob P.

Getting on the kids who play is just plain stupid, put the blame on the coaches for putting the kids in the situations to FAIL. These coaches must be morons. To call plays continually that fail.Like throwing 30yd passes when they know that Stull can not do it. Why not give him something that he can do. Dump off passes and short outs or run McCoy more. Not running McCoy in the first half enough is dumb enough.

I think Wanny the stash and Cavanaugh the loser should quit. They do not know how to get the best out of there talent. This is there weakness and they cant see it.

So please leave the players alone its not all there fault.

Chas – happy new year and awesome job with this site. You deserve a ton of credit for putting so much time and effort into this site!

I resisted posting yesterday. We all felt the same dissappointment and were surprised to say the least about OC and QB decision-making.

Taking a step back and looking at the season as a whole as well as the future:

1. The athleticism of our players continues to improve dramatically. The type of players who are being recruited are much more athletic and it shows.

2. We have a young team. Many top 25 teams are losing a lot more players than Pitt.

3. The defenze has improved dramatically. I really like to see an athletic defense that can bring the blitz – I haven’t seen it at Pitt in a while until this year. This defense can only be better next year, especially if the defensive coordinator stays.

4. The offense and QB play can only improve. I think most of the O-line will be back, which will help the QB, bit I’ve got to think that the QB job will be wide open. Wanny’s knows that the offense is the teams weakness and the area that needs most improvement. We’ve got a handful of good wide receivers and tight ends that we need to get the ball to. I’m certain positive changes will be made to improve the offense.

5. The Big East is a very winnable conference. We really have the ability to be a top-2 Big East team for many years, especially if we continue recruitting well.

Nuff Said. Happy New Year everyone! Let’s go Pitt hoops!!!

I think the underestimated fact of life is this: Bill Stull knows he sucked in that game. He’s not going to be sad if he stumbles upon this forum and sees people saying he throws worse than their grandmother. The other stuff, however, is preposterous. I try to not post here at all after emotional losses, lest I say something stupid. Leave that stuff in the bar. Stull was terrible….but we still had a shot to win the game. 3-0 is a stupid score for a game, but I’d MUCH rather lose 3-0 than any other three point margin, because it means our defense showed up, and that’s what you build on. If you can hold teams without a touchdown, you will ultimately win a helluva lot of games. The game sucked to watch because we did nothing on offense, and I was among the many advocating firing Cav after each series. But we still could’ve won the game.

Also, at least we didn’t whine about being left out of the national championship picture and then get a physical pounding from USC. Cincinnati looks solid so far, obviously they were the deserving representative of this conference. I wish we’d been in a BCS bowl, but I think we’d have gotten a beating from just about any of the BCS teams. I’m glad to see Cincinnati, because they’re a really solid squad this year. Here’s hoping they run it up.

Most importantly, right now: THINK ROUNDBALL! The men’s and women’s hoops teams have a shot to do special things this year. Its time to turn our attention to those endeavors. (And seriously, though obviously the men’s team is more popular, if you get a chance to see this Pitt women’s team, do so. Especially if you ever watched us in the past, because this team is something special.) Also, Shavonte Zellous got a nice piece on ESPN: link to sports.espn.go.com The women’s team schedule, like the men’s, is about to get really tough: 12-2 WVU, 6-6 Prov, 12-2 Depaul, 13-1 South Fla, 11-1 Seton Hall, 11-2 Syrcause, 10-3 G’town. Then, of course, they get a break of one game before the gauntlet of 11-1 #6 ND, 8-2 #14 Rutgers, 12-0 #1 UConn. Louisville (13-1) and St. Johns (12-1) are also on the back end of the schedule. Both the men and women are going to need our support.

HAIL TO PITT!

Cavanaugh needs to be fired !!!! The End!!! The offense ws just pathetic !!! Ayway, It’ basketball season

Bill Stull has done a good enough job, till yestday, to warrant some praise from the Panther faithful. But he’s clearly not the quarterback we need going forward. I think unless Bostick comes in to Spring practice and blows everyone’s doors off (however unlikely that may be) that the coaches’ need to go with Greg Cross next year, to at least we have someone who can avoid the obvious blitzing coming his way…and then spend the entire next recruiting season focussing on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th, best high school QB prospects in the country and promise them that they can play as a freshman…ala Terrell Pryor at OSU…Because if Bostick doesn’t grab the starting job next year he never will, so they might as well focus on the next best prospect. Let Wannstache put his recruiting prowess to the test and bring in a big time QB recruit for 2011.

thanks for the much needed perspective, maz. and good look on the zellous article.

A little of topic, but did Lucas Nix retain his redshirt this year?

If not, I cannot believe Chase Clowser should have ever have played over him.

