Well Pitt is heading to Birmingham and the big discussion point is Dave Wannstedt. Wait. Is this 2011 or 2010?
Now let’s get this out of the way. I like Dave Wannstedt. I know he cares deeply about Pitt. I know he desperately wanted this to work. He wanted to win and win big at his alma mater. In his home turf. He wanted to be coaching Pitt for a good 10 to 15 more years. It hurt him terribly to be fired by Pitt. Especially since he never saw it coming.
I also know he cares deeply about the players that he recruited on this Pitt team. Not Jerry Sandusky or Bernie Fine deeply, but he cared.
There comes a point, though, where he has to either stop talking or be nice. What he did yesterday was more pointed, but similar to the stuff he has been doing since leaving Pittsburgh to coach linebackers for the Buffalo Bills. I’ve tried to avoid it because it should be in the past, and I had hoped that someone would tell him that he is making himself look bad. Clearly that isn’t happening.
He needs someone to tell him, that taking shots at Pitt, the program, the present coach. However, much he thinks is a way of getting even with AD Pederson or whatever his thought process isn’t going to work. He is no longer the coach of Pitt. He may have some friends who will support him rather than Pitt, but that is the small minority. Wannstedt more than any coach should know, “it’s about the name on the front of the jersey.” That goes for ex-coaches who happen to be alumni as well. Even Joe Paterno has learned that.
So, to the interview he did yesterday and some other points.
Let’s start with this.
“I’m really shocked the way people have put a microscope on this kid,” Wannstedt said. “It is very disappointing to me.
“In the NFL, you do it when a guy is making $10 million a year. You throw him under the bus and try to run him out of town.”
Projecting much? I’m just not sure if he is referring to his time coaching at Pitt or if he’s sticking to Miami or Chicago.
Tino has been the starting quarterback for Pitt, for the past two years. In both years, the team has underachieved from expectations — with noticeable stumbling on the offense despite really good running backs. Under normal circumstances a quarterback receives too much of the praise or blame. Sunseri quarterbacking Pitt is not normal.
“But not a 20-, 18-, 19-year-old college kid who had other places to go and chose to come to Pitt and he won a state championship there at the local high school and his father (Sal) was an All-American there?
“If he can’t play, don’t play him, but do it the right way.”
The obvious point is that Sunseri is 23. But the bigger problem was referencing Sal Sunseri in there. It is just a reminder that he is the son of one of your old friends. Given Wannstedt had Scott Turner (son of Norv) coaching WRs in the final year, it just comes off as if the greater offense in Wannstedt’s mind is harshing on the son of an outstanding former Pitt player (who just happens to be a friend). And of course, Sunseri had other places to go. He was recruited. By that standard, no college player should ever face criticism from fans and media.
As for playing him. If we had our druthers, he would have had a seat a while ago. I’m not sure if that’s a complaint about him being called out publicly at times, or the fact that in the final game Pitt went wildcat a slew of times — much to the obvious annoyance of Sunseri.
If he’s upset at Coach Graham for saying less than positive things about Sunseri the entire season — and in the aftermath of the WVU game — that is a difference of style. Graham has adopted the indirect criticism, but also accepted that it is up to the coaches to do a better job. (Even if every fan knows that at this point, it isn’t the coaching that after two years still has Sunseri making fundamental mistakes like not setting his feet and staring down receivers.)
Dave Wannstedt’s preferred method of dealing with things when a player, or team tanked — blame turnovers and correctable mistakes. It didn’t matter if they happened at the beginning or end of the season. Turnovers, correctable mistakes — and of course youth/inexperience.
It’s a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t thing. Don’t admit that the player is horrible, and you are treating people like idiots or possibly lying to yourself. Tell the truth, and you are tossing the kid under the bus. What probably has Wannstedt most upset is that Graham has said — and others including me agree — that right now Sunseri is the best option. That statement is more damning towards Wannstedt and the job he did in recruiting and evaluating talent.
