Shaky, 2 minute video of Qadree Ollison making his announcement at Canisius High in Buffalo? Sure.
As for what went into the decision.
“When I went on my visit there, I’ve been there two or three times, it felt like a great place to be,” said Ollison. “I had a really nice relationship with the coaches, I had a really nice feel for the campus.
“I think those are the things that ultimately make your decision. Because every place is going to have nice facilities, great academics, but how do you feel when you go there? You know, do you feel like you can live at that place for the next four years and potentially the rest of your life.”
His high school coach was also his tour guide.
On coach Robbins: “He went to North Allegany and when he went down with me, he showed me around the city and showed me everything,” said Ollison, who was joined by Robbins during his official visit last Monday, which included a sideine view of Pitt’s loss to Florida State on Heinz Field.
“I’m from the area and know a lot of people down there, and when we were down there for a few visits I was able to tell him the good restaurants and different things like that,” said Robbins, who said he stayed neutral while Qadree and father Wayne went through their options. “‘Q’ and Wayne didn’t leave any stone unturned — they know how many linemen are in the program, how many running backs. It really came down to a family, comfortable atmosphere. We kind of have a family atmosphere at Canisius, he felt some similar things were happening there.”
So that didn’t hurt. Rich Robbins was not a Pitt or PSU guy. He went to Alfred University (around Rochester and Buffalo, apparently). Which I suppose was a nice counterbalance to Canisius grad and starting linebacker at PSU John Urschel.
“John’s great. He’s a great guy. But at the end of the day, this was going to be my decision. It was tough saying no to some of the other schools — especailly when I made my top five and saying no to those other 10. It was definitely tough.”
Ollison was supposed to attend the EMU-PSU game on Saturday but changed his mind at the last minute, after playing the night before. Penn State has a couple running backs in their recruiting class, so this is an annoying but not devastating blow to their recruiting. This bit is a little more of a problem for the Nits.
Penn State, meanwhile, got more bad news. Dravon Henry, the four-star defensive back from Aliquippa, has informed the Nittany Lions that he has eliminated them from contention, Scout.com’s Brian Dohn reported on Monday. Considered by some to be Penn State’s No. 1 target remaining in this recruiting class, Henry has narrowed his list to Pitt, West Virginia and Ohio State.
Promising.
Goodbye Shai
He’s been clocked in the 4.5 range. From his highlights, you can see the 4.5 time is legit. He is a BIG Back who runs BIG and very QUICK.
The difference is pretty obvious in the way Ollison carries the football and McKenzie. Ollison has a lot of instinct and fluid in his running style.
This isn’t just sweet grapes. Pitt came out ahead here with Ollison. In my opinion, they got the better back.
His decision to make his verbal now speaks well to his Heinz experience. But he’s also made clear that his H.S. coach is from the Pittsburgh area and took time to show him the city. Ollison liked what he saw.
The timing of his announcement also looks to be pretty strategic. It was a preemptive strike that likely will have McKenzie leaning elsewhere.
Congratulations to the Pitt staff for landing a good football player and better, a really good kid.
As though we didn’t know this already… what a bunch of spoiled cry babies Penn Staters are?
On news that Ollison has picked Pitt over Penn State and other Big Ten schools, the posts from PSU fans all seem to be written from the same template marked “Rants for Spoiled Yuppies Who Follow Football in State College.”
They sound like the kid in the toy store who wants that toy from the shelf and balls his head off when his mother tells him “No, you can’t have it. You have enough toys.”
Man, am I glad I didn’t go there.
It woulf have been miserable having to sit through class every day next to so many spoiled Nittany Yuppies.
I think this kid might be really good.
Don’t thank Paul Chryst…Thank the game against FSU, this kids first ever he has been to…Sounds crazy to me and thank the Pittsburgh Coach who closed this deal and put his arm around this kid. Also thank our lack of RB’s and the crowd at the game. Thank God he didn’t make his visit this week against NM.
The reason the rankings especially matter for a school like Pitt is that, despite US News’ classification of our alma mater as a national university, a lot of people have never heard of the school (maybe outside of hoops). And, if they have heard of it, they aren’t aware that it is a fine institution. Simply that it exists and that it has a pretty solid basketball roster. Oh, and something about steel and ketchup.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told people where I graduated from college and am met with basically blank stares. I’m now a law student back home in New York City, and even here, Pitt isn’t anywhere near the level of a household name.