Seriously, how stupid are Wanny and Cav? Are they that stubborn that Stull is already declared the starter for next year, despite the fact that he is no better (and probably less talented) than Bostick? What about Sunseri? If this B.S. about Stull being the best option at QB is actually true, that just means they need to desperatley recruit some talent the position. Having good d-lineman and running backs is fine, but when your QB acts like he would rather be at the dentist, those positions can’t do jack. Also, did anyone else think the announcers were smoking crack in the booth? Oh well, happy new year to everyone, even Billy Stull.

Well, there’s always 2011.

Losing a bowl game isn’t what is so upsetting, its the fact that we realize we have no chance to make a real run at things for the next 2 years due to the QB situation, and how the coaches are inept in some areas. Oh well.

Thank god Jamie Dixon isn’t a moron.

I never heard anything about Stull being named starter for next year already. Maybe somebody with the same “very very very very very very very super duper reliable” inside sources as the guy who is sure Shady is going pro might know about that one!!!

I did find out tonight that my Dad used to work with Greg Gattuso’s brother… and no that doesn’t mean I have any inside info about anything like some people here claim!! Just never realized that and thought it was interesting.

So, Cincy got beat tonight. Good thing I’m not a big “conference homer” or I’d worry about everyone’s perception of the Big East now.

Fire Cav. No excuses! The guy ruined Palko, and now has managed to make Pitt’s offense into a joke. Anyone could see that Bostick came into the game and suddenly could throw. But why give him a chance when he did so well for a true freshman last year? No dwaw plays plays? Either he goes or Wanny will be asked to go soon and I want Wanny to stay. Stull should lose his scholorship. Again… I blame Cav.

Chas, allow me to echo all the positive comments about your efforts to keep us fans talking about PITT sports, it is very much appreciated. Thank you and Happy New Year.

As to the state of PITT football… I’ve found myself, after being away from the University and not really caring about their sports for 20+ years, getting back into the fold of fandom over the last four years. The sole reason was because of Walt Harris’ firing and the subsequent hiring of Dave Wannstedt.
I have become much more interested in every aspect of PITT football than I ever thought I would, I read about it every morning and post my thoughts on here and on the message boards also – sometimes very prolifically. I’ve even developed a new group of friends by doing this. Truth be told, I support the football program both emotionally and financially. In a real sense this has become a big hobby for me, and brings me great enjoyment.
So, why should anyone give a damn that this has happened to me? Probably no reason at all – expect for the fact that even with this strong attachment and investment in PITT football, I care less about the actual results of the games than the vast majority if “fans” who put way less than I do into it.
See – I really try to view PITT football in its proper perspective. It’s a college SPORT that is there, essentially, to provide an interest and enjoyment to its followers. We aren’t naive – and we all know that it needs to turn a profit also. But it should only have business concerns to the PITT administration – we fans are here because we need to draw enjoyment from what is happening from the football team. I don’t mean jumping up and down, happy face smiles – I mean it has to be something that holds our interest and that makes us care about something we, essentially, have little control over.
That’s who we are folks, we fans are outside observers, like it or not. Oh, some may donate more money than others, and some may paint their faces on gameday, but for 99.9% of us, we’re on the outside looking in. But, you know what? Doing those things doesn’t make anyone a better fan than those who don’t. The person who takes these games so seriously that they feel the need to vent their own disappointment by slurring the players or coaches are no more ‘important’ than those who stand back and shrug their shoulders at the outcome.
All the bluster and threats that the rabid fans show after a disappointing game means little, and the personal attacks prove way more about the insulter’s character than they do about the player’s performance or worth. Honestly, it also kind of ruins it for the rest of us.
Last season, there was probably no fan more critical of our QB’s play than myself – but not once did I ever feel Pat Bostick wasn’t giving it 100% out there, nor was he anything but a gutsy athlete that had responsibilities thrust on him way too soon. The personal venom that was spewed his way – from the start of training camp until the final game was unconscionable. But, I caught a lot of heat from other fans on the boards about what I wrote about his actual play so I tried to explain my thoughts very clearly – that there is a difference between a player’s performance and his character. Interestingly enough, as a result of my posts about Pat Bostick’s play I’ve developed a bit of a friendship with his Father, instigated by his emails to me discussing PITT football. It happened because he recognized a fan who keeps perspective about what we all care about.
Personally, I loved this PITT football season, and not just because we won more than we lost, although that was great. I enjoyed it, just as I really enjoyed last season, because it had all the elements that make sports fun. Joy, drama, disappointment and humor… It was all there this year. The kids obviously worked very hard to get on the field, they played their hearts out each and every game and the coaching staff worked hard too. We won games we thought we’d lose, and blew games that I thought were in the bag. But, that’s what sports are all about.
I’ll stay interested and involved. I’ll keep discussing and debating and scratching my head over some decision making. But all the while I’ll also keep in mind that I have – at any given moment – the opportunity to turn my back on PITT football and walk away if it every becomes so important to me that I lessen my standards and act like a jerk because of it.

