Time for another challenge from Volvo for the Biggest Fan in the Big East. Please go and vote for me. I really need it. I didn’t get to offer the usual draft post first. It was in the pipeline, but then last week happened.

This challenge takes us away from Pitt. It’s all about the roadtrip. What towns are tops in the Big East for taking the roadtrip?

Roadtrips take different meanings when you are in college versus when you are out. In college, you try to find the local connection. The high school buddy who is at the school. Maybe if you are in a frat, contacting the local chapter for a place to crash. As you get older, it’s about the hotel rooms or an old friend from Pitt now living in the area. If you have to lug the family with you, it may have to be a place where your significant other can take the kids while you hit a local watering hole and the game.

I’ve been out for nearly 20 years. The idea of crashing on a couch — while still happens on occasion — holds little allure. The college bar can feel a little strange when I visit Pitt. So, it gets even weirder at another campus.

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There was a pleasant  attack on Fraud Graham (Yes, I would like to make that one stick) from the Steelers.

The Steelers practically threw a party when they heard that Pitt coach Todd Graham quit. That goes from the top to the bottom, from those who work in the offices to the coaches and every-day workers who came into contact with Graham and his staff in the building.

They described Graham as an arrogant man who had no use for anything the Steelers might have offered, and they say he resented having to share the building and the indoor practice field at the UPMC complex with them.

Before Graham, the Panthers and the Steelers ate in the same cafeteria, although at different times. Graham came in and put an end to that. The cooks at the cafeteria still prepare the food for the Panthers, but it is then brought over to the other side of the building, where Pitt created its own cafeteria to serve Graham’s players and his wishes.

Instead of embracing the advantages that an association with the Steelers might bring, Graham rejected them, even if there was little he could do about the shared facilities. That really came down to just sharing the indoor practice field and the parking lots because everything else is separate, including weight rooms, outdoor practice fields, locker rooms, etc. It’s one building, but it’s really two, like a big duplex.

I admit, I don’t understand the resentment. Other than the fact that just about every college football headcoach has at least a touch of “little dictator” in him and hates the idea of not controlling everything.

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Sorry, kind of had to take a “if you go near the computer I will kill you” day on orders from the wife. Something about the way I have ignored everyone and everything since Wednesday. Has it really only been since Wednesday around noon when all this craziness started? Seems so much longer.

Anyways, by all accounts Mario Cristobal is anywhere from the leading candidate to a done deal (h/t to Scott and several others) — but for the bowl game.

We have learned that Pitt offered the job to Mario Cristobal last night. Cristobal, we are told, asked that they pause the discussions until after FIU’s bowl game (Tuesday night). Class move.

Yes, see how well that worked out for John L. Smith and Louisville when the ESPN crawl announced he was leaving for Michigan St. during the Cards bowl game.

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…to talk about the PITT head coaching search.  We can cross Todd Graham off the short list.

For some reason the spam filter wasn’t working on the last post and it was irritating as hell.

So.

1) Who do you want?

2) Who do you think is going to be hired?

Admittedly it did not seem like a lot of people would get to see this one, but it has a little more coverage than initially suggested. It is on the Pitt Panther TV network for those in Western PA or so with Comcast.  But it is also on SNY, ESPN FullCourt and ESPN3.com (Online). Game time is 6pm.

SC State is a MEAC school. Pitt has never lost to a MEAC school, this won’t be the game to see that run end.

So join in the watching and commenting. I’m sure we can talk rationally and reasonably about it, the expectations for this team going forward, the Khem Birch issues might arise and by the end of the game I might even venture into a  little football coaching search stuff.

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Okay, folks, time for me to be a bit of an asshole.

I know that emotions are running a little hot right now. That’s fine. Debates can get heated. Disagreements are normal.

That said, sock-puppetry is flat out unacceptable. There have been a couple instances of that this week. If you can’t make your arguments without pretending you are more than just you, then just stop now.

This seems to flair up every so often. I don’t require a verified account to comment on this site. Part of it is simply trying to trust everyone. Part is not wanting to be responsible for the information. And a good chunk of it is my own personal dislike for having to register at sites.

