What do the hirings of Jamie Dixon, Dave Wannstedt and Mike Haywood have in common?

It obviously isn’t the success rate.

Believe it or not, it isn’t the AD, as each was hired with a different AD ostensibly in charge.

It’s not even the money.

It’s that in all of the moves to make the hire, there was a clear #1 target and then only a cheap fallback.

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Pitt will be holding an press conference at 4 pm today to announce the hiring of Mike Haywood as Pitt’s next head coach in football.

I have said before that I am actually intrigued by the hire. I think Mike Haywood may turn out a lot better than the reactions from many.

I am not, however, enamored with how the process went. That has been an incredible turn-off. The actions have only reinforced the perception (or reality) that Pitt is not willing to spend the money to compete in 1-A football beyond a certain level of mediocrity (more on that later in a longer, more rambling post that I am trying to finish).