I’m going to let go of the decision to promote House to defensive coordinator soon. I don’t like the decision, but I’m not going to spend the next six months angsting over it. And I sure won’t be rooting for it to fail. But it is only fair to try and articulate some more of why I find this a bad decision by Coach Paul Chryst. Not simply reducing it to House’s lack of experience, or whether Pitt was being cheap, or Chryst valued familiarity and comfort higher than experience and past performance.
When I broke down the connections of the staff to Chryst, I also took note of their overall experience. Particularly how there were several very experienced coaches and then very inexperienced coaches. And few somewhere in-between in experience.
Chris Peak at PantherLair had a piece hitting on this issue.
Chryst also added John Palermo to the defensive coaching staff, but despite Palermo having 38 years of coaching experience, he will “float” between positions, spending time with the defensive ends (who will still be under the watch of defensive line coach Inoke Breckterfield) and the outside linebackers (who will still work with linebackers coach Chris Haering).
While those two moves may go against the usual hiring practices in college football, they are in line with the design of Chryst’s coaching staff. After all, Chryst named Joe Rudolph offensive coordinator last year after Bob Bostad left for the NFL, and Rudolph had just four years of experience as a full-time assistant prior to 2012 (the same number as House).
And compared to some of the other offensive coaches, Rudolph is long in the tooth. Quarterbacks coach Brooks Bollinger had one year of coaching experience prior to coming to Pitt, and that year was spent as head coach at Hill Murray High School in Minnesota. And receivers coach Bobby Engram’s coaching experience is contained in one year as an offensive assistant with the San Francisco 49ers.
But Chryst balanced that inexperience with a pair of veteran coaches. Offensive line coach Jim Hueber has 37 years of coaching on his resume, and running backs coach Desmond Robinson started in the business in 1981.
Chryst looked for the same balance on defense when he put together his first staff last year. House, Breckterfield and Haering combined for seven total years of experience as full-time assistants prior to 2012, but Huxtable had been coaching for nearly 30 years. With Huxtable off to N.C. State, Chryst brought in another 30-year veteran in Palermo.
“I think his experience is going to be valuable,” House said of Palermo. “He’s a guy that has seen it all and done it all; in 38 years, you’ve seen a lot of football.”
It’s not a bad idea. In theory. But here’s the problem for me. Start with the head coach. Chryst is an offense guy. He coached QBs. He was an offensive coordinator. There is no question that he was helping a lot more on the offensive side with first year OC Joe Rudolph last year. He also added experienced guys on offense in Desmond Robinson and Jim Hueber. Solid balance with first time position coaches in Bobby Engram and Brooks Bollinger.
Now look at the defense. Last year, the only experienced guy on the defensive side was the DC, Dave Huxtable. Everyone else on the defensive coaching staff had less than 4 years coaching experience at the college level.
That’s not horrible when the experienced guy is the DC. A guy who worked positions. Has been around and is experienced with teaching both players and young position coaches while planning a defense. With Huxtable’s departure to NC State, rather than make sure there was an experienced hand to guide the defense and the coaching staff, Chryst opted to promote a young position coach to the DC position. His solution for the experience issue was to bring in Palermo.
Now don’t get me wrong, I like the Palermo hire. He’s a very good coach and is still considered a solid recruiter, especially in New Jersey. However, he has spent his entire career as a D-line coach. He has not been a defensive coordinator. He has not had to oversee more than one unit (aside from one year as HC at Austin Peay in 1990 where he was 0-11).
How does his experience actually help Matt House as the new DC? Who does House have to turn to for help? How thin does Chryst expect to spread Palermo with the defensive coaches? Heck, with adding Hank Poteat to coach the cornerbacks, the defensive coaching staff has probably gotten less experienced heading into 2013.
That was a short lifespan as a Head Coach.
Your are on target Chas, how does Palermo who had NEVER been a DC help House, who has never been a DC.
It’s like the blind leading the blind.
And do either of them bring any emotion to the game, as I understand Huxatable was quite vocal in addition to his experience level. Wonder why Hux bailed out after one year with PC as HC. NC State is nothing great.
And this team needs someone, anyone to put some emotion into them, fire them up, etc. While it might be a business to some, to the kids playing they need a little if not a lot of emotion.
This isn’t the NFL !!
Hope it works out (with Hope being the key word)
Should we really have to hope, this isn’t Austin Peay for god’s sake.
And God knows we need that
Some think 6-6 was ok and then ending 6-7, but that was the WEAKEST PITT schedule I can ever remember.
And you had your 5th year Sr. QB and a 2 very good RB’s, one great one in Ray Ray and experienced big WR’s.
I hope (there’s that word again) ESPN wants PITT to be a feature team in their vast ACC empire, as we are, other than FSU & Miami the team that gets the best TV ratings of the 14 teams in the ACC.
And we might even get better rating than Miami anymore.
Let’s hope. I got miles & miles of hope.
And there’s going to be a new Pope.
And Savage went to Cardinal Moody.
So maybe that will shake Pitt’s booty.
also LMAO to your post on the other thread about WVU and travel distance “Man they have to go a long way just to take a piss.” haha, funny…
Palermo is the hire that was overlooked in the focus on House, check out his resume and also comments on sites like the Tennessee football blogs about this guy… he was co head coach with Alverez during his Rose Bowl run… and the guy is at a point in his career where he has no more burning ambition. could well just settle in here with Chryst for last years and help him build a real powerhouse…. without other agendas.
and then the young Poteat… love it. as per the referenced article… this is a staff built to ‘relate to all different types of players at different levels’… (paraphrase)
The defensive staff as a unit prepares game plans, packages, makes personnel decisions, assist in game time adjustments, even call plays as a unit sometimes, etc.
Sure the coordinator may have the final say but it is NEVER a one man show.