I just have this to say… THANK GOD FOOTBALL IS OVER!!! Now that this football season is over, can we all just start concentrating on the basketball program? We have the number 3 team in the nation and a big game tomorrow against Georgetown. This is what makes a team a final four 4 team. You’re playing at Georgetown where you haven’t won in the last four years and playing a team that just dominated the #2 team in the nation on their home court. The win at Rutgers was a lot more impressive than people will give them credit for. Blair played only 8 minutes and a couple of those fouls were not his fault at all. They went away from their man to man and played a 2-3 zone, which looked like they have been doing all season. This is by far their biggest test all year. This is not a make or break game, but it will say a lot if they can pull it out.

Also, for all those poeple out there who say they have a “weak” schedule, someone should look at how Colorado lost to Vermont and Nebraska lost to Maryland-Baltimore County, both games were away for those teams also. LET’S GO PITT BASKETBALL!!!

I tried my best to give Stull the benefit of the doubt but this game has shown me 100% that if Stull or Bostick are the the starting QB next year, we will take a step backward. DW must hope that Sunseri may be ready to play. Maybe the kid from Texas decides to come to Pitt? Either way, we cannot settle for Stull or Bostick.

Another thought, isn’t Walt Harris in Pittsburgh and unemployed??? It may be time for Cav to take a hike as well. Correct me if Im wrong but in the last game of the year, a bowl game, isnt that the time to open the playbook up??? Especially when you absolutely cant do anything else offensively. Are you telling me we dont have at leats one or two good trick plays to try and jump start something or hell at least put us into reasonable field goal range??

On a bright note, the D looked stellar. Its a shame to lose a game that way. I put this one on DW and Cav. It was obvious stull couldnt hit the broad side of a barn, get him out. How about giving Bostick a shot earlier, he seems to find ways to win???

Oh well, time to focus on bball.

Please read Chris’s analysis, I think it is right on!

link to bebballreportpitt.blogspot.com

Cav ruined Palko?

link to sports.espn.go.com

Hmmmm… I hope he ruins Stull in the same manner. If Pitt had the 4th highest rated QB in the country this past season, they’d have been BCS bound. I’m not a Cav supporter, but to say he ruined Palko is simply untrue.

I agree. Dokish nailed it. We are a good program and nothing more. And that’s fine. At least we don’t suck. But people who are expecting Pitt to somehow win 10 games next year are fooling themselves. My favorite part of Dokish;s article says it all and I don’t see how any rational person can’t agree with this:

“So despite playing in the worst BCS conference this season, having the best offensive and the best defensive player in the conference, and playing seven teams who were having down years, at the end of the year the Panthers still were no better than the third best team in the conference, behind Cincinnati and Rutgers, and will probably not make the Top 25. What happens when McKillop leaves, and worse yet, if McCoy joins him? Chris Burns is a talented back, but if Pitt can’t get into the Top 25 with McCoy and McKillop, they aren’t going to get in there with Burns and whoever replaces McKillop.”

are we seriously talking about firing everybody and making wholesale changes after OUR FIRST 9 WIN REGULAR SEASON IN OVER 20 YEARS?! are you kidding me? im a student, and i know that people are frustrated with the sun bowl performance, but you cannot be serious about all this. yes, we played like diseased yaks on offense for much of the second half of the year. but we’ve beaten our biggest rival (and make no mistake, to any student on that campus wvu is the biggest rival. people who go to the school now have given up on the psu rivalry because we dont play them. ever. in anything. so students dont care.) two straight years, we got to a new years eve bowl after a 5-7 season, and we did that all without a quarterback and largely without an offensive line or secondary. im not saying this team was great, but i get sick of the “wannstedt for king” mentality with every win we get and the “fire everybody and send the team to the firing squad” whenever we lose. it has been thirty years since this program, in reality, has been nationally relevant. and in the last 13 months we’ve become closer to the relevance that we have been since then. if shady comes back i see us having another 9, and possibly even 10 win season next year. if he doesnt, i think we fall to 8 wins.
you can say what you want about wannstedt, and trust me i am not apologist of his, but he has put more talent in place than harris ever did. i dont think it has been him personally that has held his teams back (i mean, just look at our beamer-esque special teams this year). i think it has been his coordinators. after paul rhoads left we got the defense we had this year (that was statistically worse than last year but in reality looked much, much better and more confident). and i believe that it is matt cavanaugh that is holding the offense back. there are coaches who know how to work with mediocre quarterbacks and who know how to make talented headcases such as bostick into competitors. he simply is not one of them.
this teeam is ready to become relevant again, and it has a lot of heart (see the 5 fourth quarter comebacks). that flows directly from the head coach and team leadership. now if we can get some specialized coaches for the offense i can see some bright things in this team’s future.

all in all, i applaud the 2008 panthers football team. it was the first one i could really get behind since i became a student, and i’m proud of them. i think we all should be.

If 9 wins is all you care about, then maybe we should join the MAC. The win total is nice to see, and all, but let’s be realistic. This team is not a real 9 win team. Almost every team on the schedule this year was down. In any other conference we would probably be 6-6.