So, does it ‘really’ matter that Pitt suffered a very minor dip in the rankings? No, not really. But from the practical perspective that the name of a college on a resume is really just another mode of personal branding, yes, it matters tremendously.
On another note, I was fortunate enough to have my college paid for by my parents. I’m paying for law school, but I was told not to worry about my undergraduate education. And thank goodness for that. But, tuition (or ‘fees’) continues to be increasingly expensive, all behind the notion that Pitt is a fantastic place to get an education. And I truly felt that it was, and making a few exceptions for truly elite universities, I wouldn’t have gone anywhere else. But I can’t support an increase in tuition as the university ranking (which is practically important) either stagnates or gets worse (albeit by the slimmest of measurements). I’d welcome your opinion on the matter, since I think we’re cut from a similar fabric.
Haven’t said this much but CONGRATS to HCPC and staff for this win.
1. Are tuition increases simply keeping pace with inflation? Over time? Include fuel and food.
2. What’s the tuition at Pitt vs. Private School? In state $17,100 / ~$25,000 out of state. Syracuse (also ranked #62, same as Pitt): $40,458. Despite the dip in rankings, still an outstanding value.
Honest to God – you need to take a step back if you think that 50K in Heinz Field for one game is going to surpass what Ollison would see with 100K+ at every home game that PSU or Wisconsin play?
You jumped the shark into complete idiocy, seriously.
My experience is a little different than yours. Not only do people I speak with know and think highly of Pitt, more and more are applying or encouraging their kids to apply. It was quite different when my older son enrolled in 2002. Part of the reason might be that, given the size of the endowment, Pitt has been offering significant merit scholarship money to east coast admits in an effort to get them to matriculate. This seems to correlate with the additions to the endowment. These kids are willing to go because they are getting a free or partially paid for education at an institution whose academic reputation will, they believe, be respected. Highly respected.
It’s Dan83 who’s the head case!
You do see the word prioritized?
You don’t have to love him, but give credit where it is due. He is coming to play in Chryst’s offense on Chryst’s team.
There are plenty of real issues to find fault with.
As a side note, he will be a Ron Dayne type kid. Important for him will be to keep weight under control. If he does he could be great with size and speed. I believe he is a better get than Mckenzie in many ways. He wasn’t recruited anywhere near as much and is grounded because of it appears.
Really do you think any kid with significant offers or any DI offers is not taking into consideration who the Head Coach is? Or the other coaches?
Welcome Q! We need you. Enroll in January.
anyone who insinuates that the HC wasn’t relevant
in the recruiting process is a moron.
or Dan or Reed no it should be Wbb.
or at least they should be the new AD they would be better then the AD we have now.
Athletics has some nice donors also but they are nowhere near the Hillman, Heinz, Dietrich, Scaife/King/Mellon, Posner, etc family’s rarefied airs. Those people are who the Chancellor needs to satisfy along with the BoT.
Honestly, I think we see the status quo as far as sports at PITT goes over the next decade or so.
to your point about the inconsistent criteria: yes, this is one of the many available criticisms of the US News ranking methodology and the system as a whole. my response, that i probably should have been clearer about before, is that most people don’t really take that into account. all they take into account is the ranking and the household name of a school. some schools have enough of a household brand name that their ranking from year to year is a non-issue. a school like the University of Maryland could fluctuate a whole bunch of spots and still be attractive both to college applicants and to employers upon graduation. The same goes for a lot of other state schools — that’s just the nature of the game. and yes, you are right that Pitt has been gaining traction in the northeast; there’s no doubt about it. i’ve had conversations with several parents recently whose sons were debating between pitt and other schools. in one specific example, a father asked me about pitt as compared to tulane university, as his son held admissions offers from both schools. i told him that pitt is truly unlike any other school and that i loved every second of it from the moment i arrived. i left with an unbelievable education, and legitimately believe that i am now smarter than many of my former high school counterparts who were (a) smarter than me in high school, and (b) went to much better schools than mine, according to US News. All of that said, Tulane is a more recognized school, and probably looks better on your resume (irrespective of its attractive US News ranking) upon graduation. taking what i said into account, the man’s son chose pitt. but gaining traction and solidifying itself as a household name are two separate notions entirely. and the way to become a household name for colleges comes in one of two ways (or sometimes both). Either the school has tremendous athletics, or its US News ranking is impressively high. Pitt apparently needs work in both of these areas.
