After this many years following Coach Wannstedt at Pitt, I probably am not the only one to know what he says in most situations. From last week:
The thing that probably has me most pissed is that Wannstedt will not devote any introspection as to why his teams have blown every national appearance, Why his teams play so poorly with extra preparation. Instead, it will be because of the turnovers that Pitt lost. Nothing else.
Monday presser:
When you look back on it and give up a touchdown on the kickoff, which in my mind is like a turnover, then have two other turnovers — an interception and a fumble — it’s very difficult to overcome that and beat anybody. It’s my job, our job as coaches, to keep working with the kids to correct those mistakes, and I know we’re capable of doing it. Leading up to that game we played three games in a row where we were focused and, for the most part, protected the football. So we know we’re capable of doing it. We just have to get back to coaching them up and having an emphasis on what wins games. We must fix the mistakes that need to be corrected.
Actually, he missed an interception. Sunseri threw two. And even a ‘Cuse beat writer makes fun of Wannstedt and the mantra of turnovers being the reason.
As expected, Pitt failed to execute. They had lapses mentally. There was no problem with the preparation. It’s just a coincidence that Pitt can’t win games with extra preparation. It’s always something else. And don’t worry, Coach Wannstedt is sure that now that the mistakes happened — again — they can be corrected. God forbid that there be any questions why the same mistakes, failure to execute and lapses keep happening.
Now here’s where I get really depressed. A surprising admission from Sunseri after the game about a key moment in the waning minutes of the first half when Pitt failed to get a 4th and 1 play off in time.
That sequence was bizarre enough, the explanation — players were too busy trash talking to get into their stances — may be near the top of reasons for poor execution.
“After the play there was some talking back-and-forth between the players [on both teams] and stuff,” Sunseri said. “And we just talked a little bit too much and we didn’t get back into the huddle and didn’t get up to the line. And in our offense, you can tell there are a lot of shifts and motions and we like to try and confuse the defense by putting people on the perimeter, and we broke the huddle with not enough time to be able do that stuff.
“We have a call to bring those [perimeter] guys in and I relayed the call out to the receivers … to bring those guys in but I guess I didn’t speak loud enough to the center and ultimately that is my responsibility to make sure he gets that call.”
And Coach Wannstedt’s response when asked about it?
“No. How that happens is if there is ever a problem with either team, the officials waste no time bringing it to my attention. There was no conversation about that. They (Pitt) might have been late coming out of the huddle. It was a pretty intense game, a really physical game. It (verbal exchanges) was not an issue, in my mind, from the standpoint of us being able to execute (the fourth-down play) correctly.”
Never happened. Really. Trust me. If there was, the officials would have told me. I saw nothing (which is apparently how he failed to notice the play clock and call a timeout from the sideline). Just mistakes and lapses by the players in being late out of the huddle.
Not that even when Coach Wannstedt didn’t have time to craft his responses, he had any explanation as to how his teams continually have flopped in big games.
“I don’t have an answer, except our maturity to play a game on the road on national TV — we didn’t get it done,” Wannstedt said. “We didn’t handle it in any phase.”
One would think that would also include the coaching, but I doubt Coach Wannstedt sees it that way.
Obviously this instance was more like the Keystone Cops but they need to simplify this for Sunseri- I’d say at least once a game we are getting delay of game penalties.
Always working on perfecting execution…in order to get rid of mistakes.
Humans are inherently flawed…ergo…perfect execution is impossible to obtain.
The trick that seems to allude Wanny is to maximize your opportunities in order to neutralize/mitigate the impact that negatives can make.
It’s a lesson he will never learn and in effect will help keep this program mired in a state of perpetual mediocrity.
DaveD
Here is what they were saying in Nebraska when Tom Osborne pulled the trigger on Steve Pederson as AD
“In the four years since firing Frank Solich and becoming the most hated man in Nebraska because of a protracted search for a new head coach, Steve Pederson failed to make any effort to make that right. Instead of once being contrite about how he’d handled things, he remained too confident, and that arrogance cast a pall over the athletic department, and with that the state of Nebraska. I fail to see how giving Pederson another year would have made any difference, other than it would have driven more people away.
