Yesterday, SI.com had a big feature on Todd Graham taking over at Pitt (hat tip to the many, many who e-mailed and linked it in the comments).
“We’ve gotta take the good and make them great, and the great and make them outstanding,” Graham said. “We’re striving for perfection. We’ll tolerate excellence.”
After a year flush with misfortune, a spring full of such unbridled optimism may be just what the Panthers need. In 2011, it might also serve as a harbinger of things to come.
The Big East appears weak and wide open once again, with South Florida juggling quarterbacks B.J. Daniels and Bobby Eveld, West Virginia testing a partnership between incumbent coach Bill Stewart and coach-in-waiting Dana Holgorsen and TCU still a year removed from its conference debut. While early nonconference tests at Iowa and against Notre Dame will be challenging, Graham’s rebuilt, under-the-radar squad could make a run at the Big East’s guaranteed BCS bid.
We’ll see. But it is nice to be optimistic.
Jamie Dixon also lands a bit of puffery today.
Gary Parrish writes a great article on why Coach Dixon’s name keeps coming up for every job opening, but that it is time to give up on that dream by other schools, fans and ADs.
And yet the pursuit never stops.
It seems no athletic director at a high-major institution embarking on a coaching search can move forward without first gauging the interest of Dixon. On one hand, I get it, because the guy is terrific at his job, better than I am at my job and almost certainly better than you are at yours. He has averaged 27 wins per season in eight years at Pittsburgh and made the NCAA tournament every March.
Nobody whispers about his character or recruiting practices. He has been great with NBA prospects and great without them. The worst thing anybody can say about Dixon is that he has never made the Final Four. But that criticism is a classic example of not being able to see the forest for the trees, and it’s one that’ll be taken off the table at some point, anyway.
So, again, I get why a school would want to hire Dixon.
…
You can call and he will talk to you and be respectful because he’s a nice guy and all that. But he’s not coming to your school. So it would be wise to scratch his name off your list and start elsewhere, which is to say, a little lower.
Then there was this bit from Andy Katz. Ostensibly it is about the challenge awaiting Pat Skerry at Towson, but it spends a large portion talking about Coach Dixon’ assistants getting jobs.
“Why wouldn’t an administration want a coach who works for him?” Skerry said of Dixon. “He’s incredibly focused. He’s incredibly consistent. The way [his teams] play, he gives a team a chance to win every night. The focus is on defense, rebounding.”
Herrion was on Dixon’s bench when the Panthers lost to Villanova on a last-second basket in the 2009 Elite Eight. He coached Marshall to a 22-12 record in his first season with the Thundering Herd.
“I believe that people across the country truly appreciate and respect the level of success that Jamie and the Pitt program have established and, more importantly, the integrity with which Jamie lives and coaches,” Herrion said.
Rice, who is recruiting well at Rutgers and just secured transfer Wally Judge from Kansas State, said “everyone wants to copy the success Pitt has had.”
“Jamie does it right on and off the floor, and everyone wants to emulate what he has created,” Rice said. “The quickest way to do that is by hiring his assistants. I never thought I’d be there one year. But I jumped at the chance to go to Robert Morris in my hometown. He’s consistent with who he’s hired. He has an eye for talent.”
But they do mention, Anthony Gonzolez as the backup QB. So I take it the Tribune had it right in their article post-Blue/Gold game.
I wasn’t sure that was going to happen and I would have bet, based on some conversations, that had Graham strongly signaled that AG was in the #2 spot Myers would have chosen a different path. Now, any HC would be pretty stupid to do that with only Spring camp under his belt, but it seems to me that Graham has at least told Myers that he has a good shot at #2 going into the season.
I still think the we’ll see the QBs listed as Sunseri, Gonzalez and Myers going into September but it is good news that Myers wants to remain on the squad.
