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April 19, 2010

At least one of his investments turned out really poorly.

Seems Coach Wannstedt held some stock in Orion Bank in Naples.

There are 405 “holders” of private stock identified on Orion Bancorp’s registration list. Some names are repeated two or three times, with a different number of shares, indicating multiple holdings.

The five other directors of Orion Bancorp’s board – Earl Holland of Fort Myers, Brian Schmitt of Marathon, James Torok of Sarasota, Alan Pratt of Vero Beach and James Aultman of Marathon – were big investors in the holding company. In the group, Holland had the most shares – 273,136 – making him the second-largest individual shareholder after Williams.

Dave Wannstedt, a former coach of the Miami Dolphins and head football coach at the University of Pittsburgh, owned 71,008 shares.

The bank was one of the largest privately held bank in Florida.  It got shut down by the FDIC back at the end of September. The shareholder list just surfaced.

Ouch.

But, at least his name isn’t surfacing with failed real estate development deals and some banned booster named “Clegg.”

Or at least it is rumored/expected to be.

High-ranking Big Ten representatives will meet Sunday in Washington to discuss expansion. The timing and location of the session make sense considering the Association of American Universities has its semi-annual meetings there through Tuesday and all 11 Big Ten schools are AAU members.

Among those attending will be Northwestern President Morton Schapiro, according to a university spokesman, and Illinois’ interim chancellor, Robert Easter.

If the conference can emerge from the meetings with a mandate to expand, Commissioner Jim Delany could take a substantial step next week at the annual Bowl Championship Series meetings outside Phoenix.

As laid out in the Big Ten’s Dec. 15 statement, Delany would “notify” the commissioners of the affected conferences before “engaging in formal expansion discussions with other institutions.”

In other words, Big East Commissioner John Marinatto would get a heads-up if the Big Ten wishes to contact schools such as Rutgers, Pittsburgh and Syracuse.

That would allow the Big Ten more than a month to negotiate with schools before conference presidents and chancellors meet in Chicago during the first weekend in June.

That timetable also makes sense from a financial standpoint. The fiscal years of universities end on the last day of June, “so if you go past July 1, you have to wait an extra year,” one source said.

So while the Big 10 Presidents and Chancellor’s meet for the AAU meeting (along with Pitt, Rutgers, Mizzou, Nebraska and Syracuse), Big 10 commish Delany goes to Arizona for BCS meetings with conference commissioners and presumably athletic directors from the BCS schools.

At that point, Delany could let Beebe (Big 12) and/or Marinatto (Big East) know that they will be poached. Because let’s be honest, whoever they ask from the conference will go (except maybe Texas).

To admit a new member to the Big 10, it takes at least 70% to say yes, or 8 of the 11 schools have to back the proposed school.

The presumption is that the Big 10 will have to take one more run at Notre Dame before moving down the list. I have no idea how this plays out.

I’ve read so many different scenarios based on expanding with or without ND. Expanding by 1, 3 or 5 teams. Pitt — depending on the person doing the ranking and their biases and values on various aspects — places anywhere from the most attractive candidate after ND and Texas (and Texas A&M) to the least. There are kernels of logic and reason in them, but I don’t think anyone truly knows how the Big 10 is going to make this decision.

I’m also not as worried. If they only go one and it isn’t Pitt, the Big East survives. Even if it would be Rutgers or Syracuse. The loss isn’t that drastic.

If the Big 10 goes to 14, and Pitt wasn’t one of the three, I’m nervous but I also think that the Big East could make it or the ACC would look to expand and Pitt would be a top choice. Is the ACC as lucrative as the Big 10? No. But it would be more stable and more lucrative than the Big East.

Even if the Big 10 went all the way to 16 and still Pitt was left out, then definitely the ACC would be expanding and Pitt would be in there.

Really, I think that Pitt will be okay. It is the fate of the Big East as a football conference that is at stake.

A Light Wrap-Up of the Final Scrimmage

Filed under: Football,Practice — Chas @ 10:18 am

I still haven’t had a chance to watch the spring practice on the DVR. For real analysis of the scrimmage I don’t feel like I have anything particularly deep. It was interesting to be on the sidelines and being able to walk around the whole field to see different things, and taking pictures.

The truth is, though, it is really hard to see much except along the edges of the line and one-one-one battles. Couldn’t really see plays develop (or die).

Here’s some more perspective from Eye of the Panther.

Given how cold it was, I was actually quite impressed with the turnout. The parking lots they had open were quite filled. They officially declared a count of over 6000. Cold, sharp wind blowing through continually and even freezing rain at points. Just a very nasty day that was more late-November than mid-April.

We heard a lot about the other running backs doing well all spring. That’s great. They aren’t catching Dion Lewis on the depth chart. Just for the few plays he saw action, the difference was noticeable. It is something when you see a running back make the O-line look better.

Whether to keep from getting a pounding or because he knew the outside part of the O-line is better, Lewis quickly bounced it out to the edges of the rather than trying to go up the middle.

Both QBs threw maybe 2 or 3 times at most across their body. Almost every pass attempt was to the right side.

Both QBs really struggled to get plays in and called. Probably not a major issue at this point.

Yes, Sunseri has noticeably better arm strength than Bostick. Yes, Sunseri is going to have balls knocked down at the line of scrimmage. He is not that big.

The middle of the O-line is going to have to get much better. More of a concern is that the drop-off from the 2nd team O-line from 1st team is much steeper than the difference between the 1st team D-line and 2nd. That made it hard to judge the tailbacks running behind the 2nd team O-line.

Redshirt sophomore DB Jeremiah Davis saw a good amount of action. Actually played decently.

Aaron Smith does not like contact. I think everyone knew that from his time trying to return punts on special teams last year, but seeing him trying to play WR was disheartening. He was easily bumped off routes and discouraged from going after the ball.

Antwuan Reed will be a starting corner, but his most electrifying impact could be on special teams. He is tremendous at coming off the edge to block FGs.

The sideline had plenty of incoming freshman from the 2010 signing class along with recruits for this year.

There was also a strong turnout of former Pitt players. Obviously headlined by Larry Fitzgerald. Also there Kris Wilson, Torrie Cox, Tyler Palko, Clint Session, LaRod Stephens-Howling and plenty others.

Scrimmage Photos

Filed under: Football,Practice — Chas @ 12:22 am

Still trying to get warm from Saturday. Cold. Really, effing cold.

Son’s birthday was Sunday, so time was not permitting. Here are some photos from the scrimmage.

Click the picture for the full image.

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