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August 23, 2013

Chapman Dismissed

Filed under: Embarrassing,Football,Scandal — Justin @ 10:51 am

Pitt officials have announced that Tra’Von Chapman has been dismissed from the program. In essence: he’s gone, never coming back. We can debate endlessly over this decision, but the call came all the way from the top: Chancellor Nordenberg.

Let’s go over just the facts:

Former Kent Roosevelt star quarterback and University of Pittsburgh freshman Tra’Von Chapman pled guilty to a charge of attempted assault on Monday afternoon in Portage County Municipal Court.

Judge Barbara Oswick accepted the plea and ordered Chapman to spend three days in jail, pay a $200 fine, 40 hours of community service and must report to adult probation Aug. 2. Judge also issued a no-contact order, which prohibits Chapman from speaking to the victim or her family.

Chapman was convicted of attempted assault on a woman and spent 3 days in jail, but with 87 days of a suspended sentence, one mistake and he’s back in prison. Typically speaking, punishment is determined by the football program. However, given the circumstances (actual jail time, conviction, gender of victim), the decision was pushed all the way to the top.

I want to elaborate on that. If Chapman stays while guys who were never convicted like Drew Carswell and Eric Williams are kicked off the team, it could appear to be favortism. More important is the gender of the victim. If Chapman was convicted of attempted assault on an 18 year old male, this case looks a lot different.

We fired Haywood for allegedly hitting the mother of his child in an argument. While coaches are held to a higher standard (see Petrino, Bobby) than players, attempted assault involving a woman is too controversial. If Chapman stayed, protests would be inevitable. Given the recent black eyes on the program regarding off field issues, the last thing this university needs is a headline that says “Poster Child for Player Arrests Keeps Convicted Woman Beater on Roster.” Would it be entirely factual? No. Does that matter to the media? Nope.

I agree with this decision. This wasn’t just a football program issue; it was a university issue. It’s very evident that ever since the Sports Illustrated cover that the university will not allow the football program to be a public image issue. Losing games is one thing, but they’d much rather be a .500 program with good student athletes than 10-2 and disrupting the university’s academic mission.

There’s very little fallout for 2013. Chapman was almost guaranteed to get a redshirt. The big issue is 2014. As of right now, the depth chart is Voytik, Trey Anderson, and 2 true freshmen. Not good. Expect a JUCO or a senior who has already graduated to transfer in for next season. I’ll do some digging to see what I can find there, but I highly doubt we go into 2014 with that QB depth chart.





Pitt Stadium was once a modern marvel –>

link to news.google.com

Hail to Pitt!

Comment by MariettaMike 08.25.13 @ 12:38 pm

UK. Where an off campus arena never seemed to stop the Cats from winning basketball championships. Crazy.

Comment by ECH 08.25.13 @ 12:53 pm

ECH – If Jaime Dixon was in the same league or even close to Calipari and Petino that would help. UK will be very solid in football in the next 2-3 years. They are a program that has excitement and a top class for the ages.

Comment by Upittbaseball 08.25.13 @ 1:00 pm

Since Chapman is gone and he was 4 stars how much further does that take our 2013 recruiting class? Was 37th I thought.

Comment by Upittbaseball 08.25.13 @ 1:03 pm

Wow! I love this group.

Only with PITT fans could a promising 4* recruit at a desperately needed position get dismissed from the team and somehow the conversation circles around to PITT stadium. 🙂

Comment by Reed 08.25.13 @ 3:43 pm

Reed – LOL. Im on a plane to Fort Lauderdale to check on our new QB. By the way can someone make sure there are no Sunseri’s left that play QB. Wish we would of got the brother at Bama who plays safety.

Comment by Upittbaseball 08.25.13 @ 4:35 pm

@ MariettaMike

Great link, really enjoyed reading that !

In 1926 having that stadium built complete with basketball pavilion was a modern marvel with football seating for 70,000.

The building of Pitt Stadium in 1926 layed the groundwork for the greatest ever period of Pitt football. 1926-1938, as the article notes 1926 was the 2nd season the the Jock Sutherland era.
In that period Pitt appeared in 4 Rose Bowl games.

And that great era and the 4 Rose Bowl appearances might not have ever happened unless PITT Stadium was built, as Sutherland was able to use the lure partly of Pitt Stadium as a recruiting tool.