In regards to transfers – there was some strong talk and strong indications that PITT would have some transfers out this year. Some sources said around four… one source said as many as eight. The fact that spring ball has finished almost a full month ago and PITT’s semester ended without any at all leads me to think the Graham has gotten these kids on board in a big way.
Add to that the fact that PITT is getting pretty high quality transfers in from other schools and it leads one to believe that the football program at PITT is being discussed in pretty positive terms at this point by people in the business.
Now, let us win some of the tougher games this season and things should really take off.
I’m very anxious for August to get here…
BTW, I was pleased that Paul Zeise considers Walt Harris to be a class act. Harris has never (at least openly) done anything to make me think otherwise.
I’m excited for this season, but just like last year, the schedule we have is brutal. We’ll know a lot about this team by the end of September.
Anybody else out there planning on going to the Iowa game? I figure we probably won’t get the opportunity again for awhile so might as well go and check out the atmosphere.
link to sportsillustrated.cnn.com
I guess it’s bad to have an experienced team, but Pitt is still ranked high.
Also note that Harris was a Pederson hire but not a Pederson fire .. which is probably a big reason why he is welcome back at the practice facility.
The only big issue I had with Walt was the lack of quality linemen (both OL and DL) that were recruited in the last few years of his realm here.
WLAT, we can have interesting discussions on coaching abilities, but please explain (cite examples substantiating) your position on a lack of class by DW. DW’s reputation should not be impugned without “back-up”.
Yes, Pitt should have won a BCS or two the past 2 yearsa but BY NO MEANS was the BE the easiest BCS oonference from 05 thru 08. (In fact, in 06, the BE had 3 teams that finished in the Top 12 in the BCS rankings .. more than any other conference.)
I actually am looking forward to see what a ‘college’ coach can do, but you are the guys that continue to take the cheap shots
I don’t think DW was a bad man or even that bad of a football coach – but when you have a guy being paid around a million dollars a year to shoulder the responsibility and leadership of the football program and of those in it – you don’t want to continually hear him point fingers of blame at his players. the first time we hear DW say “I didn’t get the kids ready to play this game” will be the first. Instead all we heard about was how ‘great the practices were’ – right after the opposing coach had made a fool out of Wannstedt on the field.
We can point to one fumble or one missed hold as a reason for failure – but it was DW’s unbending insistence that “his way” of coaching was the best – and really we should never have been put in a position where one singular play won or lost a BCS berth. Hell – we blew a 21 point lead in that Cincy game and still fans point to Janocko as the culprit… when DW’s players were nervous as hell out there.
All you have to do is remember DW’s sideline outbursts in the last two years – they were dramatic and way over the top according to the situation at hand. Panic.
That three year run was nice for PITT… it was also a hell of a lot of other programs do on a regular basis. And then they win conference titles every once in a while also.
Dave Wannstedt was an average head coach at best. He was a decent person who, IMO, was in over his head as a HC, especially at his Alma Mater where he had so many competing influences.
If he was an average coach at best, then except for Majors I and Sherill, Pitt has had nothing but average coaches at best since the 1940s … as a poster above aptly stated, he had the best 3 year run since the early 80s … and he had a Western PA recruiting base that was SUBSTANTIALLY weaker than any of his predecessors (compared to other areas of the US) When I grew up in the 60s and 70s, Western PA was known as the best area for FB rectuiting but not any more … not even close.
One common item I found from both of them. The teams always had a sense of “the fog” around them!!! Just as a fan, don’t have to be technical, or who did this, or who did that, you don’t have to pick this play or that play.
Just going to watch them, under both, I never said so many times, “what the eff are they doing?” and “can you believe this?”
I’m not even talking about wins and losses, I can’t explain it, I’ve had a bad sense of “the fog” for years sitting down there.
Am I just one of those guys?? Nope, not at all, never say it with Pitt hoops, Steelers, Pens, or a lot of college football I watch.
Hopefully it will be lifted this year, and believe it or not, won’t take years, you’ll be able to tell, wins or losses, by the middle of the season, is there somebody in charge????