Does firing Pederson solve all of the problems facing Husker football? No, but it’s a darn good first step.”
Now look at Nebraska. Top 10 and moving to the Big Ten. Makes you begin to re-evaluate EVERYONE doesn’t it.
By the way, I will not be attending the backyard brawl and I suggest the rest of the fans that are sick of Mr. Wannstedt do the same. And don’t call me a fair-weather fan. I have attended pretty much every home game since 1998 and am traveling to NYC to watch the basketball team this Thursday.
I actually think the idea of bumping Wanny up to AD a good idea … although I would prefer Asst AD / Chief FB rectuit coordinator
Of course, the rest of the NCAA also happens to know that turnovers are bad. Yet, what they realize that Wannstedt doesn’t is this: The negative impact of turnovers is increased substantially when you play a close-to-the-vest style that takes relatively few chances, elevates systems and plays above players, relies on bleeding the clock and depends on wearing the opponent down before prevailing late. With this approach, when mistakes (turnovers) occur they’re often devastating because the system builds in little room for error and leaves less time to overcome them.
This is fine for a team that shows a consistent ability to execute at high level. The Steelers have proven this (Sunday night’s debacle notwithstanding). But there’s a subtle difference here: The Steelers are a PROFESSIONAL football team. They are infinitely more talented, much more experienced and have loads more practice and preparation time than college students. To expect Pitt’s players to implement a risk-minimization approach that, in order to succeed, requires the same level of clean play exhibited by pros is not realistic. And even the Steelers take way more chances on defense than Pitt.
An emphasis on avoiding mishaps is appropriate, but not to the point where it creates an atmosphere of fear and reticence that prevents players from flourishing. Not to the point where square-peg players are crammed into the system’s round hole. Not to the point where players are tight and constantly make nervous errors – the same errors the system is designed to avoid. Watching Pitt play is like watching someone try to get rid of the hiccups, the more they focus on not hiccupping, the more they do.
The Wannstedt approach, as other posters have noted previously, is not well-suited to minimizing personnel disadvantages. I know that many contributors to this blog think Pitt has a murder’s row of talent, but there are huge, glaring holes. I won’t rehash the evaluation here, but I think it’s clear Pitt has three entire units that are subpar by BCS Conference standards, the offensive line, linebackers and secondary. This is probably a combination of recruiting misses, development issues and bad luck, but make no mistake, this is not Alabama-level talent. It might not even be Ole Miss-level talent. True, Pitt and WVU have more stars than the other Big East teams, but stars don’t mean much when you have a porous offensive line and a leaky secondary. Ask the Steelers about that – and they have Roethlisberger at quarterback to compensate for some of their deficits. Pitt has no such luxury.
Bottom line, an 8-4 season is not a disaster, but it’s an ominous sign because it contains all the same deficiencies that have characterized the first five years of Wannstedt’s reign. Barring a strong finishing kick that erases the tendencies described above, I see little reason to expect significant progress in 2011. If that’s the case, then I may have to admit the ole’ boy simply doesn’t have it in him. The only thing preventing that assessment now is the reluctance to declare this regime a sunk cost.
Is parking really this bad?
DW is as stubborn as he is because of a real limited football intellectual reach – that is he has had a few successful periods in his life , most notably coaching at U of Miami and Dallas, and thus he keeps having to replicate that.
He has no ability to see situations on their own merit – either long term or short term – and adjust his thinking and actions accordingly.
Many think he’s stubborn because of a huge ego, but it may be because he only knows and can only trust the way he’s always done things. And, that goes back to his success with someone else making the big decisions, Jimmy J. To Wanny, it’s proven; it’s safe; and so it’s best.