He also feels that Pitt is trying to drive Sunseri off after this year — and also would pull him out of Pitt if he were his kid.
“If he was my son, he would be gone,” Wannstedt said on Monday, speaking on TribLive Radio. “I would pull him out of there and transfer him.”
…
“It doesn’t sound like the school or football program is giving him many options, to be quite honest with you,” he said.
Take your time to reconcile the two parts. I can wait.
Yes, there are people pitying Sunseri and saying he should transfer because things are toxic. And no question Graham is bluntly saying that the status quo cannot stand for the quarterback position for next year. That doesn’t mean that Sunseri can’t win the starting job. It is simply that he will actually have to win the job. Rather than have it handed to him or be the only possible choice.
My last tidbit is the pot calling the kettle black.
On the 6-6 record and return trip to the BBVA Compass Bowl:
“We were co-Big East champs last year and (the seniors) were looking to take it one step further this year.”
Yes, I am sure that is a line of pride on your resume. And that veiled shot at Graham the coach and Pitt the institution for allowing Wannstedt to be fired. Because it was so clear how much better they would have been this year with Wannstedt coaching. As if Wannstedt’s 7-5 record was a crowning achievement because they got rings.
Pitt was co-Big East champs in 2004 with an 8-4 record and actually went to the Fiesta Bowl under Walt Harris, and in 2005 Pitt stayed home with a 5-7 record under Wannstedt. But that was different because clearly the 2004 team had peaked. The 2010 team was just getting started.
Here’s where it gets really sad for Wannstedt. The comparisons to his predecessor never fully went away. But for the most part, people liked Wannstedt more and tended to land further on his side for a few reasons. One, he was simply more likeable. Two, he was a local. And three, he was the coach of the team. He was the face of the program. The fact is, fans will support the program, the institution first.
Now, he fails miserably in his final comparison to Harris. Harris was pushed out. He wasn’t extended. He was allowed to twist all season, and took the blame for his agent’s bluster. He was lucky enough to land another job at Stanford (where he failed miserably). Yet, he never uttered a negative word about Pitt. In fact, after the Stanford job, he moved back to Pittsburgh. He limited his job opportunities because he wanted to stay close to the area.
Yet Harris doesn’t make many media appearances. He still only speaks positively of Pitt.
I think back to the summer before the start of the 2005 season. I was talking with someone well plugged-in to Pitt football. He was big on Wannstedt and excited about the season. As we were talking, I said how surprised I was that so many people felt the need to tear down Harris to build up Wannstedt. It didn’t seem necessary. Harris did much to rebuild Pitt to where it was when Wannstedt took over. His comment was that, in time people will look back with more admiration and respect for Harris and what he did.
He was right. But neither of us ever thought it would be aided by Wannstedt’s behavior.
Then bench the SOB … just like everyone AND WANNY is asking for. But instead, we have to hear post game comments like “this is what we have to work with”
Graham is supposedly the $2 million offensive genius who has had > 10 months to groom the QBs, but of course the total blame is Tino and certainly no blame can be to the new saviour coach “Todd Forbid!!”
No OL has missed any blocking assignmnets and the receivers are always open, and they hold on to every pass thrown to them … pulleeease!!!
I could argue that Wanny’s coddling of Bostick was more humiliating than Graham’s of Sunseri. “He’s a bright kid”. “He practices hard”. “He’s a team first type of guy.” He was everything but a good QB. At least Sunseri is getting freakin’ playing time.
He played because he was the best option. PERIOD. If Graham had thought someone else could win a game they would have been in there.
Dave said that Tino shouldn’t be criticized because he chose to go to Pitt when he could have gone to other schools. As Chas pointed out, if that is true, then 99.9% of FBS football players shouldn’t be criticized. Put another way, almost everyone chooses to go to one school even though they have other options. That doesn’t exempt them from criticism. Wannstedt is wrong about that.
