We are all pretending the BBVA didn’t happen. Probably for the best.
On Saturday, Pitt and head coach Paul Chryst officially announced six hires. The trinity from Wisconsin which everyone already knew: Bob Bostad, Offensive Coordinator/O-line; Dave Huxtable, Defensive Coordinator; and Joe “Booger” Rudolph, assistant Head Coach/QB Coach.
Also confirmed, former Mt. Lebanon HS head coach Chris Haering, to handle the linebackers.
The new ones, though, are Jim Hueber to coach the tight ends and Todd Rice for strength and conditioning.
The reaction from Wisconsin fans are mixed. Not that it was surprising that Bostad left. Or even that Huxtable took the opportunity to be a DC once more. It is more the volume that left with Chryst. Especially Rudolph since he was one of, if not their best, recruiters.
When Chryst and Bostad left, they were wished well. Well-earned promotions, plus while excellent X-and-O coaches, they never had much of a reputation as recruiters.
Rudolph is a more frustrating loss for Wisconsin. They had already lost 3 assistants. Another (WR Coach DelVaughn Alexander) is heading to Arizona State — though whispers suggest that Alexander was encouraged to look elsewhere. With Rudolph gone they are down to one offensive assistant left on staff. And 3 weeks to National Signing Day. Despite Wisconsin’s success and back-to-back Rose Bowl appearances, there are a couple questions. This, despite the seeming logic of each coach’s individual decision.
The first four hires, generally have been well-received on the Pitt end. Quality coaches. Good reasons for optimism.
As for the other two to this point. Maybe more of a mixed bag.
Hueber definitely brings experience, and there is little doubt that he will make sure the tight ends know how to block.
Hueber most recently served five seasons with the Minnesota Vikings (2006-10) working with the offensive line. He spent 33 years coaching college football, including an exceptional tenure under Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin (1992-2005), where he helped the Badgers evolve into a national power. He spent his initial three years in Madison coaching the running backs before moving his positional focus to the offensive line.
Chris Dokish is unimpressed by the hiring of Hueber from a recruiting standpoint because Hueber is over 60. The flip side is that Hueber can sell the whole NFL experience aspect. The recruiting side, though, is valid. After Rudolph, there isn’t a hire to this point that I can point to who has an excellent recruiting reputation. X-and-Os look fantastic with this group to date. The talent, though, is still needed.
The common thread to these hires, though, is that Chryst knows and is familiar with them from the past.
Chryst, who was formally the offensive coordinator at Wisconsin, obviously worked with Bostad, Huxtable and Rudolph at Wisconsin, Hueber worked at Wisconsin with Chryst before he went to the Vikings, Haering and Chryst were graduate assistants at West Virginia under Don Nehlen together and Rice played for Chryst’s dad, who was the long-time coach at Wisconsin-Platteville.
Finally there is Strength & Conditioning Coach Todd Rice. He has been Notorious TOB’s (Tom O’Brien) S&C coach for the past 10 years at both Boston College and NC State.
The other issue will be winter conditioning for the returning players, but Chryst said he plans on giving them some time off since they have already missed the first few days of classes while preparing for this bowl game.
“It has been a long stretch for them,” Chryst said. “Todd [Rice] is one of the best at complete training.”
Outside of a few S&C coaches, most seem fairly interchangeable. Their philosophies may be different, but unless they have some sort of outsized personality or really connect with the players, you barely notice them.
The NC State fans don’t seem to have taken too much notice or concern about Rice leaving. Why? Probably because he left his job (fired?) there in December. That said, I’m a little nervous about the Rice hire. A BC guy I do know, sent me this message regarding Rice:
Your new S&C coach is going to drive fans nuts. He did at BC and NC St. All about stretching. Meanwhile your guys will seem flabby and slow.
How will we notice the change? We will see. The claim is that Rice is not rigid in his style of strength and conditioning — yet specific.
Even Rice comes to Pitt with no rigid way of training players.
“He has a very specific program that is about trying to help guys be the best athletes they can be,” he said. “Strength is a big part of it, but it’s flexibility and it’s nutrition. He is one of the best in just complete training.”