You can learn a lot from history and the lesson here is plain to see !!!

Build a new frickin on campus stadium !

Comment by EMel 08.25.13 @ 4:52 pm

@ upitt

Yea I’ve checked, no more, you know who’s, until you know who…….has kids.

God help the Pitt students of say 2035-2040.

They will be an unsuspecting lot.

Comment by EMel 08.25.13 @ 5:05 pm

Hey Emel- Jock was also paying his players back then. But we won’t mention that. 😉

Comment by ECH 08.25.13 @ 5:05 pm

Paid them in cans of soup and mayonaise sandwiches

Comment by Upittbaseball 08.25.13 @ 5:22 pm

As long as it was Hellmans and not that Miracle Whip crap!!

Comment by ECH 08.25.13 @ 5:25 pm

LOL!!!! ECH

Emel. Bucs offense is anemic last few games.

Comment by Upittbaseball 08.25.13 @ 5:31 pm

Another good example of what a nice facility can do for a program.

Well one only needs to look at the PITT basketball program since The Pete was built.
That couldn’t have been accomplished playing in old Fitzgerald Field House. Yes we had spurts of greatness(1974, 1987-1990) at the Field House, but never a long sustained period of being relevant nationally every year since 2001.

Another example right in front of our eyes;
Trees Hall when built was one of the better swimming venues in the Northeast and PITT had very good swimming teams back in the mid to late 70’s and 80’s. As the facility became dated and other colleges built newer nicer swimming complexes, their program’s passed PITT.

What all this says is: it takes monetary investment in the form of building new facilities to keep a program relevant which will then allow you to attract better coaches.

PITT made a huge monetary expenditure to make the basketball program relevant on a yearly basis.
And continue to ‘ante up’ every time they extend JD’s contract.

If we want to become relevant in football on a yearly basis, a huge monetary expenditure will more than likely be needed again.

Just like the $2 Million they spent in 1926 to help make PITT, the best team in college football in the Eastern half of the country for over a decade. (of course we all know $2 Million in 1926 might equal $500 Million or more now)

Oh and btw it is a disgrace that tiny Wake Forest with an undergrad enrollment of 4,000 students places higher than PITT in overall sports with an enrollment of 19,000 students.

Comment by EMel 08.25.13 @ 5:33 pm

@ ECH

All the better bowl teams back then gave players ‘stipends’ or spending money when on Bowl trips.
And of course they still do it today !

Pitt & Sutherland were not different than anyone else. Although from my understanding, the few bucks given to the players came out of Jock’s pockets. Because PITT was too cheap !

Comment by EMel 08.25.13 @ 5:38 pm

Emel. Show Pederson some respect man, he got us in the ACC!

Comment by Upittbaseball 08.25.13 @ 5:39 pm

And he built the new basketball arena. Didnt you know its named after him. Oh and the baseball / softball / soccer complex. Oh and he owns Erie Insurance.

Comment by Upittbaseball 08.25.13 @ 5:41 pm

@upitt

Yea you figured we had a good chance to sweep this series after FRiday nite with Liriano & Burnett next up.

Only saving grace today, both the Cards & Redlegs lost as well.

Made ex-Buc Vogelsong (a guy with close to a 6.00 ERA) look like Cy Young today. 2 of our 3 hits were by guys who were in AAA last week. Oy Vey !

Comment by EMel 08.25.13 @ 5:52 pm

Yep Cornhole charmed the ACC and then charmed John and Gertrude Peterson ! lol

Speaking of charmed lives……

Comment by EMel 08.25.13 @ 5:54 pm

They are his white knight. If not he would have to have been fired.

The solution to football field is build it on top of that shit hole golf course on the hill. Accessible by major highway and imagine the new growth that would move around it. Put some dorms, etc. and have an awesome area to tailgate. Call up Gertrude and say to all alumni we need 700M. Easily they would get that and more. Sell bricks pavers, etc. sell the name and sell the naming rights to a company as well. No chutzpah whatsoever.

Comment by Upittbaseball 08.25.13 @ 6:01 pm

@ Reed — What more can be said about Chapman that already has been said? Tra’von’s history. Forget about him.