By the way, junior, dramatic much? Nobody is talking about wholesale changes and the only person who anybody suggested should get fired is Cavanaugh.

Someone needs to tell Dokish that one or two players do not make a football team. He concentrates on the one player (possibly two) leaving while I’d like to concentrate on the returning players, such as the lines coming back almost intact (sans Davis and Duncan), a solid group of WRs returning, the maturation of Greg Williams and Dom Decicco, and so on. Obviously, a lot hinges on McCoy. But right now, nothing is certain with his situation. As for now, he said he’s coming back, so unless we hear otherwise, we should assume he will return for the 09 season.

Also, what’s RU going to do without Teel? How about Cincy losing ten starters on defense? How will WVU replace Pat White? Louisville has to break in a new QB. USF loses a lot on both sides of the ball. Every team in college football must annually replace core components of their team.

And Pitt is no different. Two years ago, everyone was saying: “how is Pitt going to replace Blades?”. With some slow white kid that only had one major offer, right? That worked out for the Panthers, now didn’t it?

But given the typical Pitt fan mentality that the sky is always falling, none of this should surprise me. Pitt fans will never be happy. They could go 13-0 and win the BCS title, but I am sure the Pessimistic Panther Nation will find something to bitch and moan about…

perhaps i was a bit overdramatic. but look, did we expect more than 9 wins for this team? no. so what is everyone angry about? i just read the article linked to above that was talking everything negative about at team that showed dramatic improvement over last year. i get being pissed off about the bowl game. and who cares what we would have been in another conference. we went 9-4. thats it. we were in the top 25 for more than half of the year and i bet if we arent 25th in the final poll we are still receiving votes. im just saying, anyone who thought that this team would do better than this was overestimating it at the beginning of the year. and i was making a point about the bipolar attitude shown over the course of the season. when we win, everyone says we are the best pitt team ever. when we lose, we’re the worst. we lost by 3 points to a team that won 10 games, with one of those wins being over usc. we won 9 games, including a road win over a then top 10 team (yes they fell apart after that, but that didnt take away from the impact of that win at the time), and another win over wvu. people are way to pissed about a successful season. pitt isnt florida or usc. we arent bcs contenders every year. yet. but we are a hell of a lot closer now than we have been in the last decade, and ive been watching pitt football that whole time.

I heard from a good source this morning that Pitt/Wannstedt may be inquiring in to the availability of Ball State offensive coordinator Stan Parrish. He is another NFL guy, working as Tampa Bay Bucs quarterback coach in 2002 and 2003.

I wll be happy with any OC as long as they know how to:
A. Develope QB’s,
B. Develope more then one gamplan for the season
C. Make adjustments during a game (any adjustment)
D. is capable of opening thing up..At this point opening a can of beans or thier own fly would be better then what we currently have.

Thanks for your efforts in keeping this forum interesting and informative Chas. As an out-of-state alum it is one of my favorite sources for all things Pitt.

One the whole this year was a positive step forward for Pitt football. We need a change though on the offense, starting with a reliable QB who can make things happen not just “manage” the game.

Pitt79:

Your good source Sucks. This story is two weeks old.

Ball State football
Parrish takes reins as Ball State football coach
Cardinals offensive coordinator replaces Hoke
Muncie Star Press
Posted: December 19, 2008Read Comments(5)Recommend (4)E-mail Print Share Del.icio.us Digg Reddit Yahoo Google A A MUNCIE, Ind. — Calling himself old school and using a charm that seemed to captivate his first audience as football coach at Ball State University, Stan truly became the man Thursday evening.

A 38-year coaching veteran, Stan Parrish was promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach after a three-day search in which he was the only true candidate.

The Pitt loss disappointed me, but didn’t surprise me. All in all the players played their hearts out and never quit. Realistic fans could recognize the team’s weaknesses all year and knew that against good opponents they would be exposed, but the team was what it was. Wannstedt certainly has his positives, but again his weaknesses become his own worst enemy. Wannstedt loyality to his players are to be admired, but his loyality to his coaching staff could and has brought on a lot of criticism. Sadly, Cavanaugh’s offenses have been poor at best wherever he coaches, and being imaginative isn’t part of his makeup. In the bowl game, I thought I was watching the Baltimore Ravens play when Cav was their coordinator, all defense and no offense. If Wannstedt, a man I’ve come to respect in a weird way, turns the reigns over to a quality offensive coordinator, I believe Pitt’s future may be brighter than most Pitt fan could imagine. But, if Wannstedt’s loyality or stubborness towards making changes when coaches aren’t getting the job done continues, his program will become stagnant and even regress. Dave is a defense specialist, but it’s obvious that he needs someone with an offensive mind to get this team to the next level. Ball control is fine, but excitement puts fans in the stands, and against good teams one dimensional offenses don’t get it done. My only questions remains: does Wannstendt really put an offensive coordinator in charge, or does he restrict a man so much he can’t do the job. The old man at Penn State wouldn’t let his offensive coordinator coordinate until he was so old he forgot he had one.