Several more spots to fill. Hopefully Chryst ventures a little bit out of his comfort zone.
I’m not critizing the recent coach, he was trying to craft the linemen to the high octane style … but it was, just like evrything else, going to take time to do this.
I’m pretty sure that the current returning linemen will welcome this new coach with open arms.
have pro experence. to off set the new coach at penn state who will use his pro back ground to recruit.
and rice lasted 5 years at both his outher two jos if he was bad i think he would have been gone in year 2.
Those stints were with the same boss — Tom O’Brien. Hired at BC. Went with him to NC St.
wbb and houston, i agree with both of your comments.
Voytik interview.
Actions speak louder than words. I was at the BBVA game and noticed quite a few fat football players on the sideline. Pitt looked and played several staps slower than SMU. I believe conditioning plays quite an important part of the game. My opinion, Pitt needs to toughen up.
Sounds like I have the same strength and conditioning program you do!
Except for Mr. Sunseri, who is going on what now,
28 or 29? haha
I say the first line because we lost to the Hillbillies by a couple points, and they scored 70 on Clemson. So Clemson must have been really fat & slow.
@Frankcan,
PC has hired a pro coach already. Don’t you remember, since you broke it, Joe Hueber who has been with the Minny Vikes for several seasons.
He’ll be the Grandfather like figure to the players. Every team needs a Grandfather like figure, don’t ya think.
What we need is one Pitt man on the staff, if Smiley will allow such a thing.
V e V
H T P !
Comment by JD 01.09.12 @ 3:31 pm
That’s wonderful, maybe I can move back to the Burg, since it’s officially……”In”.
(Burg is this usage is correctly spelled right)
Rudolph is the one I really wanted of those mentioned and is akin to getting the recruiting coordinator at Ohio State or Michigan or Nebraska or to a much lesser extent, Ped State.
This was truly a great get. Welcome back to Pittsburgh Joe Rudolph. And welcome to Messrs.
Bostad, Huxtable, Hueber & Rice.
During the time I was being recruited I had no interest in Pitt but a visit on one free weekend changed everything. I was totally surprised at how nice it was and that was back in the seventies. Let’s hope PC and this news actually does help open the eyes of potential recruits because I’m very happy I made the right choice and none of us would be here expressing our concerns if we felt differently.
Should transfers be allowed without sitting out, wouldn’t Paul Jones seem like a great fit – much better solution than Tiny Scaredseri or Mark “don’t call me Mike” Myers, and give Voytik a year to learn before he challenges for a starting job.
If you think about it, there’s got to be a JC QB better than Tiny Sackseri or Myers. I gotta believe PC finds something out there.
Curtis Martin rushed for over 10,000 yards in his first 10 professional seasons, a feat previously accomplished only by Barry Sanders. On November 6, 2005, he scored his 100th career touchdown, joining an elite group of only 16 players to do so. Martin is currently 4th on the all-time rushing yardage list, and on November 27, 2005, in the first quarter against the New Orleans Saints, he became the 4th running back in NFL history, behind Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders, to pass the 14,000-yard rushing mark. He is the all-time Jets leader with 10,302 rushing yards with the team.
Why he never became a huge star, having played in both the big eastern media markets of NYC & Boston always amazed me. Curtis was better than ANY Ped State or Ohio State or of course wvcc RB EVER in the NFL.
A truly great PITT PANTHER !
I hope he has a few weights laying around too!!!
Comment by EMel 01.09.12 @ 9:26 pm”
Back when I went to ‘Dice (in the dark ages before busing), fb sucked but we had a great debate time.
and one that is not as old as me HA HA
“I say the first line because we lost to the Hillbillies by a couple points, and they scored 70 on Clemson. So Clemson must have been really fat & slow.”
Clemson: Over confident and snake bit by a team ready to play.
I have one clue for you, it isn’t PITT, but a Pittsburgh guy does own a business where Birch is going. The clue is……it’s the tallest building in this city.