I do absolutely everything I can to represent Pitt in the best way that I know how, and I highly encourage people to consider the school.
To bring this full circle, my point is this: Anyone with a respectable amount of common sense realizes that the rankings, for all their flaws, are worthless. But at the same time, anyone with a respectable amount of common sense realizes that most people don’t get that.
1. You ask first about tuition basically keeping with the times. That might be true, but the first thing we really need to ask ourselves is whether the cost is appropriate simply because it’s proportional. College is entirely too expensive for what it’s worth nowadays. Whereas the B.A. (or B.S., sorry engineering folks) used to be the key to a well-paying job, it’s now basically a prerequisite for the bottom of the totem pole (i know this is a generalization but for most non-trade professions this is more or less true). When something as important (see my above post for why I think it’s important) as the rankings are not improving, it’s not appropriate to keep raising the cost of the education. It’s inherently wrong to continue charging more for a product if the quality is apparently not also increasing. I’m not an economics guy (i’m a second-year law student) by any stretch, so figures on inflation are basically above my pay grade. Someone else might be better suited to address this issue more fully.
2. Your point about value is basically the argument I’ve been trying to make. The problem here is that there are two types of value in play: (1) actual value, and (2) perceived value. One of these matters more than the other depending on who you are and what your goals are. If your goal is to obtain a great education, in and of itself (as in, you’re not going to college just to get a job or gain admission to graduate school) then you ought to pay attention to (1) actual value. Yes, Pitt offers the same ‘ranking value’ education as Syracuse at a discount. Logic dictates that any rational person would end their calculation there (forgetting for a moment things like geography, sports, commuting concerns, etc. which we can’t ‘actually’ forget, but for the sake of argument let’s try). (Let’s also pretend to ignore the individual schools within universities, such as Syracuse’s undergrad business and communications schools, which are top notch, and Pitt’s philosophy program which is top notch). But then there’s perceived value. Ah, good old perceived value. I can tell you first hand that in almost every case, with the exception of employers in the Western PA region, hiring managers will look more favorably upon the Syracuse name on one’s resume. It’s just a no-brainer. This has much to do with alumni networks, and Syracuse has simply been a much more popular school for a much longer time. Not to say that it’s an older school, because of course it isn’t, but it’s had the household name brand value where Pitt has not. People know Syracuse. Kids grow up rooting for Syracuse before they even realize that sports teams are things you can choose. It’s just the nature of how the two schools are perceived. That’s what perceived value is all about. So yes, you might pay close to double for your education going upstate New York for 4 years, but on paper you’re coming out way ahead. I hate that it’s like that, but it’s just the way it is.
That’s how I see it, anyway. I’d love to hear your take on these matters if you see this and get the chance to reply.
For those reasons, I have been advocating for an increased athletic presence to sell the brand of Pitt. It is about national and international recognition. The points made above about the lack of “presence” of Pitt in the State of New York is very troubling. Where is the Pitt footprint? Where should it be?
With regard to “Q”, that is a very good get for PC. For those that think Shai McKenzie will be scared off because of this, I say hogwash. He has a great chance to contribute early at Pitt. If there is one thing he saw at the FSU game is that every one of their players is fast. He will not be the big fish, but just another fish. The only other school that would be a competitor in his recruitment should be VTech. That said, why go away to play when you can do so in your backyard. VT is a program on the downswing. Beamer will be in trouble before PC will be. Beamer had his time. The Chryst program will be here in 2-4 years. If you believe that, you come to Pitt. If you don’t, you roll the dice and go elsewhere.
When the OSU’s and PSU’s can only use the “you need to create your own path and be a man by leaving the area crap”, they are scared of what is being built”. It’s a manipulation of the kids and my guess is that they will start to se that as the recruiting process goes deeper into the year. Urban is now putting recruits pictures in a puzzle with a “you are the missing piece” face puzzle piece of a recruit. Great marketing! Corny and false if you actually see through that stuff. All to say, good get Paul Chryst and Company. Can’t wait for the change at the top so we can start branding Pitt appropriately.
Seems like there are lots, and more and more schools that have good academics and good sports.
Who are we tryin’ to be?? Princeton or Yale??
We’re an excellent, top university. Let’s leave it at that.
There are hundreds of exellent universities and colleges in this country.
Seems to me, that having a good football and basketball program, makes the overall university that much better, more relevant, brings in more academic money and more people trying to get in.
