DiPaola’s Blog from the Trib has some interesting stuff today:

Make room in the outside linebacker competition for North Allegheny graduate Seun Idowu.
He is one of three players who came to Pitt at other positions, but have been moved to linebacker to help fill a big hole in the defense left by graduating senior Nicholas Grigsby.

At practice Thursday, Idowu caught everyone’s eye when he recognized a jet sweep by wide receiver Quadree Henderson and made the tackle.
“He was like a jet,” senior middle linebacker Matt Galambos said.
Idowu, who came to Pitt as a walkon, said he remembered the play from previous film study. Earlier in the day, he didn’t make the tackle on a similar play, but he refused to be fooled twice.

“It’s a great feeling to recognize something you saw in the film room,” he said.
Idowu said it takes time for walkons to attract attention.

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This is pretty damn cool. The Pittsburgh Pirates open the season on Saturday, April 3.

James Conner to open 2016 @MLB season with first pitch for @Pirates vs. Cardinals on Sunday at 1:05. #ConnerStrong pic.twitter.com/DJWj9zzcq6

— Pitt Football (@GoPittFootball) March 30, 2016

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Let’s get back to football for a while and turn off the “noises” we fans have been spewing about BB that upset King Scott so much.

Here is the latest video of the practices out of the Southside.  We are at the halfway point as we just finished our seventh out of 15 practices allowed which includes the Spring Game – the NCAA counts that as a practice just like the others. That scrimmage BTW will be at Heinz Field on April 16th.

Take a close look at #85 making some nice plays and harder catches.  That’s rsJR Jester Weah and the guy who we Pitt fans, and the staffs over the last three years, having been hoping to come around. Would be nice… especially if our new OC wants to open up the passing game with more deep balls.

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[Still on vacation in Houston, so this took a little time to get done.]

So are we reaching the acceptance phase? Seems that the media is at least getting there. Probably easier to get there with this then Jack’s now being called, “Jim’s.”

For how ever long Pitt leaves it up, you can peruse the press conference at your leisure. If you view the press conference in two pieces, you can say that one was very good at handling things and the other was a bit of a struggle.

Kevin Stallings seemed to do a good job up there with his prepared remarks and answering questions. He got a bit choked up talking about leaving Vandy and of his former players. He gave respect to Jamie Dixon and the standards he set that he needs to meet and surpass. (more…)

Don’t hold back now… tell us what you really think.  Predictions for the presser, running comments as it is being held and the final review and Lessons Learned after the parade has left the building with Stallings sitting triumphantly on Gallagher and Barnes’s shoulders.

NEW BLATHER CONTEST

Speaking of our no longer a virgin AD Scott Barnes and the words “Final Four”,  I will buy many beers for the Blather reader who is closest in guessing the time elapsed from when the presser starts until Barnes says these exact and wonderful words – “Final Four”.

“Final Four” = 3:44 into the presser.

I’ll start by saying it will be 98 seconds.  The first minute of the presser will be his looking around for the list of reasons “Why This is a Good thing” that he left on his office desk.

Plus: I’ll buy every one of you beers at the first home game if Barnes drops the glorious “Next Level” bomb.

“Next Level” = 27s into the presser! 

Wayyyy sooner then I figured and to me that is a death knell right there.  Wannstedt got it in his presser; Graham got it in his and so did Paul Chryst.  Interestingly enough Narduzzi didn’t.

Post your guesses below and have fun – it is a fantastic day to be a Pitt fan.

Presser link

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Very grateful that my father and brother-in-law keep stocked bars with some truly excellent bourbons and scotch. Though, I’m pretty sure I’d be drinking any rotgut when Saturday night went to hell.

I don’t know what to say. I was keeping my expectations low, simply because looking at the landscape of college basketball and the coaches out there. I just didn’t see any homerun hires. Solid ones? Sure. Medium risk, high reward? Even that. But this? Never saw it coming.

As usual Pitt kept a tight lid on things until the very end. And oh, what an end.

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(Chas is on vacation without wireless or you know he’d be all over this.)

I’m going to post this quickly – I’ve been away from a computer all morning – and will add content as the day goes along.  So here’s your chance to be heard again, and again, and again….

Oh and HAPPY EASTER!!!

OK, here’s what happened in a nutshell. Pitt hired the first head coach in any sport in its history to have a chin that goes directly to his chest bypassing his neck.

Here is how this happened.

In Scott Barnes first, and actually only big decision so far, he has pissed of the Pitt fans so badly there has been an internet suicide watch put into effect. He couldn’t keep our all time winningest BB coach onboard – although that truly wasn’t for lack of trying I believe.  After all he stated that he spent the whole day talking with Dixon before Dixon made his final decision.  That die was cast.

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Well, here is a subject whose time has obviously come to be ‘talked about’… and that is the horrible back up QB situation we have at Pitt this spring and maybe, if our bad luck holds, will have going into fall camp.  As readers of the Blather well know I have been harping on this almost continually since Chad Voytik departed.

As a matter of fact just this morning I posted an article on here that in no small measure addressed this subject yet again.

In conversations with other Pitt fans I find it interesting that there was so much blowback on Peterman transferring in to usurp Voytik … but there has been virtually no fan noise made about the fact that we’ll drop in quality rather surprisingly if we have to replace Peterman for any length of time.

Many fans have stated ‘Well, this is a normal thing to have the QB2 be a kid with no real game time experience.’ and I will beg to strongly differ.  Almost always a D1 head coach will get his back up QBs at least a few snaps to get somewhat acclimated to true game conditions.  But that didn’t happen last season because we had the Nate Peterman / Chad Voytik tandem… so the assumption at the time was that going into 2016 we’d have the same level of talent at both the QB1 and QB2 spots.