He’s also wrong when he suggests that bashing Tino isn’t cool because because he played at a local high school and because his dad is a well-decorated former Pitt player. I believe Chas pointed this out, too.
And then, Dave is wrong — if not delusional — when he suggests that there’s a “right way” to handle situations where a kid comes from certain blood lines but can’t play that is something OTHER than benching him.
So, there are those things …
As bad as Tino has played, and as blunt Graham has been with his indirect criticism aimed (however indirectly) at Tino, it’s obvious that Graham thinks that Meyers, Anderson and Gonzales are even worse than Sunseri. Are we supposed to have a pity party for their hurt feelings too? Maybe a group hug?
Tino and the rest of this team are getting a free ride to college for one reason – they’re supposed to be good at football. Stating the obvious (that he’s not doing it right) is not unfair treatment – not for a 23 year old QB, and not for his 18 to 22 year old team mates. What if they skipped college football and enlisted in the Marines? If they were at Parris Island like some of their HS classmates, I imagine they would be exposed to some considerably more direct criticism if they were screwing up this often. If you’re old enough to vote, and old enough to fight for your country, then you’re a grown enough man to accept criticism (and the occaisional boos) from the coaches… and the ticket buying fans paying for your free ride to college.
He stinks, and we can just leave it at that. We don’t need to pretend that he should be thankful that he isn’t in the marines or gets to go to school for “free”, forgetting the millions of dollars in revenue generated by the football program and the hours of hard work that every player has to put into the program, in addition to still having to put in all the time and work that other students do, in order to earn their “free ride” to college.
But I’m off point. Wanny, a guy I’d love to have a brew with but not coach my college team.
And, Chas, what a wonderful melange you concocted. Worthy of a better stage.
And I really think most of us are capable of offering somewhat rational thoughts without needing to be considered “apologists.”
- 2 accomplished offensive coordinators, AND
- a QB coach
and allegedly not one QB that can play???
Face it … Tino has been made the sacrificial lamb for the performance of both the team and the highl paid coaching staff. According to just about everyone on this site, he is the sole reason for the current mediocrity.
This has got to be one of the most amazing phenomena I’ve ever seen. I change my nickname of Graham from Mr. Marinovich to Mr.Teflon
1) I supported DW as much as anybody and strongly prefer a pro- style ball control offense. DW had worn thin, and started to lose discipline. The team quitting against WVU was inexcusable. It was time for him to go.
2) His firing was poorly conducted but not sure how else it could have been handled because none of us know what all went on. But Todd Graham had nothing to do with any of this.
3) Anyone who thinks Sunseri was the only problem this year is a moron. We have all lamented the many problems. I thought Graham was fairly kind to Sunseri and protected him so much many of us on here were sick of it. Graham has a good record with qb’s but Sunseri won’t be one of them.
4) Sunseri deserves our thanks for playing for Pitt and I wish him well wherever he plays. He is a Pitt guy but It didn’t work out. time to move on.
5) Dave needs to shut up and show some class if he is a real Pitt man.
“I think what John Marinatto just did, he should get a substantial raise for what he just accomplished,” Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. “Getting Boise State. Getting Houston, SMU. I think that is as good of a job for a commissioner with his back against the wall as I’ve seen since I’ve been in athletics.”
It is not that people are down on Tino because he is untalented and cannot throw long,except side arm and cannot run fast…it is because he makes the same inane mistakes over and over and over. It does not take talent to: set your feet quickly when you drop back; hold the ball with two hands when you run; don’t stare down recievers; etc etc.
And then, after he makes a mistake you can multiply the above x 3 and include pulling back from center without the ball. These are Jr. High School QB fundmentals. Tino is a very tough kid and has absorbed a good many hits this year…I will give him that, but TG and his staff deserve an award for patience…not criticism. Tino has embarassed this staff, his school and the many fans who have put their hearts and souls into rooting for this program.
He does not deserve the boo’s but they come with the territory.