There has to be better game day adjustments from the offensive coordinator. I heard the Ball State coach mentioned too, before he was promoted.
In all fairness to Cavanaugh, the left tackle got his lunch handed to him. To me, that points to the need for depth at offensive line. But, let’s face it, Bill Stull is not a D1 starting quarterback. Maybe a Youngstown State type but not a kid with the ability to complete against the better teams in D1.
If you are going to run a pro-style offensive in college, your QB has to be a stud. They don’t have a stud QB. Most teams don’t. That is why they should be playing a terrific athlete at quarterback and diversify the offensive.
Wannstedt is no dummy. Sooner or later he is going to have to give in to reality. It will be sooner if McCoy leaves for the NFL. If not, next year will be a very long season at empty Heinz Field.

FACTS

Four year record 25-22

Record against BCS teams 17-20

Record against Big East 14-14

Notre Dame, Navy, USF, Louisville, Rutgers, UConn, and WVU all had down years.

Pitt had the best offensive and best defensive players in the conference and they were still only the third best team in the conference this year and didn’t make the Top 25.

Is any of that untrue? Wake up people. Pitt will go 7-5 next year and everybody will cry. Do yourself a favor and just cry now to get it over with. This is the best Wannstedt will do and it still wasn’t good enough. Quit holding on to a 9-4 record that was only achieved against mediocre teams.

I’m so sick of hearing people say that we play in the worst BCS conference. I’m not reposting my stats from last year again, but the Big East has not been the worst conference in any of the years since BC left. This is based on records against 1-A teams, records against BCS teams, and records in bowl games. Last year, for instance, the stats showed that the Big East was in fact better than the Big Ten (and ACC, obviously) based on I-A opponents and strengths of schedule. Low and behold, the Big Ten got embarassed in their big bowl matchups, and the Big East completed another strong outing (the conference has had a winning bowl record every year since BC left as well). People love to hate on the Big East because when VT and Miami left, and then BC the next year, it was easy to say the problem with the BCS was giving away a berth to our conference. But the truth is that this conference has been strong. Not SEC strong, but strong. (Recall that last year only the SEC had a higher win pctg against I-A teams than the Big East.) The truth is that the Big East would get ridiculed for scheduling the way the Big Ten does in terms of road games and non-conference games scheduled, because we don’t have 100,000 people supporting our teams in person every week to make it seem like our teams must be relevant. Also, note that the Big East’s lack of speed really hurt Steve Slaton’s pro chances. Again, people see what they want to see. In hoops, Jay Bilas honestly said that the ACC’s conference strengh was obvious when, in their first year, Miami and VT went 8-8 and 9-7 after losing double digit games in the BE the two years prior. So because they had better records in the ACC, it proved that the ACC was a stronger conference. Not only does this make no logical sense, it obviously proves the opposite. Yet this kind of nonsense goes unchecked, because people are determined to believe the fundamental, bedrock premises that guide college sports: the ACC basketball league is infallible, the Big East is the weakest football conference, the Pac Ten is overrated, etc etc. Note, for instance, that Penn State got thumped by USC as part of the Pac 10’s unbeaten bowl run. Yet no one crowed for USC to be included in the national title discussion, even though they took only one loss (in conference, on the road) during the season, just like every other team that got serious national title consideration. Hopefully Utah wins today, and we can have a USC team that crushed two BCS teams (well, Big Ten BCS teams, so whatever that’s worth) finishing with 1 loss, an unbeaten Utah team that ran an extremely solid conference, and neither in the national title conversation. Why? Because the SEC must be the best conference every year no matter what.

It is easy to say that teams we beat had down years. Sure it is a down year for WVU to lose 3 or 4 based on what they have done the last few seasons. At the same time, LSU lost 5 games after winning the national championship, and no one has questioned whether that was a quality win for anyone who beat them.

At the same time, if the 5 Big East teams who all had “down years” beat Pitt, then they probably don’t get talked about as down years (except for Louisville who truly sucked). One more regular season win for WVU would have pretty much looked like business as usual. Rutgers played GREAT football in BE play; they just didn’t play well in the early season- much like our Panthers struggled early on. It is easy to make excuses to say that this team wasn’t that good, but the reality is, they won 9 games. They didn’t win them against shitty opponents (no matter what some people on here say). Pitt was rated quite high in SoS- like 25 spots higher than Florida. They lost a few we wish they hadn’t, but they also won some HUGE games. People who say they aren’t a real 9 win team will never be happy. People who think that this 9 win season means we are a national powerhouse now are blind to reality. We had a very good season and all indications are that we are getting better.