How fortunes can change .. Roof was DC of Auburn when they won the national championship a year ago but this past season, Auburn’s defense was lit up, and under pressure, stepped down and accepted the position at UCF.
Note that Pitt’s new DC, Huxtable, was UCF’s DC a year ago when UCF finished in Top 25 and a Top 10 defense, as well as CUSA champs.
That was the most boring NC game I’ve ever witnessed. Five…Five (5) 1rst downs for LSU.
90 total yards for the game. Yes…for the game.
That was the worst game plan and lack of imagination I’ve seen from a team that was undefeated and had scored lots of points during the season. You’d think they game planned around the talents of Terrible Tino or something.
And why Les didn’t change QB’s in the 2nd half is anybody’s guess. The backup QB did win 7 or 8 games for LSU this year, so it wasn’t like the backup was a stiff.
That game was about as mind boggling as Tim Tebow passing for 316 yards against the NFL’s #1 ranked defense. And averaging 31.6 yards per completion.
And then the game averaging a 31.6 TV rating in the latter part of the game. (John 3: 16)
Strange things are occurring these days, AND IT’S ONLY THE 10TH DAY OF 2012 ! 
However, that doesn’t excuse Wanny from not winning the BE .. even though he was painfully close the last 2 years (3 pts.) I believe what hurt Wanny the most was the quality of his OL, which is essential when playing that style. You saaw how Bama get the pressure off their QB, and opened some holes, last night against a very good defense last night
Roof is an excellent coach but had no chance as head coach at Duke. He’ll do well at State. He’s a GA Tech grad.
Everyone said he was homesick. Obviously, he’d like to stay close to home!
well it is the 10 and nothing from Zeise MY POINT
dont say you will if you wont.
Plus i cant stand for penn state to beat us in any
thing i know this will make no sence but it is how it is penn states new head coach has all most a full staff only room for one more coach
and pitts HC is 4 coachs short so it looks like penn state will have a full staff before us
i hate that i know it makes no sense but i hate penn state as bad as WVU maybe worse
I’m sure it has to do with when you grew up a bit. The 70′s and 80′s, when both were in the top 10, and the rivalry game was as big as Nebraska-Oklahoma, OSU-Mich, Texas-TAM.
I kid you not young Panther fans, it was that big. Imagine this, around 81′ or so, Good Morning America, interviewed Jackie Sherrill and Joe Paterno on the morning of the game for one of their segments!!!
Anyhow, if you started following 90′s 2000′s then WVU would probably have your venom.
Allthough, many older fans certainly could have had bad experiences with WVU fans, and maybe that puts them ahead of PSU.
But, for me, will always be PSU.
our ron dane to coach RB just a dream but what the hell.
Ithought the lsu QB looked like tino the way he held the ball to long and stuff i gess it was the outher teams D.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11237/1169493-365-0.stm
Seems to small to play Linebacker in college. Maybe move him to safety.
If they want caprara and rippy that is ok but that is 6 LB this year and what 5 last year how many LB do you need .
i would think OL men or QBs would be a biger worry or TE
Who cares if a QB can’t read. I want a kid who can throw a leather football, run like a friggin deer, avoid sacks, make plays, AND beat out Tino. I don’t care if the QB comes from a walk on, a JC, a transfer, a prison, Ped State, the top lesbian rugby player, …. Whatever Just someone WHO CAN BEAT OUT TINO. Is that too much to ask for? But that is what I need to keep my hope alive, keep my faith for my Panthers, and to allow my to watch.
I have faith that the new coach will find that QB either hiding on our roster, in Voytik or someone new.
At last we have a chance to see a HC with a totally clean slate and no agendas to fulfill when it comes to picking a QB to run his offense.
I have no idea who that will be but just the fact that we’ll see an honest competition at that position is heartening.
Hey, Chryst may even decide to have his QB coach work extensively with Gonzalez to bring his passing up to par. Not sure that will happen of course but at least it could.
Maybe Chryst and Bostad see something in Myers where they want to give him the best shot possible, or even keep Anderson involved in some way.