He hasn’t embarrassed Tino in public either. He’s alluded to things but the almighty Urban Meyer was more critical of his first QB at Florida, Chris Leak…and he won a National Championship with the dude. He said on numerous occasions that he didn’t fit what he was trying to do. The same stuff Graham was doing, Urban just had a better team.
Steve Spurrier has notoriously been hard on his QB’s. It goes with the territory.
This isn’t meant to bash Tino but to show the reality of the situation.
TG offered a job to secondary coach Van Malone from Tulsa . i dont know how talks went dont know if it a yes or a no but there is interest on TGs part .
Therefore, given he likely is not the leading starting QB candidate for next year, why waste the opportunity of letting Jones, Gonzalez, or Meyers face some live fire in the bowl game? Maybe Voytik is the second coming of Steve Young, but maybe he ain’t close…in which case, why not find out what else you’ve got on your hands for next year?
With a month of practice one or two of those guys should be able to get prepared…almost like summer camp but easier since you just have one opponent to focus on the whole time. I can’t come up with a reason not to give one or two of the younger guys a shot at it…other than fear of change or political influence.
Well said. Losing a lot of respect for Wanny with his childish behavior.
Oh and don’t forget to send your donation! haha
Next year will be Tino, Trey, Chad or a transfer/JUCO… Period. These three guys are not in the running. So, preparing them to play QB in a bowl game would be a complete waste of time.
Stevie P has gotta go……
Reed and Chas, if you look back to my original comments when I started posting, I told you all that Gibson was outta here to follow rick fraud. If Steve P was really in tune with this, he would have not allowed multiple staff members to be hired from a coaching staff that was aching to get back to coaching. Now there is a void and hopefully it can be filled shortly without disruption. Steve P doesn’t understand big business. You just don’t do that. Now there is a built in excuse next year for underperforming!
Funny, but hearing Walt Harris’ name makes me think about him as an OC. Now that would be fun to see two “proclaimed” offensive gurus, combine their knowledge and go high octane. TG would need to be comfortable in his position. Just a thought during a time when the changes need to be seemless.
Apologists, hell, the couple posts I’ve seen that are one way or another, are a couple peoples posts during the year, “Can Graham allready”.
I’ve seen tons of negative comments about Graham on here. Pertaining to mainly game day decisions.
I pontificated on here early in the season that the “pooch punt” is absolute garbage, especially when this is supposed to be “high octane”. I and many others questioned him all year about not yanking Tino. I mean it was endless. I was on him just last week for having Gonzales in their, getting 9 yards in two plays, then putting Tino back in on 3rd and 1 and throwing.
Apologists, don’t see it.
Sacrificial lamb??? You only need a sacrificial lamb when your job is on the line. Graham has a contract for 5???, and knows he really gets 2 or 3 before the real heat comes on if he hasn’t done anything. He has no need to do that. (Especially when anyone can see what he’s had to deal with, he didn’t need to say anything)
He’s had 10 months to groom a qb??? You can have 10 years to groom a qb, if the qb’s aren’t groomable, you ain’t gonna do it.
I’ve seen almost everyone on here, (save a few), but the regulars, at one time or another state that it’s not just Tino, it’s the o line, receivers not getting open etc. etc.
I believe we all have a somewhat understanding of football, and understand that.
We all also know, that the key posistion on any football team, be it Pro, college or high school is the quarterback posistion. He touches the ball every play, his decisions decide where the play will go, and his efficiency and effectivness will WAY MORE OFTEN THAN NOT effect the outcome of the play.
The quarterback is also, more than any other posisiton, in a posistion to help his team, and make unexpected plays, and provide unexpected help to his team mates if the blocking breaks down or recievers are not open.
Is he expected to do it every play, of course not, but, several times a game you should be able to count on your qb to help out on his own.
Yes, others have a role also, but to deny that the qb is not the main cog in the engine borders on insanity if one knows the game of football in the least.
