The Pitt football beat writers all swear that Coach Paul Chryst is a nice, engaging guy. Very smart. That he has a dry, wry sense of humor. And that he is friendly enough individually. They also acknowledge that he absolutely does not show any of that in press conferences.
And man, did that show up in his ACC and then ESPNU interviews.
At 2pm the ACC streamed his press conference, after which Chryst moved to the ESPN truck for his interview on ESPNU.
Paul Chryst’s ESPNU interview 7/22
Now I’m not saying I’ve seen videotaped hostage demands with slightly more enthusiasm, but…
I mean Chryst is just plain uncomfortable with this part of things. I’m talking Jamie Dixon in his first couple years bad.
He’s never going to be at ease in front of the camera, but at some point he’s got to get to a point where he at least looks like he isn’t doing the interview at gunpoint.
On the plus side, he doesn’t look the most uncomfortable to be in the group coach picture.
I put him at at least third behind Al Golden and Paul Johnson. Dave Cutliffe, by the way, totally looks like an 11th grade English teacher.
Still Chas, good points that you make. It wouldn;t take more than a good PR man to work with him on his interview technique to fix this quickly. Oh wait, we have a PR man, some guy named Pederson….of course. I am sure he;ll fix it today!
Boring, dull, etc will get you Mac/Patriot league recruits.
He needs to show a little excitement if he is going to be a successful HC.
It’s reality. Wakeup and smell the coffee.
And why Borgetti has not spent time with Chryst to improve his pressors, interviews is beyond me.
I do a lot of public speaking for my job and I do a lot of one on one or small group stuff and I can tell you they are nothing alike. As an introvert (which Chryst seems to be), it is much easier dealing in small groups or one on one.
you still have to sell your system to a player to make him enthused to come to an area.
I will judge Chryst based on his results on the field, not the sound bytes he makes.
It speaks to his personality and leadership. Yes, they are similar. In both cases, you are “selling” which Chryst says he doesn’t sell.
Yes, he is an introvert.
Most football players are extroverts. They are not attracted to introverts.
Chryst has to loosen up. He doesn’t have to become a snake oil salesman like Graham but at least get halfway.
He is the face of the football program which currently is not attracting top level recruits because Chryst is not an exciting personality.
Dumbest post ever.
Draft is the same as recruiting. LMAO.
Almost none who I’ve known.
Isn’t it about time Pitt stopped focusing on all the things that don’t matter…like this.. and focus on what does?
So what.
When does what a coach says to the media matter?
He’ll sound a lot more articulate when he gets us some big wins.
I understand that pd83 is smarter than our PITT university president, AD, basketball coach and football coach. I also understand that he is a charismatic, intelligent recruiter and tremendous judge of talent and a great game day coach.
He sounds a lot like a football coach named Todd Graham.
Pitt.Dan83 is JoeD. He is using the new moniker Pitt.dan83 because as JoeD he was kicked off this forum for being a serial, unremitting negative jerk of a poster. Zeise kicked him off of Redshirt Diaries for the same behavior. The guy obviously has a compulsion he cannot control.
I guess anyone that speaks the facts is JoeD. I will have to remember that one.
I agreed with what Chas stated above. I added, he needs a personality to recruit. Has anyone disagreed with that? Has Chryst been successful in recruiting elite athletes?
Jason, the over/under is 5.5 wins for Pitt this season. How many do you think Pitt will win? I’m at 5 or 6 but will finalize before FSU game.
You know, on one hand, I would love to see Pitt cover the FSU spread and it be a close game. On the other hand, I’d love to see FSU kick the shit out of Pitt to give Chryst and the koolaid drinkers a wakeup call of welcome to the ACC.
When he was hired I saw an interview he did with Hillgrove and I came away impressed. He will do the job.
Yes…I think PD83 is Joe D in disguise.
Paul Chryst and Devin Street on EspnU Post Rating (3 votes)
Main things I picked up on:
Paul looked like a deer in headlights and talked like a teenage girl would talk to beiber. I hope he can articulate better in a recruits living room. Both Chryst and Street seemed to really want to talk about the FSU game but were never offered the question..Chryst came off as confused when his session ended with a Rushel Shell question he seemed to believe they would be asking about FSU but they ended it. Chryst didn’t give much when asked why he wouldn’t let Shell back..said some things were better not unleashed to the public and that he would rather focus on the players we have and how to put them into better positions to succeed and make big plays. Street came off as excited and referenced the tight knit groups of players at Alabama, LSU, and Georgia and said they now have that.
Posted: Today 3:00 PM
Re: Paul Chryst and Devin Street on EspnU Post Rating (1 vote)
Respectfully, I hope you are wrong about HCPC. However, I’m guessing you are right. In this case, please, please, please somebody sign his rear end up for a Dale Carnegie course on “Winning Friends and Influencing People” Immediately followed by a Zig Zigler course on sales.
Posted: Today 4:23 PM
RE: Paul Chryst and Devin Street on EspnU
Toastmasters is a nationally regarded 5* leadership and public speaking non-profit.