There’s a lot of things that can happen and for the first time since 2008 I think we’ll see the process play out the way it should.
“Apparently Paul Chryst is not done trying to raid the Wisconsin Badgers football team. J.J. Denman, a 6’6″ 310 lineman from Pennsbury HS in Fairless Hills, PA is expected to visit the Panthers this weekend, nearly three months after verbally committing to Wisconsin. Denman originally verbally committed to Penn State in May.”
If Chryst can add some more big signings to add to this years recruiting class, it could make a big difference.
‘
also on staff is greg jackson who coached 1 yea at wisconsin is a DB coach is he just waiting for the playoffs to be over just a guess.
Comment by Atlanta Panther 01.10.12 @ 6:57 pm
Yes we could be worse off, because we’ll be breaking in a new qb with no real backup option in 2013. You start Voytik this year(2012) against the lightweight non-con games. See how he performs, if he’s not up to the task, you always have Sir Tino to fall back on. You already know the limitations of Sir Tino. As far as 2nd tier bowl games, the BBVA Compass Bowl is not close to a 2nd tier bowl game, it’s more like a 4rth tier bowl game. And we can go 6-6 with Voytik just as easily as with Sunseri. And we all can live with possible growing pains of Voytik, I don’t think many of us will make it ANOTHER SEASON with Sunseri. The Bowl Tiers below:
1rst Tier Bowls: Sugar, Rose, Orange, Fiesta, & obviously the BCS NC game
2nd tier Bowls : Cotton, Outback, Capital One, Gator, Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl
3rd tier Bowls: Sun, Holiday, Champs Sports, Alamo, Belk, Insight, Ticket City
4rth tier Bowls: Liberty, Music City, Independence, Las Vegas, Hawaii, Pinstripe, BBVA Compass, Meineke Care Care (new one in Texas)
5th tier Bowls: Beef O’Brady’s, Kraft Fight Hunger, Military, Armed Forces, Poinsettia, Little Caesars, New Orleans, New Mexico, Famous Idaho Potato
*Note: Bowl game names listed in the 4rth & 5th tiers are subject to change at a moment’s notice.
* The BBVA Compass Bowl could have easily fallen into the 5th tier. Only the fact that PITT played in it the last 2 years kept it from being so.
* 34 Bowl Games and the NC game required more than a 2 or 3 tier bowl rating system of days gone by, when there were only 15-20 bowl games.
And you only had to go 3 tiers deep.
I do believe that Myers will be given a fair shot at competing and that Anderson, if he’s still around can be in the three deep also. Plus, we have a good athlete in Gonzalez who, with dedicated passing coaching may surprise.
I’ll bet that Chryst’s first inclination is to redshirt Voytik and that would be best for PITT all around if he does. Personally, I wonder about just how good Voytik is going to be and I’ve a feeling that his potential, and our expectations, are being pumped up to unreasonable proportions – at least for 2012.
I’m sure it’s a common phenomenon with football fans but WE PITT fans tend to do this way too much and I think the beat writers contribute to it also. we did it with Bostick back in 2007; we did it with Sunseri big time back in 2009 & 10 and … and we did it with Myers this year and last.
Let’s not do it with Voytik. The odds are that he’ll be a decent college QB and those may be slim. Very few guys really excel at QB in college and even less do so thier freshman year.
I’m looking forward to seeing what Voytik can do of course, I think he’s talented. but I’m much more looking forward to see what our current crop of QBs can do in 2012 under a new coaching staff – especially Myers and yes, Sunseri as much as it hurts to type that.
However, if they don’t … don’t blame Tino or his dad.
But I’m not here to get into a pissing match over the prestige of non-bcs bowls. And I’m a firm believer that unless a true freshman comes in and just kills it – which is TOUGH to do as a quarterback – it’s better for him to have year in the system. And I’ll take 8-5, which is what Tino did in 2010 and a redshirt freshman quarterback in 2012 over 6-6 with growing pains.
But hey, that’s just my opinion. And you’ve got yours. At the end of the day we are going to have to wait and see. Hail to Pitt!