I’m too tired to look it up, but, that has been proven, that winning major sports program, coincides with more money donated to the university in general, and applications rising.
There are several articles on this, google it, you’ll find them.
Not just Duke and Stanford either. Lots of excellent universities with good sports. USC, Michigan, Florida, Texas, etc. etc.
Hell, most of the top 50 in football are pretty good universities.
If someone got a 4 year degree and a job after school, I bet ya they think their university is pretty darn good!!
I always tell ppl where I went to school as well down here in the South, the ones into sports know who we are(mostly), the others, a blank stare. I always then add, “the University of Pittsburgh”, you know. They go, “oh” and that’s about that.
Don’t see why we can’t have both Ollison and McKenzie. PC’s offenses at Wisky were known for multiple good RB’s gaining lots of yardage in the same season. Think they had two 1000 yard rushers in one season.
We can have that Power back and the Scat Back, plus these kids do get injured once in a while.
Back in the day we had loads of RB’s, when Ironhead was around.
Plus the more competition, the better those on the team will become.
Let’s pickup that Henry kid as well, to keep the Aliquippa pipeline going ! Get Revis to give him a call.
Thought you maybe jumped off the Key Bridge into the Potomac after the FSU game.
I think you did a smart thing going to Alaska and not watching the game on the ship.
Wish we would have done the same !
Although cruise ships are not my thing, haha
@MikePITT, your posts are pretty ridiculous and remind me why I never liked law school. You are basically complaining about a slight drop in the USNews Rankings. First, a slight drop is nothing because the methodolgy they use is pretty loose to begin with. Second, their whole rankings is just something to sell magazines.
Now onto another one of your comments, you say you are routinely met with blank stares when saying your school. Nothing like some random anecdotal evidence to prove you are right. I have ran into many people throughout life and no one has ever said “Huh? University of Pittsburgh? Never knew that existed.”
Tulane which is about 9 spots higher than Pitt (OMG 9 SPOTS TULANE IS AWESOME PITT SUCKS!!!), doesn’t have a much greater rep. Do you really thing an employer in Philly or DC or NYC is going to be dumbfounded by Pitt as a college but then say oh yeah Tulane is the bomb, we gotta hire him?
And onto your Syracuse point, yet more anecdotal evidence. The whole idea that a hiring manager will put a Cuse grade over a Pitt grade because they watched Syracuse basketball when they were young and will apply that to hiring a person is pretty ridiculous.
Basically, you are using this “household name brand” nonsense as the entire basis for your arguments.
I have anecdotal evidence too. Not that is actually proves anything. I have plenty of friends from both my Pitt undergrad and Pitt law classes that have excellent jobs throughout the United States, with a ton of friends in NYC. But yeah that Pitt degree can’t come close to that great Cuse degree. And if you really think that coming out of school that a Cuse grad with same exact credentials at a Pitt grad will get a job that is worth 80K more, you are living in some dream world.
But seriously, athletics of a school has nothing to do with the real world and getting a job. There are tons and tons and tons and tons of small colleges with no athletics or no major athletics.
Bottom line, Pitt is a top national university.
Sports do help define a school’s brand. I wish Pitt was more protective of this.
Down here, most people I speak with know that Pitt is good academically. Very much like an A&M.
I wish we were more Stanford in everything however.
How’s that for paragraphs?
job,
Tex
The emphasis on the number of “stars”
assigned to a recruit is questionable process. The
recruiting services very often don’t see
the recruit in person rather rely upon
second and third opinions to rank
a player. Having a system and subsequently
finding players who fit the system is
more important than the number of stars.
Surely there are elite players who make
an immediate impact. However generally
speaking college football is coaching,
a system, and finding players who fit.
Beat NM!
1- What do my opinions thus far have anything to do with ‘why [you] never liked law school?’ Because I have opinions on things? Please explain.
2- The only available evidence for things like the value of household name recognition IS anecdotal evidence. So you have yours and I have mine. I’d be interested to see what others have to say on the matter. But please don’t pretend that the name-brand of a school is irrelevant, because that’s just plainly wrong.
3- Regarding the specific Syracuse example, please don’t mince my words to make bad arguments. I simply said that because Syracuse is a truly national school, its brand value is often engrained in people from a young age, irrespective of any particular ties to that school from the get-go. The same goes with schools like Notre Dame, Duke, UNC Chapel Hill, etc. And you think that has nothing to do with sports? Please.