Another qb may not have made us better than mediocre, but, if you watched the season, and you don’t think that Tino cost a couple games, I don’t know what team you were watching.
What is most disturbing about Tino and his play is, he doesn’t look like he’s progressed one iota from last year. He looked the same, or worse at times this year after having started for almost or even a couple more than 20 games at qb.
He doesn’t look an ounce better than when he started the UTAH game at the beginning of the 2010 season.
Two different systems, ya, ya, ya, I’m talking about his throwing, his decision making, his lack of a “feel” for the rush. Nothing to do with a “system”. Everything to do with being a qb.
As for DW. His comments make him look really small and petty. In his situation, in business, in life, the “high road” is usually the road to take.
See right now, I’m taking the high road by not saying something about DW and how “he should really be worrying about his Buffalo Bills on a 5 game losing streak, including his defense giving up 44 points to Dallas and 35 points to Miami during this streak, instead of taking digs at a new coach, his old boss, and his alma mater”
See, I’m taking the high road, not gonna say it!!!
LMAO!!!!!
How about from Game 1 last season against Utah?
I would say more like regressed. Transferring to Slippery Rock or Clarion is the best option for Sonny boy.
Although I did find it more than amusing that hey, two (2) years in a row at the Compass Bowl.
How likely do you draw a 3rd rate bowl two years in a row. And quite by coincidence (I guess) this bowl game is played in Birmingham, Alabami, where none other than daddy Sal works. So him & Roxy & Vinnie don’t even have to travel anywhere to watch Sonny boy attempt to play QB.
But I as posted maybe a month ago now, somehow I get the feeling Sonny is going to play a Uconn like game, since SMU has a terrible defense, much like Uconn. In SMU’s 6 games against better teams
they are giving up an AVERAGE of almost 34 ppg and their average yards given up by their lame defense against those 6 teams is 450 yards per game with a high of 513 vs. UH.
Btw, SMU lost 5 of those 6 games to A&M (14-46),
USM (3-27), Tulsa (7-38), Navy (17-24) and Houston (7-37). They did manage to upset, then #20 TCU (40-33 in OT), earlier in the season, before TCU got on a roll.
So this is a perfect IMO opponent for Sonny to have one of his sterling performances. And be the BBVA Compass Bowl MVP ! Yeah !!!
Then he will be set for his big senior season, heck he might own all the Pitt passing records.
Except of course for TD passes, unless he throws 60 next year. He would definitely have the record for QB times sacked. haha
Veritas et Virtus
HTP !
And are you starting your great American novel?
haha Didn’t think I was going to make it thru all of that. But I did ! lol
It was like spring down here today, 70 degrees.
Found myself thinking of spring training, then the Pirates came to mind and ended that thought.
So DW came out and defended his Little Prince Santino, not surprising at all. All the things I’ve been preaching about these relationships, between coach’s sons, prodigies, legacies and All-Americans came to bear in his stmts. And Sonny boy is unique because he has ALL of these powerful factors(ie. forces) coming into play on his side.
The past is carved in stone and no amount of time under this or any offense is going to teach Tino to throw the ball away instead of running out of bounds and taking an 8 yard loss.
He listen, he wears his name on his back in front of paying customers and for that he deserves my respect. Think about it for a minute, what if everyone in every job wore their last name on their backs, had a paying populace read weekly critiques from our bosses and then had to go out and outperform your peers? It would be a different world for sure.
But my respect for him does not cloud my judgment. He is in over his head. RMU gets better QB play as does Duquesne. I hope he goes somewhere that makes him happy.
Dave Wannstedt has made many public gaffes since he starting in coaching back in 1979 but this last one may be the winner. The air of desperation to keep his name relevant among discussions about PITT football would be humorous if it were so blatantly sad as it’s done to feed his own ego.
What DW doesn’t understand is that he just doesn’t have the personal or professional capital with PITT and PITT fans to spend on crap like this. Aside from a few vocal supporters, the vast majority of people associated with the university were happy to see the back of him as he limped out the door.