That doesn’t make you anonymous. I do have a fair amount of information about each comment based on the wordpress blog set-up. So it doesn’t take much for me to figure out when people are playing games.

If you list a real e-mail address, I will be nice enough to send you an e-mail first — especially if I think you don’t have a real intent to deceive — asking you to knock it off. Of course if you do it without a real-email address, I will make it known who you are and what you are doing.

If you don’t acknowledge or keep playing the game, then I will ban you.

I really have an intense dislike of that behavior and will not waste my time trying to police it.

Thanks.

It should also go without saying that with Khem Birch apparently, really and truly leaving Pitt there needs to be another player in the front court.

Malcolm Gilbert, who was clearly heading for a redshirt (technically it would have been medical) will be having that status changed. Pitt can’t just have Talib Zanna playing behind both Nas and Taylor.

Guess we will get to see the big guy get worked into things tomorrow. He should move into the back-up role at center. Good news, he actually wants to be a center. Not a power forward.

For all the questions about Pitt’s weak non-con, it sure seems to be a good thing right now. Need a lot of cushion before Big East play begins.

I’m sorry to see him go. I don’t agree with it, not simply because he is leaving Pitt, but because a mid-season transfer is not a particularly smart decision for any kid. He can transfer, but he will still have to sit a full year. He won’t be eligible until the winter semester of 2012-13. Still he seems gone, this time for real.

“I’m leaving,” Birch told CBSSports.com on Friday night. “I’m headed to Toronto now. I enjoyed my time at Pittsburgh, I love Coach (Jamie) Dixon, had no problems with the staff and the players. It just wasn’t the right fit for me.”

Birch informed CBSSports.com that he does not have a new list and has not decided on his next destination.

Earlier today, P-G’s Pitt basketball beat writer Ray Fittipaldo posted that there are whispers (spin?) that Khem Birch is not particularly emotionally mature and that he might have “bad” influences in his ear. My natural impulse is that this is a bit of spin from the Pitt side. The one factor that mitigates is that Birch opted to start college a year earlier than he needed to — and most expected/thought he should.

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I feel bad for a fair amount of Arizona State fans. They are in a tough spot. It seems more than a few are less than enamored with the hiring of Todd Graham and how Graham bolted Pitt. But here’s the thing. ASU is their school. It’s their team. They can’t really root for Graham to fail. They want their team to win. Graham is the guy that is now in charge of making it happen. He’s their guy. Now they have to talk themselves into it. And the majority will.

They will swallow the spin that Graham really does want to be in Arizona. That he is a good person who loves his family, players and god. That it is his “dream job.” Just as Rice and Tulsa were. That it really was just a timing conflict that had him not face the players. Or that he was stopped by Pitt from meeting with them. That the Graham’s really were never truly happy in Pittsburgh.

Graham wouldn’t go into details but said his family had a terrible time in Pittsburgh. And maybe Graham’s personality and high-octane salesmanship will make him the perfect solution for the complex competitive landscape in Tempe.

Details can be difficult when you are making shit up. Or in the alternative, lying — both Todd and Penni Graham — the entire time. Your choice, which way to go.

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So the Pitt basketball players started tweeting ominous news this afternoon. Finally — just as I’m supposed to be doing family time at my daughter’s holiday concert — the secret leaks that Khem Birch is at a minimum contemplating a transfer from Pitt.

ALOPEWQWVCXRLUTSFDO;ISDYOTDO[SFD!!!!!

No one is sure the exact reason. Is it playing time? Is it playing center? Is it having to earn his playing time?

I am trying not overreact. Or react at all. It could just be some frustration. It could be real. It just seems ridiculous. Napalming the kid when there isn’t enough to go on, seems a bit much.

A mid-season transfer is a dumb move for any player. It still means sitting out a full year. It means trying to get into a rotation mid-way through the following year.

So, as if there wasn’t enough to angst about with Pitt. Two straight Decembers to forget.

UPDATE: And it now appears the crisis has passed (for now). Please return to being pissed of at AD Pederson and angsting over the next football head coach and saving the recruiting class.