There is some correlation to new stadiums and improved performance on the field. Look at the Pirates and Steelers with Three Rivers. I’m a convert. All along I believed it was about good coaching and team effort. All Pitt needs is a new on campus football stadium to become relevant again. Lets do it.

Atlanta has a 21 year old domed stadium and are looking to tear it down to build a billion dollar stadium and the Falcons are building a championship caliber team, again.

The problem with a city school like Pitt, where do you build a stadium with limited space for building and parking?

Pitt got the Quad when Forbes Field was raized.

This is good fodder until the Flordia State game then a new Pitt stadium will be a pipe dream until next year.

Comment by MariettaMike 08.25.13 @ 6:14 pm

Marietta. The Falcons is a go. We looked at it but no money in stadium work. As far as room that shithole golf course is perfect!

Comment by Upittbaseball 08.25.13 @ 6:38 pm

Just read there was a proposal to put a dome over Pitt stadium and increase seating to 80,000. The move was touted as a way to provide a new basketball arena, like the Carrier Dome, and host NCAA regionals. The price tag was around $96 million which, no doubt, was way too low. Pitt was selling a much less expensive basketball arena to the state looking for help. With price overruns the Pete ended up costing more than doming the stadium on the first quote. Expansion and putting a dome over the stadium seems far fetched considering it was built over old mine shafts.

Comment by TonyinHouston 08.25.13 @ 6:57 pm

Here’s a positive: Pitt enters the ACC as one of a handful of teams to ever have won a national championship, joining FSU, Miami, Georgia Tech, Clemson, and Syracuse. There have been times when Pitt made the right moves. God willing we will live long enough to see another era of athletic excellence which we hope will immediately follow the long-awaited end to the Nordenberg/Pederson one step forward, two steps backward saga.

Comment by TonyinHouston 08.25.13 @ 7:05 pm

Yea forgot about how 3 Rivers ushered in a golden era of Steeler football and the Pirates were the most relevant they ever were in the 1970’s since the deadball era.

And yours truly was at the very first baseball game ever played at 3 Rivers in July of 1970 against the Redlegs. Pirates lost that game but did reach the NL playoffs losing to the Redlegs again but won the WS the following year and in ’79.

Don’t know if that run in the ’70’s would have happened at old Forbes Field. Kind of doubt it as the ’71 World Series had the first EVER World Series night game and the 3 Rivers venue gave the world a view of Pgh’s magnificent 3 rivers and started Pgh’s renaissance.

Of course concurring with the first massive wave of ‘outsourcing’ of Pgh’ers to other parts of the US, when 90% of the Steel industry/and other industries related, were moved oversees.

All of those events were tied into Pgh’s re-emergence into a non-steel city during a decade the Steelers rose to unprecedented prominence.

Ironic eh !

Comment by EMel 08.25.13 @ 7:54 pm

very first baseball game at Three Rivers Stadium was played by construction workers that worked on the stadium

brick layers vs carpenters

Comment by anony 08.25.13 @ 8:19 pm

It is hard to figure what Pitt should do next to become relevent in FB. Coaching, funds to recruit, better game situation for students, fund raising for facilities, etc. I guess winning some games is a start. Pitt will get more money in the ACC and that money must be spent very carefully to improve the above points in addition to sustaining BB. There are some great companies in the Pittsburgh area and their participation is critical.

Comment by Frank MD 08.25.13 @ 9:40 pm

somehow I knew JoeD would know when the first baseball game was played at 3 Rivers.

However I obviously meant the first professional baseball game.

Still have the beautiful souvenir Game Day Ticket,
btw.

No mention of brick layers vs carpenters, so sorry Joe, you’re wrong again ! haha

Comment by EMel 08.25.13 @ 9:48 pm

And those guys should have been working on the stadium, not playing ball.

No wonder the stadium opening was delayed until July ! lol

Comment by EMel 08.25.13 @ 9:49 pm

Yeah, but Local 86 had a journeyman that could get from home to first in under 3.5 seconds. Hand timed, of course.

Comment by ECH 08.25.13 @ 9:55 pm

Mel Famey was pitching for the brick layers. Before the game, the carpenters got him drunk before the game and he walked seven straight guys in the bottom of the 9th and the carpenters won. When asked after the game what happened out there, the carpenters said “it was the beer that made mel famey walkus.