I’m hoping, and, I excitedly think we do. Time will tell.
Personally for me, All-Star break, August, maybe if they’re respectable.
But, apparently, the other night, the center fielder, our best player didn’t run out a bunt. I know his name, not being a jerk, just can’t think of it now, but, apparently, Clint Hurdle sat his butt down.
Small, minor, insignificant I know, but, to me, that is the first time I took notice of a Pirate story in quite awhile.
Win or lose, that guy is in charge, and from what avid baseball co workers and friends say, the guy makes the “right” baseball decisions, and they say they aren’t saying a whole lotta of “wtf??”
They’ll have to sell me some more, but, that is what I mean about being in “the fog”, apparently Hurdle is not.
Just before halftime Walt Harris called for a ‘quick kick’ by the QB on a third and six play from about mid-field. I turned to my brother and said “Who even knows that play exists anymore?” It was the most chickensh*t decision I’d ever seen…
But that has been PITT football over the last 12 years. Wannstedt did similar things too often to count also. It’s like both coaches had this real fear of success.
Now that I’ve settled in MD and had season tickets for years I realize just how poor of a gameday coach Wannstedt really was. He truly believed that any lead – no matter how small – could be held just by defense alone. It was like a little kid keeping his fingers crossed behind his back and murmuring “please, please, please” while the head coach on the other sideline was scheming at 100 mph to win the game.
There was a reason PITT fans are always surprised when we beat any type of a quality opponent… we know in our guts that it had to be aberrational.
Hey, not bashing either as a human, I’ll buy either a beer.
A lot of coaches, any sports, will always say, the buck stops here with me.
Even saying that, you can just kinda tell, they have that deer in the headlights look when decisions need to be made. Looking around, like for help, “I’m not sure what do, times running down, ok, what do I do, I gotta decide, ok,…do this!”
Both good men I’m sure, but, I got that feeling from them.
Really looking forward to the season, and, with Chas’ blessing, I’ve done this twice before, I’m gonna copy a link for you, and anyone else that is a College Football Gearhead. No fees, just fun college football stuff, especially, I love checking out the section called “the helmet project”. Guy has beautiful graphics of just about every team imaginable, college and pro, and a little history of each.
Pre season rankings mean nothing, but, just for kicks, Pitt’s ranked 34th. Hey, for the program about to fall apart 5-6 months ago, at least at shows we haven’t fallen off of the face of the earth!
Oh, also has future schedules. And no, nothing in for me, nor do I know anyone there, just a college football junkie, thought some people on here might like it. Have a good weekend Reed!
I suggest that if their is a fault here, it may have been the player himself for possibly holding out on pain or stiffness he was experiencing. There was no evidence here but the very positive comments that Romeus had about Wanny certainly shows that heabsolves his coach of any blame.
But the evidence here does show a particular bias you have since you believe that Wanny should be criminally charged.
For the umpteenth time, I have never said here that Wanny being fired wasn’t necessarily the wrong move. All I’m saying is that he is not the pathetic coach he has been made out to be. The fact that his final three year record of 27 and 12 and the fact he left the program in better shape with much more talent and depth than what he acquired suggests otherwise.
As we all know, one of the biggest things the Big Ten big wigs, schools, and fans beat their chest about, is, that all schools are AAU members, and will only admit AAU schools.
This really doesn’t involve Pitt, as, we are, an AAU school!
And yes, we all know it’s about football and the money.
But, three days ago, Nebraska got their AAU membership revoked!!! ha ha Yes, they lost their membership in the 63 prestegious university club!!!!
Any of your stuffy PSU friends might like to be reminded of this, and let know about if they don’t allready!!!
Love it!!!
On a side note .. Syracuse was notifed that it wasn’t meeting A.A.U. criteria and, unlike Nebraska, made the decision to voluntary pull out of the organization.
3. Informal; senseless or deplorable; ‘a criminal waste of money’