I truly believe that DW wanted to be, and thought he was, the Joe Paterno of PITT football and that somehow his wishes superseded those of others more powerful than him. I have written on here about when DW started Sheard in that Utah game it was akin to DW playing chicken with his superiors… and DW obviously lost.
That right there was the tipping point to his downward slide out the door and Wannstedt did absolutely nothing to help himself during the season to change the admin’s minds. I reference this as a background for DW’s animosity towards the football program and how he obviously harbors real and negative emotions on that front.
People keep saying that ‘his firing wasn’t handled well’ but in reality the opposite was true – Wannstedt knew in advance that the administration was hot to make a change… he just flat out didn’t believe it could happen to him. He probably thought he was going to be told to make staff changes or something along those lines. That was the source of his surprise and anger we saw at that self-serving press conference he pulled. He was saying “How could they do this to me? Why me, Dave Wannstedt, the loyal Son!!?”
So he’s pissed rotten about what he sees as a injustice done to him and he’s grasping at straws to somehow make his legacy at PITT more positive. “We were co-champions of the Big East”. Good God, how precious is that? He knows that is the ONLY thing he can hang his hat on. Yet he takes unneeded and immature potshots at his successor who BTW finished the regular season one game short of DW’s ‘championship’ season and did it without those eight pre-NFL players in the starting lineup.
Look at his other statements also – he keeps in touch with the players… you can bet the first words out of his mouth during those phones calls is “OK, tell me the dirt…” The man has never heard of the act of graciousness.
Pitt89: agree on your assessment (and others) of the current roster of QBs, but ONE reason to play different QBs and wildcat in bowl game is our collective blood pressures. Bowl games should be fun. Watching Tino is no fun.
Funny, Dave never spoke about Max Gruder being treated wrong because Graham criticized the LB coverage at the beginning of the year. I guess he isn’t pals with the Gruder family.
Graham will be successful at Pitt. Give him a freaking chance.
You’ll be happy to know, it’s about 40 deg here and raining. Those big drops, that go down the back of your shirt collar and give you a jolt!!
Pitt scored over a 100 points this year compared to last year when Tino QBed his first season and the our running attack suffered compared to the previous two years.
Most telling is that in 2010 Pitt in the 4th quater doubled their oppoents points while in 2011 the opponents double Pitts scoring in the fourth quarter.
These facts are not stated as a defense of DW but for the debunking of TG as an offensive wizzard or more than a marginally succesful coach in his five seasons in the miserable USA conference with no titles and a 66% winning percentage – this percentage merifully does not count the 2011 season.
Got them to the same bowl in his first year, that Wanny got them too in his 6th year, so, sounds pretty good too me!!!!
I guess Dave has not watched many games this year. I hope he keeps his dignity. As for his defense of Tino..I understand it and I applaud it. He could have been a little more diplomatic however. Something like …Well he was recruited for the Pro Style offense and Coach Graham is using something a little different etc. etc.
This points out to me that he certainly does not agree nor like Todd or his philosophy of how to treat a college football player. I personally think Todd is doing what is needed at Pitt. OUT with the POOR performers and lets try someone whoo can perform at a high level. Yes even it is the son of an alum.
The fact that Graham has used 12 to 13 freshman this year would have never happened with Dave.
Just a quick sample: Tom Brady (7th round pick — projected lifetime clipboard holder), Ryan Leaf (first round bust), Jamarcus Russel (first round bust), Joe Montana (3rd rounder, too small/weak arm), etc. etc. etc.
But I know it gives you guys great comfort to go by the book and let others do the thinking for you, so go ahead and say my examples are pointless and the critics and cognescenti are always right.
My only point is whether they are or are not in the case of the guys I’d like to see, you or I or anyone other than Pitt insiders don’t know, plain and simple…all we have is words on paper. If you are a high school scout or friend of Graham’s, okay, but otherwise how do you know? I’m willing to admit that but you guys aren’t.