You are as good as the men around you.
BTW, I had no idea Palermo had a perfect season when he was a head coach for one year. That’s fantastic, Woo Whoo! Oh,,, that was 0-11??? Got it backwards, never mind.
school 1.8 million per year.
hell schools have head football coachs that
make more than that and throw in the bb coach
and they have lost money it is a very sad
deal.
so glad pitt is in the ACC.
… as opposed to say WVU that seems to have the ‘let’s go get slick willy, smooth talker recruiting guy’ which seems to be what they did with Gibson (who immediately tried to mess with Boyd’s head about Pitt)…
things just look and feel right… right now…, certainly compared to where WVU right now (can’t say I felt that way a few years ago)… of course haven’t seen the boys in pads yet…
Please lead us in prayer.
I shure hope this works, but like much of you, I’m cautiously hopeful. Why am I uneasy about this?
It seems that it is Chryst vs the world with his coaching inbreds and big uglies. Hey, I’m all for it … that is until his defense this year with 9 returning starters falls apart.
At some point in time, don’t actual TV ratings matter?
Let’s take WVUlgar and Maryland for example.
WVU sucks (which is becoming more likely every passing minute). Their ratings fall and no one in swpa or wv watches games. The rest of world outside of the Dust Bowl could give a crap. Doesn’t money dry up?
Likewise, maryland is in the Big Ten,but the numbers don’t change. People in DC watch PSU as much as before but Md doesn’t add a TV to the mix and no one watches them. The Big Ten network still has to sell advertsing don’t they? It’s not all subscription cash.
My sense is that speculation is great right up until the point in time when it matters most: Wall street looked pretty good in early 1928 and 2008, etc… up until the point in time when someone wanted their cash. Suddenly, people couldn’t get away with pretending everyone was a millionnaire.
Don’t expect these things to stand still. PSU is losing money (if they can be believed), heard WVU swimming is eating road kill to and from away meets in conference to cut costs and can RU sustain in the Big Ten…
Advertising gets cut quickly and now that the bloom is off the Rose in the Big 12, I see other problems soon.
Glad I made you laugh Pittscript.
With the difference in personalities between the head coach and DC, pressers are going to be “neat” to watch.
It’s the way Pitt foisted him on us that bothers me. Making the announcement quietly and tepidly on the morning of the biggest BBall game of the year. If they really believed in House and wanted US to believe in him, call a pressor, make a big splash announcement, get House on the talk shows.
It is Pitt’s arrogance (SP) that this doesn’t happen. Basically “here’s who we hired” F —K all of you if you don’t like it!
You’re a first-time HC coming off of a six and seven season and what do you do? You hire a another rookie to head up your defense.
Despite all the growing pains the Pitt defense went through last year, the one thing that Huxtable gave Chryst was some solace in knowing a seasoned veteran was in control on the other side of the ball. This freed Chryst up to focus his attention on the offense.
Now, Chryst could find himself caught up with having to split his focus between coaching up a first-time starting QB and the defense should House struggle.
Really dumb move by Chryst, even if House ends up being a success.
I completely agree. I fully support him and want nothing but wins, although he really is a bumbling idiot.
He can barely string together two coherent sentences, seriously though.
But in his defense, this wasn’t only his fault, in fact, 50% was that of the Admin; if they truly wanted to be competitive and bolster the up-and-coming image of entering the ACC, the outcome would have been different.
the big east tv deal will be with ESPN not
a lot of money only 1.8 million per school
but some of the talking heads say the big
deal is that it is on ESPN the recruits all want to know if they will be on ESPN
Every one knows the espn channels and it is
were you go first for sports.
they say if the big east had ended up on NBC sports or fox new sports channel know one would be able to find them and over statement but they were makeing a point that this is not were you go for BB or college football so espn is were you want to be.
well the catholic 7 new deal looks as if it will be on the new fox sports channel for 3 mill per
year per school.
the point that was made is who will watch the new fox sports channel and when a recruit saks if they will be on espn the 7 must say no
and who wants to be on a channel know one watchs
etc etc i thought that was something i did not think aboght before.
Pitt is never going to be Alabama, but 9-3 decent bowl every year and once in a while 10-2 11-2 is the standard.
I think Chryst has it in him
In Chryst We Trust!
Pitt is never going to be Alabama, but 9-3 decent bowl every year and once in a while
Comment by Punxy Panther 02.22.13 @ 5:59 pm
You got it wrong buddy, Alabama is never going to be PITT!
WE have 9 National Championships, don’t know about them
We’ve played in 4 Rose Bowls, don’t know about them.
We’ve had players like Tony Dorsett, Dan Marino, Larry Fitzgerald, Mike Ditka, Curtis Martin, LeSean McCoy, Russ Grimm, Mark May, and a whole host of others to numerous to name who were great NFL players, don’t know about Alabama.
And we have and we are ‘giving him a chance’.
Pitt and Pittsburgh has it all over Bumfc*ck, Alabama.
If Chryst wants to hire guys who have coached flag football all their lives, do it.
He just has to be be right!
If he hired a re-tread loser with tons of experience, my gut would not like it.
He has had very little turnover from year one to two and while changing defenses is a change, it isn’t like switching from a Fraud Graham offense to something else.
At this stage of its existence, Pitt is not a destimation job for anyone. Add the general malaise out of the AD’s office (which ain’t bad, the less SP has to do with football the more likley it will succeed) and you won’t see people rushing here to work as an assistant.
We will pay for the debacles of SP’s second tenure for some time.
Vince Lombardi reincarnated would not help the situation. It takes 10 seconds to lose credability; it takes years to restore it.
Chryst is the one in charge and we are quite vulnerable still: just look back a few months and look at the panties still in knots over the prospect of him going to Wisconsin.