We went 5-7 against competition that wasn’t much better last year and were just a few plays away from winning some against teams that were supposedly a lot better last year. If we beat Navy, Louisville, and South Florida last year, then they don’t end up looking as good as they did. We are getting better. I will take 9 win seasons every year (even if they aren’t really 9 wins because someone doesn’t believe we play real teams). It is much better than celebrating 6-5 trips to bowl games.

Maz, good assessment of the various conferences. If the BE put 100,000 fans in the seats, we’d be thought of more highly, and maybe Penn State would’t have to lower themselves to play us. As usually, the Big Ten is proving they are without a doubt the most overrated conference in the country. The Big Ten teams can’t hide in the Big Ten during bowl season, so they are revealed for what they really are: big, slow, lumbering teams. Hopefully, someday the local kids will wise up and see the Big Ten for what it is: overrated.

if we were the third best team in the conference who was second?

The Dokish article was kind of ridiculous.

We score one TD and win Weds, and nobody’s talking about any of this.

It’s the whole “you’re only as good as your last game” philosophy. Last season we fucking SUCKED. But, we beat WVU in the last game and we were a happy and optimistic bunch all offseason.

This year we had a pretty decent season. No we’re not USC of Florida, but coming from where we’d been it wasn’t bad. But, since we couldn’t win our last game, we obviously sucked ass and are worthless…. of course if we’d have gotten that one ellusive TD against OSU, we’d still be an optimistic bunch ready to cheer on this great rising program next year!!!

It’s ridiculous the way some people act. We were projected to be an 8 or 9 win team on the rise going into the year, and that’s what happened!!

I hate people that blow sunshine where there is none, but the doomsayers on here are ridiculous.

All those teams had down years eh? All those super powers like USF and UConn, and the Stewart-led Pat White-less Mountaineers were just down this year and they’re going to light the world on fire next year and leave poor old Pitt in the dust right?

Louisville just was having a bad year, they’re gonna light it up next year for sure with Kragthorp and whoever the hell their QB is right?

If ANYONE benefitted from down years by other teams, and a “once in a lifetime” year from their own it was Cincy. Half of those guys won’t be back next. This WAS the pinnacle for the Bearcats.

I’m not saying things won’t go wrong next year, I don’t think they will, but they could. I mean, you’re always going to have the cowards like our buddy Mark up there who just wait for the team to lose a game so they can pop up and scream to everyone what idiots we are for caring and how they were right, then say nothing when they win games. I never understood why people like that exist. If I think Pitt’s good, I’ll say it and hope I’m not wrong. If I think Pitt’s bad, I’ll say it and pray that I’m wrong and be happy if I am.

I think Pitt wasn’t that bad considering where they came from. For USC or Florida, this would’ve been a subpar year. For a team that was 7-5 last year, they met all of the expectations that the fans and media set for them back in August… yet we’re still acting like we’re headed down the toilet.

(BTW, and before I’m called a Wanny or Cav apologist, I think Cav is worthless and that Wanny’s greatest asset is recruiting and maybe not much else. But that’s me being real and not overly opimistic or pessimistic.)

I live in Tampa, and USF had almost the same exact season we did this year last year (they even lost in the Sun Bowl, albeit by a LOT more to a Dennis Dixon-less Oregon team that hadn’t won a game in months) and it was hailed as a great triumph in this part of Florida.

Rutgers has a few above average seasons and wins a couple really low-level bowl games, and they’re happier than pigs in you-know-what.

It’s all about perception people.

BTW, onto actual football instead of just complaining about all the annoying “sky is falling!” people, I think that for the Wannstedt era to be a success he needs to replace Cav.

Cav’s ideas are dated and Wanny needs a fresh, young, COLLEGE-ORIENTED, offensive mind to take full advantage of the talent he brings in.

Bennett’s a good defensive coordinator (and one thing I do trust Wanny with “X’s and O’s”-wise is defense anyways) and I think the secondary is going to mature in the offseason. Aaron Berry was actually the third best player on the field for Pitt’s defense in the Sun Bowl behind McKillop and Romeus.

We just need a bright offensive coordinator. Good coordinators can help make up for Wanny’s coaching deficiencies while taking advantage of his strength, recruiting. Cav is neither good or innovative.

BTW, here’s an underrated reason why our passing offense never really took off this year (besides Stull and Cav): Kinder never fully recovered from his knee injury.

In the last 2 years, Pitt QBs Stull, Bostick and Smith progressed about as well as Kyle Bollar did in his glorious NFL career. (low blow but couldn’t pass it up.)

Wanny picked Bennett for DC in a large part due to his college backgound; I suggest he does the same for replacing Cav.

Jimbo, great analysis as always. I usually enjoy Dokish’s columns, but he gave absolutely no reason to assume that even if Pitt regresses next year that other Big East teams will be ready to step up in the power vacuum.