I don’t know him personally, but he doesn’t seem like a huge ego guy. Sure he has an ego; everyone with some success does. But maybe he always blames things on execution and turnovers – the players’ performance – because otherwise he’d have to admit to himself that he only knows one way to game plan. So the opponent doesn’t really matter. The game circumstances don’t matter. It’s always the same, and “the kids just have to get better” at doing it that way.
Therefore, when mistakes or surprises happen during the game, he seemingly goes into panic mode, because he may have to deviate from his norm. The choices in front of him all appear as high risk, because they are all off of his plan.
It speaks to Rob’s point above as well. Yes, Rob, that 4th and 1 and the fact that Todman got 3/4 of his rushing to the left was discussed. But, it’s a good example to illustrate what Reed said in his last sentence. Edsall’s taking a huge risk by going for it was a surprise. So, Wanny did not, or rather could not, adjust to the facts that were in front of him. He instead reverted to his comfort zone of “don’t make mistakes” mode and had the players more worried about jumping offsides than stopping a run to the left.
Snala: It’s probably a moot point. Wanny’s not going anywhere unless he wants to. Maybe he’ll announce a retirement year and they’ll do something like name Cignetti as “head coach in waiting.” Wow! I’m really reaching now.
Gold 1 is the “premier” ticket lot with all of the donors that blow tens of thousands to the program to get enough “points” to get those spots. They paid whatever donations they got + $90 for the pass. The guy is just fishing for a sucker.
You hit it right on, Wanny utilizes his pro coaching philosophy and it really does not translate very well to the college game.
Some say he is stubborn, I say it is his unwillingness to adapt because of his core coaching beliefs, he is a dinosaur and should be extinct.
10-3 is about as good as it will get under Wanny, we will have a few 6-6 seasons, maybe an 8-4, then 9-3 then slip back.
It looks like the administration is content and quite frankly we are a mediocre football program, plain and simple.
It sucks being a Pitt football fan because we are fed the same line of crap about great recruiting classes and being Big East favorites.
We will not win the Big East in football this year, the gagging has started and the choke job will continue this weekend!
Sorry for being so negative but thats how I feel!
Wanny was holding onto Jimmy Johnson in Dallas, at the University of Miami and Miami.
Jimmy made all of the calls and set the table at Miami for Dave as headcoach, Dave just was along for the ride!
Like I said before he is a dinosaur and should be extinct!
Make Wanny the Assistant AD job or anything else but being a coach.
A successful program will bring in good recruits just as well as Wanny does.
Bring back the pride to Pitt Football!
Are Bennett and Cignetti not completely up to the job or does Wanny turn a deaf ear to their in-game suggestions? Wanny has the headphones on, pacing the sidelines, running his fingers through his hair,grimacing at the on field follies…DOES HE LISTEN TO HIS OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE COORDINATORS…or are they feeding him bad advice?? Somebody please respond, BROKEN RECORD,BROKEN RECORD.
Most of us see the handwriting on the wall (in huge spray painted letters obviously) that this is not going to end well.
It actually can’t end well IMO unless we win out and score a BCS upset (of the century)in our bowl game.
I will not hold my breath that will happen as I haven’t see one iota of good play against any sort of decent competition that would lead me to believe we should, or could, beat our future opponents.
This has been the worst season we’ve had under Wannstedt I believe because the pieces were in place and the valid expectations also, that we’d play good solid football against a good schedule.
We’ve fallen down completely.
Being a Pitt football fan with Wanny is kind of like being stuck in Purgatory. You can see Heaven, but it’s always just out of reach. And, Hell is right behind you and just as close.
I’m an optimist by nature, and I’m willing to bet there are many other optimists who contribute to this blog. However, when your optimism is continually crushed by these inexplicable gaffs during Wanny’s tenure, it becomes more and more difficult to fend off negativity. We’re humans and we’re flawed.
Please continue to remind us that there is a Heaven, and that one day we may reach it.