There is probably some under the radar 2* service like a Moose Lodge in Wisconsin that he would feel more comfortable attending.
———————————————
— ShalerTrash wrote:
Maybe we should all start a fund to sign up Chryst for Toastmasters?
I went to the ACC website.
All the ACC football coaches sat down for a one on one interview at media day, EXCEPT Chyrst.
Devin Street was interviewed as the Pitt representative.
High energy has NOTHING to do with recruiting. You have to build relationships.
Fortunately, PC does not feel the need to rip on others to make himself feel better about his own inadequacies like pd83.
If what you say is true, then why isn’t this recruiting class full of elite players?
Instead it is MAC/Patriot league players whereby Pitt was the best offer.
Sorry, but I have to disagree with your opinion there as the Chryst recruiting strategy has not been working. He is not creating any excitment. He is not “selling”!!!
The Dark lining to the Silver Cloud, litter on the lawn, backwash of amber ale.
It’s July. Singing day is Febuary, no?
You continually let your post streams get hijacked by the few obvious who just say shit so they become the center of the stream… it does not matter how stupid the comment.
… I wonder how many people come and leave because of it…
PS, this was a weak post by you too… you should have realized it just feeds this stupidity.
… better not to post anything… and also HC’s ability to run ‘great’ TV interviews is as important as….. eh…. nothing…
Boring, dull, etc will get you Mac/Patriot league recruits.”
That is an exact quote from you Pitt.Dan.83. I argued that doing large group public speaking is different than doing small group and one on one stuff. Just because you decided to disagree doesn’t mean you are right. Again, I am someone who does both large group public speaking and small group/one on one speaking for a living. They are two different things.
We agree that Chryst needs to be enthusiastic when he is selling the team to a recruit. My point is simply that how he acts in a presser is in no way indicative of how enthusiastic he is when he is one on one. I can could sell you the underwear you are already wearing in a one on one meeting. Yet it took me a few years to get my public speaking down because I am an introvert and I don’t thrive in large group settings.
As I said before, this is in no way me saying that he is lighting it up as a recruiter or that he is enthusiastic in those one on one settings. It just isn’t fair to assume that he acts and talks the same in small groups as he does in large public settings. I know that you look for every little shred of evidence that he is a failure, and that might be the case (time will tell). But just because he currently sucks at one thing doesn’t mean he sucks at the other stuff too.
He came off sincere, honest, and well spoken.
I don’t care for the bull shit salesman stuff, even though I was guilty of it early in my business life. I smelled out Todd Graham from the get go. He wasn’t real. I hope the kids see this while being recruited
You are joed. No doubt. You insulted another person on here the same as you always do, calling his post dumb. If you want 5 star players, you should root for another team. You and everyone else would be much happier. I am DONE responding to you as should everyone else. Dr. Tom…don’t be fooled.
Given the situation with this program, Chryst has done pretty well IMO. He’s recruited an entire team, and with the 2013 and 2014 classes is close to restoring some depth everywhere on the field, especially on the OL. We haven’t had that for a long time, and it’s the first step in getting to the point where we are winning ACC games and can start attracting more of those those higher-level players. However, that’s going to take some time. Besides, the notion that we are only getting MAC-level talent is ridiculous, even if they aren’t stars.
The bottom line is that none of us has any idea how Chryst comes across in the living room of a recruit, so people need to stop talking like they do. He has a proven record building pretty good offensive teams out of unheralded recruits at Wisconsin, but Pitt is a much harder sell than Wisconsin right now, and probably always will be. So I think people need to give the guy a few years before they write him off. There isn’t anyone who could come in here and turn us into an elite program overnight.
link to theacc.com
And furthermore that he could connect on a pass longer than 20 yards.
This taken into account with a national media that distorts the facts, lies for the gov’t and is setting up America for race riots, all leads me to conclude, they’re all a bunch of liars.
As they like to call ppl,……Truthers. lol
More fun & games in Hooterville from their Florida gangsta recruits.
This one’s for you buddy.
His in game mgt. skills might be better if he’s OFF the sideline as well (as they couldn’t be much worse). Perhaps those skills (?) are also being effected by him being in a position he’s not quite comfortable in, along the sideline.
We talk about on this site a lot during hoops season about; fitting square pegs into round holes.
This could be another case of that with PC along the sidelines.
Let him do what he does best, call plays from the coaches box. Let someone else do the rest. Rudolph maybe !
Ur right bud !
If you had to deal with these gangsta’s and their mostly nitwit parent(s), you’d probably too. haha
I’ve also had short conversations with Chryst and watched local interviews of his and he’s very open and pretty witty when talking off the cuff. I’ve discussed his personality with a 2013 recruit’s parents and they said he was the same in their living room – at ease and convincing.
So – let’s see; we had DW who was a well-liked hometown boy and a somewhat polished public speaker and he went 16-19 his first three years; we then had the used car salesman-like Todd Graham who was full of platitudes and catch phrases and infused with ‘energy” and he went 6-7 in his time at PITT.