I agree that Cav must go and that the hiring of the next OC will be the most important hire of the Wannstedt era. However as much as we were personally disgusted by the results of the game, we are also being overly dramatic when we think that our performance will be remembered beyond next week. The only result that matters is UF-Oklahoma, and the other 31 games are more or less irrelevant, including the winners of the other BCS games.

Frist of all, Happy New Year to all Pitt fans and especially to you, Chas. Thanks for writing this blog. I really enjoy reading it.

Although I was as unhappy with our offense as the rest of you, what really has been bothering me about Cavanaugh is his inabiity to develop capable quarterbacks. I’d like to see some progress made from one year to the next from the QBs. Granted, we didn’t see much of Stull last year, but I guess I just expected more from him this year. More consistency hitting short passes (not getting screen passes intercepted). Hitting a fade pattern more often than not. Not throwing the ball into the receivers’ feet (or the ground in front of them). I expected to see Bostick make better strides with his pocket presence and release. And if Kevin Smith has such a a great arm, why hasn’t he seen any PT? Aren’t these guys learning anything during the offseason? Why aren’t they improving? One thing you have to credit Walt Harris with- he did put decent QBs on the field, and the offense was fun to watch. The receivers also caught the balls that were in their vicinity- unlike ours that show very little effort if it isn’t on their numbers. It has been said that Baldwin doesn’t run a good route- well, isn’t coaching supposed to remedy that? There were a ton of catchable balls dropped by our receivers- and they weren’t getting drilled at the time, either. Coaching, anybody???

No one knows what Shady will decide to do, but in the pregame interview, Tony Dorsett did say that he told Shady to stay one more year so he could be a high first round pick- alot more millions than if he is a low first rounder. Let’s hope he listens to TD. Hail to Pitt!

This will sound insane for suggesting it, but I liked the one poster who recommended hiring Harris as the OC. One thing Harris could do is recognize QB’s, an obvious weakness of Wannstedt. If Wannstedt and Harris would join forces, you’d have a great defensive and a great offensive mind. Maybe the two of them could develop something that resembles a balanced offense. Boomer Esiason called Harris the best QB coach he ever saw. Walt just wasn’t cut out to be a head coach, but why waste his offensive genius. Of course this won’t happen, but it could make with a great combo.

Walt Harris as QB Coach & OC is what I dream about in the off season.

Don’t ever think Walt Harris will be hired in any capacity at the University of Pittsburgh again. Folks, that will never happen, and it should never happen – for many reasons.

PITT football isn’t and probably never will be the horse that pulls the cart at PITT. It’s importance is as it should be, a small and peripheral part of the overall University’s emphasis on it’s primary missions – which is to educate students, conduct research and be an integral part of, and to represent, Pittsburgh and its surrounding area.

As such – I agree with the posts above that state the success of this year under Dave Wannstedt is all about perceptions and expectations. Only the most rabid PITT fans (and IMO unrealistic when all is considered) could look at what the football team did this season and be disappointed. But, again, it’s all on what you expected in the first place, and where your perception of the role football plays at PITT lies. If you think football is more important than it really is – than probably nothing short of a NC will satisfy you. Good luck with that. If you realize that PITT football is, in reality, not at the top of the “must have” list for Nordenberg and the Board of Trustees… then you’ll realize that this type of season, with some better and some worse, is going to be what we’ll get.

It’s all about what importance the University puts on football, and personally I’m fine with that. Hell yes, I want PITT to win football games, and they did. I want kids to want to play for PITT, and they are. I want fans to enjoy following PITT football and to be proud of the program and how it’s being run, and for the most part I believe they happens.

But that’s just how I view PITT Football. If it ever became an embarrassment to the school (and not just in the W/L column) or started taking emphasis and assets away from what the University really exists to accomplish, then I’d care much less and be disappointed that happened – regardless of how many games we won.

Wannstedt is succeeding in many ways. some more visible than others. Regardless of how some fans feel – it isn’t all about whether we win 8, 9 or 10 games in any particular year. It never has been. This season was fun to watch, probably turned a profit (or made decent money) for the Athletic department, and was done in a way that the University, its alumni and its fans can be proud of. That’s what PITT asks of Dave Wannstedt, and that’s what he’s delivering.

So what are you saying, Pitt can’t hire a quality OC, or Harris failed to bring character to the program. I never thought Harris was a great head coach, but I did respect his ability to evaluate wide receivers and QB’s. Did he do things behind the scenes that the average fan isn’t aware of?

Reed I’m not at all in disagreement with your comments regarding Wannstedt, but why can’t the University have both, a quality education and a championship calibur football program. Pitt has done it in the past, and I see no reason it can’t achieve the same results again.

The #2 team in the Big East this year was…..?

Everyone now says that Walt knew quarterbacks…and everyone bitches how Rutherford sucked and only looked good because he threw to Fitz – and everyone complained about Palko too.

ITL – it really didn’t do both things in the past for any length of time. The University itself is in a whole different place now than it was in 1976-1982. That is a six year period out of over a hundred years the University has been playing football. or lets say 60 years in the modern era. The emphasises are different now and the need for whatever national visibility came as a result of the successful football program is much lessened.

