The general media response to the Chryst hiring has been positive.

“It sounds like he’s a good man for Pitt,” Dorsett said. “We’ve got to wait and see. I’m not trying to be any way but cautious. The last couple of hires at Pitt, you know how they turned out. … I’m just hoping and praying he can come to Pitt and do some of the wonderful things he’s done in the past.”

National college football analyst Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com gave Pitt “total thumbs up” for hiring Chryst, calling him a “huge upgrade” after it “whiffed” on its past two hires. Sports Illustrated’s Stewart Mandel called Chryst’s hire “encouraging,” especially after what Pitt has endured.

“Obviously, the last 13 months were a mess for everyone involved, but I do feel they got this one right,” Mandel said. “Paul Chryst is very respected in the profession. He’s the opposite of Todd Graham. He’s not going to jump job to job, putting his name out there. … His coaching style will be a better fit than Todd Graham’s was.”

Not a terrible surprise. Only a small number of hirings are ever truly panned. Fraud Graham was considered a good hire at the time.

It’s not that the introductory press conference was spectacular or inspiring. It really was rather standard. Little hints of personality, but otherwise nothing seems overwhelmingly memorable to me nearly a week later. After last year, not standing out at the presser seemed to actually “win the press conference” for people with regards to Chryst.

Chryst also comes across as genuine, no small issue given Pederson’s brutal hires of Mike Haywood and Todd Graham. The son of a high school football coach and father of three, he spoke with a soft but serious tone and sounded anything but self-absorbed.

…

Among Graham’s many missteps at his introductory news conference was that he boasted about the greatness of his system even more than he boasted about grandiose goals.

This was refreshing.

There’s the usual “human” side that gets played up after the hire. How Chryst has a respect for the game, comes from a football family, has a very good family life, etc.

The thing that all parties rave about Chryst is that he is adaptable to the players and the situations. Not to be cynical, but most coaches claim that. Fraud Graham spoke of it in terms of putting players in a position to succeed and playing to their strengths — albeit within his system. The reason for optimism, is that there is a track record with Chryst at Wisconsin of adapting to the players.

“He is a master mind when it comes to offense,” Brown said. “I mean, he likes to pound it with the run game and then those play action passes come into play more, but if he senses you can stop our passing game, he’s going to keep throwing it until you prove you can stop it — and then he will do something else and adjust to what you do.

“But his strength, to me, is that he really knows how to utilize his players and maximize their talents — whether big or small, fast or slow, he finds ways to get players on the field and finds ways for them to succeed within the context of the offense.”

Wisconsin co-defensive coordinator Charlie Partridge said that in addition to Chryst’s adaptability year to year based on his personnel, one of his strengths as a coach is that he is able to make adjustments quickly after a game starts and he is very good at exploiting whatever weakness the opposing defense might have that day.

“I’ve seen it up close many times — something we thought was going to work may not be working, and he’ll make a slight adjustment to it or tweak it or maybe even do something different all together, and next thing you know we’re moving right down the field,” Partridge said. “That’s really what, in my mind, sets him apart and makes him a great football coach. He always seems to have a Plan B and sometimes even a Plan C when his first thought doesn’t work.”

That sounds great, but he has always done that in the context of being the OC. Now he has to be able to do that as the head coach. Juggling a lot more. Not being able to simply focus on tweaking the offense while the defense is out on the field. He’s going to have to trust his new offensive coordinator  — Bob Bostad, who was Wisconsin’s O-line coach. Growing pains will occur.

A big moment from Chryst’s press conference for most came when he talked about his goals.

“You really don’t announce anything today,” Chryst said to a roomful of people that included his wife, three children, mother and brother. “It’s really shallow if you announce what you’re going to do. Actions have to show it, not words.

“And that’s what I am excited for, when this is over, to be able to start putting the action and the plan together.”

That was the winning line for everyone. Just such a modest and stark contrast to Fraud Graham. Which Chryst completely tried to distance himself from that comparison at his first opportunity.

You made reference several times during your press conference about treating players the right way, and letting actions speak instead of words. Did you feel you needed to say that because of the way everything went down with your predecessor?

PC: No, and I’m glad you brought that up. I feel bad because what I was trying to say is it was the players I’ve been around at Oregon State, at Wisconsin that put you in this position, and I honestly feel pretty bad if it was perceived that way. I know you can’t ignore what happened in history, but honestly, it gave me this opportunity so I’m pretty thankful for the opportunity. But when I was talking about players and me, I am up there as much because of what those guys have done. No coach does it on his own. Why do you get these positions? Because you win games, you have success, people want to take somebody from a successful program. Pretty boilerplate, right? But at the same point, I wasn’t the only reason for the success. I wasn’t sending messages as much as sending a thanks and a realization that I’m up there as a reflection of them, just as they are a reflection of me on the field.

He probably didn’t, but comparisons to his predecessor are inevitable.

More in a bit. I am having focus issues with both my kids are having playovers and funny thing — it is more disruptive with this many kids screaming, fighting and creating general chaos.