Can we all give Chas a standing ovation for his work over the last two days please?

And while we are at it, accept my thanks also for all the good and decent discussions and debates you commenters have provided.

This blog has always been enjoyable to read and, for me, to contribute articles to. Chas is the reason it has the great reputation it does but the discussion after his posts contribute greatly to that also.

I think these last two days have been top shelf as far as talking PITT football goes.

Thanks Chas.

I’ll get to some media stuff in a bit. Right now I’m waiting for some new tires to be put on my car. Yeah, on top of Graham bolting yesterday, in-laws came for a visit through the end of the week and I got a flat. Yesterday was just so much fun.

So while I’m killing time, I might as well list the coaches I would be pleased to see Pitt hire and the ones that there is no way in hell they will touch.

It isn’t detailed. I just haven’t had a chance to go deep into guys yet.

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For oh, so many reasons.

The obvious is that he will manage to be the 4th Pitt football head coach in just the last 12 months. Yeah, yeah, 62 years for 2 PSU coaches or whatever.

That’s not why the next coach has it so bad.

The fan base is at an all time low in terms of  just coping. Expectations are low, and I’m willing to bet so are the willingness to hear any excuses.

All that talk about how Pitt is now a basketball school and blaming it on the move to Heinz Field and no on-campus stadium. Bull.

It’s about the W-L.

There’s a belief. There’s hope. There’s an expectation with Pitt basketball of success. When was the last time you truly felt that about Pitt football? Not just for the season, but the next few years? I mean, you could look back on the previous couple and then look ahead and say, “yeah, it’s happening.” Instead, it’s been, “this year could be the breakthrough to start something… I hope.”

Coming into 2011, I thought Todd Graham was going to have a rough time if Pitt didn’t win right away. Partially because of the way he pushed and promoted high expectations. But because the media wasn’t going to play as nice as they did with Wannstedt at first.

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Oh, what a day.

It has been hard to keep up. Exactly a week too late for this crap to start going down. Too much stuff coming to a head, and now this again? Okay, let me apologize in advance for the expected lack of coherence. It has just been too chaotic and too insane today.

I am a natural cynic. Just the way I have always been. Not sure how or why. I just am. Being lucky enough to have had a few years writing at the now defunct AOL FanHouse gave me the opportunity to observe many turns on the college coaching carousel. Everything from Dana Altman taking the Arkansas job and then running back to Creighton. Lane Kiffin napalming Tennessee. Yet, this one even blew me away.

Yet the Tennessee-Kiffin-USC situation is probably the closest parallel. You had a brash coach. One who critics would say was much more style over substance. Makes radical change to the program. Lots of people affected.  And for the most part the fans went with it because it may be a time to shake things up a bit more. A guy who struggled in the first year as the players transition to a new style. But at the same time, there’s hope because of the recruiting class that is coming.

Then the abrupt bailing — taking almost all of the new staff he brought in with him to leave a crater. Yet, somehow, as much as the “Fall of Saigon” chaos that ensued when Kiffikins bailed. He had the balls to speak to the players directly to tell them he was leaving, and to at least pay false lipservice to the media.

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I’m stunned. Truly.

It’s not that I buy into worship of a coach. I also don’t expect blind loyalty or to expect Pitt to be everyone’s dream job. I just never expected that Graham would bolt after only 1 season. Let alone having him take off after a 6-6 season.

Class all the way:

Pitt’s players were informed in a statement from Graham that was sent via text by assistant athletic director/football operations Blair Philbrick.

“I have resigned my position at Pitt in the best interest of my family to pursue the head coaching position at Arizona State,” Graham said. “Coaching there has always been a dream of ours and we have family there. The timing of the circumstances have prohibited from telling you this directly. I now am on my way to Tempe to continue those discussions. God Bless. Coach Graham.”

According to Paul Zeise’s tweet, when the DickRod assistants bolted, Graham called them “mercenaries.”

Right now, they are looking a lot better than Todd Graham.

I’m just hoping he gets June Jones’d at the last minute.

Feel free to vent. I’ll be drinking in a corner.