I’m not saying it isn’t possible for a school to have both – it probably is possible. I’m saying that the schools that are constantly of what fans call an “elite” football status are schools that put much more importance on the football program than PITT does – for the most part.

Some of it is this… think about what the city of Pittsburgh has to be proud of on a national and international scale. It used to have Big Steel and Corporate Headquarters that put the City in the national consciousness. Now it has the University of Pittsburgh, and it’s affiliate UPMC. Other than CMU, which represents the city in a lesser, more narrow degree, PITT has become the face of the city, and in turn, Western Pennsylvania. I’ve lived and travelled all over the world, and all over the US, and I can tell you that when you mention you’re from Pittsburgh people will talk about the Steelers first, and UPMC second. PITT football isn’t ‘relevant’ unless you are specifically discussing college football.

Try doing that with Penn State, Ohio State, or WVU – all you’ll get is talk about football (and jokes about West Virginia). A byproduct of this is that PITT alumni do not jump up and down to donate money to the football program, just to beat their chest and be able to say they did so – PITT alumni have other things to consider, and be interested in helping, for the University’s missions.

I truly believe this. Relatively few PITT alumni live in the area – and those that live far away aren’t dropping big bucks to the school for the football program to “Bring glory on the gridiron to old PITT U.”. The ones that live in the area don’t even follow PITT football en mass(as evidenced by low season tickets and attendance) and all in all, few give a real damn whether football sinks or swims at PITT. The Administration follows that lead. PITT does not live and die by its football reputation and the monies that it brings in. Our neighbors to the east can’t say that for one, and few of the “big” football factory schools can’t either. They see almost all donations dry up when the football program does poorly. Hence, their administrations have a vested interest in keeping their football teams at a high level.

Regarding Walt Harris – I have my own strong feelings about this, and others may disagree.

From a pure business and leadership standpoint – can you think of any instance that a University has fired their Head Coach and re-hired him to work under his successor? Or even re-hired him to be the head coach again, or work in any capacity with the football program? It happens a lot with men who have quit for a different job (Johnny Majors or the NFL) or who have ‘retired’ and fleeted up to AD (Frank Broyles or Tom Osborne), but I can’t remember it ever happening with someone that was fired.

Remember when I said that in some real ways PITT has become the national and international standard bearer for the city of Pittsburgh? It is important that nothing that happens inside the football program, or by the public face of the football program, damages PITT’s reputation in that area. That is what I believe is of prime importance to the University’s Administration.

Take off the blue and gold glasses for a minute and think about what transpired in 2004. PITT had a head coach who was more successful than any other HC in recent history and they fired him. Not that they didn’t meet his salary demands, not that he left to take his dream job – the didn’t even pretend to negotiate his contract – they publicly chose not to do that – which is firing him.

Then ask yourself why a school would do that. Why would getting to the “next level” become important all of a sudden when it really hadn’t mattered for the last twenty years? Why then, when it hadn’t mattered enough to sustain the short success we had 25-30 years ago? Did we have a sudden change in Administration with a whole different attitude toward football?…no. Did we have deep pocket donors tell PITT that the spigot would turn off unless we won a NC?… no.

No, what we had a football program that was becoming a liability to the University’s reputation. That had alienated the local community, the local populace who so loves WPA high school football, and the City’s power brokers, and it had to be fixed. We fixed it with someone that has, over the last four years, put forth exactly what the Administration wants. He has done so in a way that is acceptable to all concerned, and this year his hiring resulted in a winning football season – icing on the cake if you will.

Reed I said It’s what I “dream” about in the off season. I have this other dream where I’m falling…

Reed, the information you stated was very informative, but the hiring of Walt Harris was, as I mentioned above, a relatively insane gesture. But, I do believe there is a quality OC out there with Harris’s unique attributes to recognize average or above average QB’s. In my opinion, we need to give the players we do have the best possible chance to win. I don’t mean to knock Wannstedt, but offense doesn’t seem to be his forte, and after watching Cavanaugh’s offenses for the past several years, I’ve come to the conclusion that there must be someone in the country needing a job that’s better than him. Is this Cavanaugh’s offense or does Wannstedt keep him from be aggressive and creative?

ITL – I wholeheartedly agree with you regarding the offensive woes, and Cav and DW’s role in them.

The problem I have when discussing this problem – and other aspects of the PITT team like the QB position is this…

There are obvious solutions, and then there is trying to figure out what DW might do. As valid as the reasons for wanting a new OC and/or starting QB are; there is the fact that we won nine games and had the BE’s top scoring team. DW may very well look at that fact and feel ‘tweaking” in necessary and not large changes.

IMO the majority of the fans and sportwriters feel that large changes can really do no harm, as we succeeded on offense at a bare minimum given the talent we have, and have a huge “upside” if given the chance to work.