Perhaps what this shows is that there is just no correlation at all between a HC’s PUBLIC persona and his effectiveness at coaching toward wins. It is his PRIVATE persona that effects and influences the team and program.
This is what I hate about the off season in late July – we are close enough to training camp to get excited and want to talk about PITT football but there is nothing concrete to discuss, so fans just parse every little thing like its a life and death issue for the football program.
Dan83/Joe D’s post is, as far as I can tell, never deleted. He posts relentlessly on here and Panthers Prey. The only reason for allowing him to do so which would make sense is because it generates more responses. But in the final analysis it is your site and your call.
I am retiring from posting on this site. Will I look in, most likely not because while I am not close enough to those in the know in the Pitt Athletic department, I am adept at research and data (have written articles and at this time am in the process of putting a book together). I can find what I need to know about Pitt on my own or elsewhere.
To all of those, whose names are too numerous to include here, thank you for your rational, reasoned out posts which were the light I sought here. Thank you for putting up with my drivel at times and most of all thank you for supporting my team.
May God bless you all in your lives, family, endeavors and certainly your Pitt Panthers…HTP!!!
Don’t know what the contents of your posts were but find it to be very unusual.
I am sure Ben Howland was a load of fun when he came to a recruits house. I am surprised Chuck Noll had a successful career with his personality. The list goes on and on.
Now if we can get him to delete “you know” out of his phrasology as well that would, “you know”, be a good thing as well.
Win a few football games down the road though, and nobody on this site will give a flying crap about how he performs in front of a camera!
Hail to Pitt!
link to sports.yahoo.com
While we can never predict the dumb things college kids will do, I truly believe Chryst’s recruiting approach will lead to a lesser chance of these types of incidents occuring. I will take that over a “recruit to win at all costs” mentality every single time. I’d rather cheer for a group of hard-working, “good” kids, than a team of 4-5* thugs who are enrolled only to play football. They may not win as many games, but they would do this University and city proud!
Not saying that winning and high caliber student-athletes are mutually exclusive, but I think it takes time to build that type of roster.
wtf is he thinking.
Has to be the dumbest analogy of all time!!
On the idea of paying players, Chryst made a fair analogy, particularly comparing the idea of student-athletes coming together, filing a lawsuit against the NCAA, in order to receive a stipend.
“If one of your kids wants to ask you to get their tongue pierced, they’re still your kid,” Chryst said. “You want to make sure you know what they’re doing it for the right reasons. I don’t even know all the particulars. If you’re going to be involved in it, you better know enough about it.”
The Bill’s Special Teams Coordinator is Dan Crossman (remember him?) – he was a 3 year letterman at Pitt in late 80s
– Mike Young had 35 and 15
– but in another game — Johnson, Artis and fellow Pitt freshman Newkirk had tough shooting nights. Johnson was 5 of 16 from the floor and made 1 of 7 3-pointers on his way to 14 points, Artis was 3 of 9 and scored 10 points. Newkirk, who finished fifth in the league in scoring in the regular season with 21.8 points per game, was stifled by Duquesne freshman guard Desmond Ridenour for much of the game and scored just seven points on 2-of-14 shooting.
– However, in a 3rd game — Pitt redshirt senior Talib Zanna – leading scorer in the Pro-Am regular season with 27.2 points per game – scored 18 of his 29 points in the second half and hauled in 17 boards. And Pitt sophomore James Robinson – who won a gold medal earlier this month with the USA Under-19 team – sank a 3-pointer to seal the win for No. 3 seed PGT, which advances to face No. 2 SPK in the semifinals.
And if that rule had been in effect last season, as soon as the SYRACUSE defensive back who layed that brutal hit on our poor defenseless J. P. Holtz woke up from his nap, he would have been told that had been ejected.
I like the rebounding by Zanna, we are going to need it.
I doubt his interviewing ability has much to do with his recruiting, or his game-day coaching. Based on the limited body of evidence to date, all 3 need some work, but each require unique skills. There is hope that all 3 improve with experience. As wbb said, we’ll know more in 2-3 years.
The one area where Chryst has sold me to date is his leadership, player/personnel decisions, offensive and defensive philosophy, and at a 10,000 ft. level, the course he has charted for this team. I’m sure he is getting some direction from Administration re: character issues, but he seems very decisive and comfortable being accountable as the leader of the program. I take that as a very positive sign.
His biggest enemy is himself. He’s been a headcase, if you miss a few shots, no big deal just keep taking good shots.
Perhaps this will be the year, he puts it all together.
Devin Street was interviewed as the Pitt representative…”
Comment by Pitt.Dan83 07.22.13 @ 8:01 pm
One might think you don’t agree with that move, Pitt.Dan83.
Devin Street is taking a leadership role for the team…looks like HCPC is rewarding him and getting him some exposure. Shrewd move and sends a good message to the players.