New on-campus stadium needed.
New AD needed.
For what it is worth, I do like Paul Chryst and feel he will do great things at his next post. Pederson is handcuffing him and he is playing it like a pro. Well done PC, well done!

Comment by dhuffdaddy 08.25.13 @ 9:55 pm

We had Loge Box seats for that game. Loge Box were on the 2nd level as were our Steeler tickets.

No date on the ticket, just ‘Opening Day’ since the workers were playing ball instead of working

Box 220 ….Ticket Cost was $4.15 which included .36 cent City tax and .15 Stadium charge.

Ticket was signed by Pirate President Dan Galbreath.

Comment by EMel 08.25.13 @ 9:58 pm

lmao ECH……no doubt…joe knows

Comment by EMel 08.25.13 @ 9:59 pm

That perked my interest and found this interesting story on Dan Galbreath, who I knew owned Thoroughbred horses but knew little else.

Enjoy

link to sportsillustrated.cnn.com

Comment by EMel 08.25.13 @ 10:12 pm

MariettaMike – true words. As with anything else other than if DW should have been fired, SP, new stadium, etc this will fade with time and as you state the page is being turned.

I guess we’ll have something concrete to talk about in a week and a day.

Comment by Reed 08.26.13 @ 4:08 am

Getting back on Florida State fodder, redshirt freshman Jameis Winston will be the starting quarterback against Pitt one week from today. I see Pitt’s defense giving Jameis a tough baptism. Of course Pitt will be starting a new QB as well. Opening day for Pitt football should be very interesting. Lets go Pitt!

Comment by MariettaMike 08.26.13 @ 5:21 am

I agree with the decision but it will hurt after this year. I really worry about how Pitt will compete over the next 2-3 years. I just dont see it but I am hoping they will! H2P!!!

Comment by Shawn 08.26.13 @ 8:38 am

Tony In Houston, I am 61 and concede I have witnessed the only National Champion football team at Pitt these eyes will get to see. I pray for our hoops team but it isn’t working out too well either.

Comment by spiritofsection 22 08.26.13 @ 10:50 am

Upittbaseball, Dixon has more character than Calipari and Petino put together. He has less to work with and competes well with both, yet runs a clean program. They have had more year end success but are not without their flaws and for that matter odors.

Comment by spiritofsection 22 08.26.13 @ 10:58 am

Spirit – They have rings Jamie has March failures. I’d take the rings.

Comment by Upittbaseball 08.26.13 @ 1:33 pm

Upittbaseball, Paterno and Sandusky had rings too. That isn’t all that matters and Calipari has left a stink behind everywhere he has been. Petino struggles to beat Dixon with better talent. Your assessment though true overates both of them and demeans Dixon. Talk to Tennessee or UMass fans and ask them who the better coach is. Don’t overlook the mess these two have left behind due to a lack of integrity. Dixon might not be the best coach come March but he has been more successful here than anyone and is straight up. Rings are great but character, morals and honesty aren’t the worst traits. Neither of your guys qualify for a ring in those departments. If Dixon ever gets one he won’t have to leave the school the next year to avoid sanctions or abort any babies to keep his wife from finding out. Titles are great, so is winning games with some semblance of honor. We will never agree here so let’s just agree to disagree. I don’t have much respect for either of your guys but they do win a lot at basketball. I prefer Dixon.

Comment by spiritofsection 22 08.26.13 @ 4:07 pm

My guys??? I don’t give two shits about them. My point is they win. When most people win people always say yeah but they are cheaters and lack a moral compass. In this situation you are correct. Both guys are shitheads. Dixon is a great guy and leader and coach. My problem is he underachieves in March. I like Character especially at a leadership level. I’m saying that you can do both!!!! You can be a hell of a leader, not cheat and still win. Why doesn’t do it???? AS far as my comment about the rings it is to say you can have both. Dixon is paid more than enough money to have both character and produce rings. We don’t disagree. I agree 100%. I just want us to win and not blame those who do as cheaters. Have a good night bud. I think we are the only 2 still reading this post. LOL

Comment by Upittbaseball 08.26.13 @ 4:47 pm

upittbaseball, You are right about us being last and taklkin’ hoops on the football side to boot.

Comment by spiritofsection 22 08.26.13 @ 5:15 pm

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