I have no agenda against Tino…I rooted for him starting with Utah last year and would have been psyched if he played at an All-American level, but he’s been so bad so often that it begs the question how can giving someone else a shot be a bad thing? If the other guys are worse, someone needs to be fired for approving their scholarships, regardless of potential position change.
Even if we go 0 and 12 which I pray would never happen, the players on the team would still be Pitt men and Pitt people and I would still be proud of them. We have seen much darker days of Pitt football over the past 30 years and Tino has taken so bad of a verbal beating from alumni, local media, and his own coach…that we are bringing our own Pitt people down rather than building them up.
You don’t have to be a scout, rocket scientist or genious to see that Myers is a complete mismatch for this system. Not his fault or TG’s fault. Even the coach that recruited Gonzalez moved him away from the QB position. I don’t believe Jones was recruited by anyone to play QB (I might be wrong on that). Can he play the slot, return kicks and take a few snaps in the Wildcat. Sure… but he isn’t playing D1 QB.
Oh and the Wildcat isn’t really a viable offensive system. It’s a gimmick, change up play. It happened to work at Arkansas because they had McFadden, Felix Jones and Peyton Hillis.
Graham played what 12 or 13 true freshmen this year. Don’t you think he would have sat Tino at some point if he really believed his replacement was on the current roster.
I’m not a Tino fan by any stretch, but there were many faults on offense. I honestly believe (and it would seem so does TG) that playing any of the other three options at QB would represent taking a step backwards.
Did you notice when TG started to use the Wildcat more…when they were officially eliminated from BE contention. Doesn’t that tell you something??
However, I would like to mention, that I have not seen one poster say disparaging remarks about Tino, the son, brother, nephew, uncle, person or as a human being on here ever.
Maybe someone did a couple times, admittedly most of us can’t read every single post, but, from someone that usually checks the Blather almost every day, I haven’t seen anyone questioning him as a person and human being.
Yes, a lot of bashing about his QB play, absolutely, not going to argue that.
I also think he got a pass many times, because of who he was, and how most of us wanted him to succeed, just because he’s Sal’s son, and a Central and Pgh. kid.
I would imagine most of us, unless someone out there has a grudge against the Sunseri’s??????, wanted him to succeed, become an all-American and lead us to a Orange Bowl victory.
I mean, personally, I could care less who the qb is, if he’s performing on the field.
I wish I could be more enthusiastic about Tood Graham but he has a lot to prove. 6-6 in the Big East with a weak non-con is absolutely unacceptable and the blame it on the “system” bullshit is getting old fast
You may be cursed, or lucky in the case of PITT football I suppose, with a short memory but it was only two years almost to the day when DW stated Sunseri was going to be the starting QB. That’s it, fin, finale.
He did that, publicly, before the 2009 bowl game, reiterated it publicly ever chance he could and stuck with that by not allowing any other QB on the roster to take 1st string snap in any of the camps and practices leading up to the opener.
Sunseri was an unproven QB and we had another player with gameday experience, and wins under his belt, in Pat Bostick. Yet no one else even got the chance to compete for that open QB spot. Not Bostick, Gonzalez, everyone’s fair haired boy Myers… no one got even a look. That bit of patronage was etched in stone early on when Tino Sunseri transferred from North Carolina and was purposely held back a year to be able to play two years at Central Catholic… that is why he’s a 23 year old rsJR.
It was re-cast when Wannstedt never benched Sunseri once, not once, for cause in the middle of that poor play Sunseri showed in 10 out of the 12 regular season games.
So, here is something to think about. DW was willing to trade off a 7-5 season – when his team was loaded with studs at almost every position but QB – because he wouldn’t bench Sal’s kid to try someone else back there. Of course not – that would have been embarrassing for Tino and for his father.
There is your “PITT man” for you. Of course Tino Sunseri keeps in touch with Wannstedt because Wannstedt treated Sunseri like the pampered kid he is and wouldn’t criticize him or sit him down. Hell, DW was Tino Sunseri’s comfort blanket.
If you don’t believe that Wannstedt’s 30 year friendship with Sal Sunseri had a hand in that I’ve a bridge in Brooklyn for you to buy.
I do think it is interesting though that DW doesn’t publicly call out any of the upperclassmen he himself recruited when they turn their backs on Sunseri while he’s on the ground or who won’t sit within ten feet of him on the bench. They did it last year and they did it again this year. These kids aren’t stupid – they know the fix was in last year between DW and Sunseri.
But speaking of legacies don’t you think it is ironic that Tom Ricketts wouldn’t let his son play for Dave Wannstedt but as soon as Graham was hired he wanted his son to transfer to PITT as soon as possible?
Last year’s team has how many guys in the NFL(?), even saw Henry Hynoski catch a kickoff for the NY Giants on Sunday. So he made that team as a Free Agent. Jabal Sheard is already a star at Cleveland. Jonathan Baldwin caught a pass against none other than the Steelers and was a 1rst round pick as we all know.
Dion Lewis made the Eagles even though they have LeSean McCoy, who is really coming into his own this year. Which btw would have been his first season in the NFL had he stayed for 4. And we have several others as well.
Last year’s team was another 10 or 11 win team had they had a competent QB and the players knew it, which caused team dissension IMO.
Finally, in all other situations DW always went experience when choosing someone to play, other than a phenom like McCoy or Lewis. Always EXCEPT at QB, where his lifelong friend,fellow coach and fellow PITT man’s son was made the ONLY option at QB. (when experience wise, which was DW’s main decision making tool, pointed toward Bostick)
Tino was so assured of his position, that I’ll never forget the time he walked off the field, after another failed drive, he just ignored DW, when DW was trying to tell him something, basically thumbing his nose at him.
Nobody else on the team got away with that crap, and I’m sure the other players took notice !
I posted last year early in the season, that DW had hitched his wagon to Sunseri and when that wagon ended up 7-5 in a watered down BigEast, it cost DW his dream job. Which goes to show you how much this stuff means to some people.
What would you have him say after the fiasco of Smilin Steve and the Coach selection of Doom. (Haywood).
Well folks this ain’t my team yet, this ain’t my kids so I doubt we will even break .500.
Wow, how would have an already shot locker room have reacted to that statement.
Coach Graham did the only thing he could do which was talk the program up. And be excited. If for nothing else but to try and bring the team back together.
Hey just what he said to the kids about Wanny when he got here showed a great deal of concern about rebuilding a team.
I won’t convince the haters…but let me just say I was torn by this hire. I wanted Wanny to be successful, I wanted Bradley (and I was wrong). I thought his system didn’t match up well witht he talent on the roster.
All that being said, I am willing to wait it out and see what his system can do. He has earned at least a couple of seasons to show results.
DaveD
Yes, allthough admittedly maybe Coach Graham was a bit over the top, (ok, see I admitted that, a lot of us thought that), DAVE’s post is right on the money, to those that criticize, I say to you also..
What did you want him to do???? I don’t know him one bit, but, after seeing and listening to him this year, I also don’t think it was bs. I believe he thought he was gonna put the pedal to the metal.
Looking back, could he have chosen his words better, or toned it down a tad, sure, probably, he’d probably tell you the same thing.
As for the being positive “let’s go, let’s get it, let’s move”, I’ll take that over listening to someone that would rather have me watching paint dry.
I’ll beat a dead horse also DAVED, from yesterday, I haven’t seen one apologist for Todd Graham yet.
Everyone I see, says just about the same thing.
The guy gets two or three years to see how his coaching works with his recruits.
Believe me, if he doesn’t win some games in the next couple years, the heat will be on him.
Nothing new, and nothing unique to Pittsburgh or college football. That’s the way it is in the coaching profession.