Obviously that can’t happen and Narduzzi has been caught with their personnel planning coming up short in that area.  Matt Canada is inheriting this situation and can’t be all that happy about it.

Again, fans counter with ‘Hey, we have no idea if Bertke and DiNucci can play in a game pressure and neither do you.’ And that is true also.  But there is a twist with those guys.  Because of the two senior guys at QB neither Bertke nor DiNucci has ever taken any QB2 snaps in any practices and certainly not during game weeks when the practices revolve around the offensive game planning.

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It looks like we may see a true FR step into the starting role at CB given our shortness of talented depth there due to Lafayette Pitts’s graduation.   Of course the first name that springs to mind is Damar Hamlin, the highly rated and coveted DB from Pgh’s Central Catholic will be joining the Panthers in the fall.

DiPaola has this:

Actually, Coach Pat Narduzzi’s defense puts heat on all its cornerbacks, often locking them up in one-on-one confrontations with wide receivers. That might be the reason he recruited three in this year’s freshman class: Central Catholic’s Damar Hamlin, Brashear’s Therran Coleman and Henry Miller of Kissimmee, Fla.

If those players are ready, Narduzzi and Hill are willing to give them the opportunity to win a job. At least, that has been said repeatedly through the first five days of spring drills.

But that may not sit all that well with the kids who have been waiting in the wings for a chance to shine.

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Programming note. I am traveling early tomorrow. Heading to Texas. Coincidence. I swear.

Not the Metroplex, but Houston to see family and take a bit of a vacation for a week. If you want to impute the selfish reason of not wanting Dixon to leave because I wanted a bit of peace on the vacation. Well, you probably are not completely wrong.

Now, I have to remain somewhat plugged in, and will post a little.

Okay, onto more stuff about potential candidates.

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One of the things that people seem to be debating is when it all started going south. Hindsight is on full blast.

Pointing to that failure to advance past the Villanova in the Elite Eight. Or that Butler game. Those are moments. Losing to Wichita State? Those are games.

Things became problematic when Pitt had back-to-back disastrous recruiting classes. That put Pitt in a hole that Jamie Dixon had been trying to get out of for a while.

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Two days ago we talked about ex-WR Elijah Zeise being moved to the Linebacker position. Here is an article and some background on the move:

He looks just like his old man.  I like this switch and it shows that for as much as the fans want new players to come into the program and get playing time right away Narduzzi doesn’t feel that way.  Any coach will play guys like Boyd or Whitehead as true freshman but the reality is that most players usually have to wait their turn until their Sophomore or j* year to become starters.

We fans are high on rsFR Brightwell and McKee and rookie FR Kaezon Pugh, and those kids look to have nice talents, but they’ll be sitting a lot more than playing this season. That said, after this year when we lose who may well be the starting LB lineup of SRs Galambos, Caprara and Bradley those kids, Brightwell and McKee will be rsSOs with two years college experience under their belts and will fleet up to starting some games.

Jerry DiPaola of the Trib has this piece on the subject.

Beset by injuries at the position and in the name of trying to “get the best 11 on the field,” coach Pat Narduzzi on Tuesday texted Zeise, requesting a meeting to talk about a position switch. “Honestly, I thought I might be in trouble for something,” Zeise said.

On the contrary. Narduzzi sees an opportunity for Zeise to replace Nicholas Grigsby at the star (outside) linebacker spot that also requires the skills of a safety. Zeise, who will be a sophomore in the fall, played wide receiver, safety and cornerback at North Allegheny and helped the Tigers win the PIAA Class AAAA championship in 2012.

“He’s a good athlete, and I think we need him on defense,” Narduzzi said. “He’s a guy who can come in and play some very quality reps for us. He has a chance to start.”

Moving Zeise (6-foot-2, 220 pounds) from wide receiver to linebacker makes statements about Pitt’s situation at both positions.

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So, so weird that this isn’t football related.

Have we got the Miller boys out of our system yet, or is this going to be an ongoing thing?

I don’t know that there is much to say after yesterday’s 15 minute flurry. Neither Sean or Archie were ever going to be interested. Sean is at a basketball school, in a major conference, with tons of resources, easier access to talent, makes big money, etc. Yes, he’s a Pitt alum and local, but he wasn’t coming back.

Archie is waiting for his spot. He had offers/interest from Alabama and others and passed last year. I don’t even know for certain that he would go back to his alma mater of NC State when they get tired of Mark Gottfried (related note, good luck to Cat Barber in the NBA Draft and good riddance).

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Forget about Jamie Dixon… what about Elijah Zeise moving to LB??

Mike Vukovcan has this in his daily KDKA blog about two recruits saying thanks but no thanks to Pitt:

**Moving to football recruiting, 2 local players decided to go to Brian Kelly and Notre Dame. After visiting the campus this weekend,  Central Catholic’s David Adams and Kurt Hinish both decided to commit to Notre Dame.

Both players had offers from Pitt but Adams is the real loss.  I’ve said many times that I thought he should’ve been the #1 local target for Pat Narduzzi and his assistants.  Adams is a tough, play-making middle linebacker that could’ve stepped in at Pitt from day one and play.  That’s not going to be the case so it’s “next man up” on the recruiting board.

If you’re a Pitt fan and worried about a lack of recruiting news and local recruits going elsewhere, relax! First of all, it’s March and secondly, Narduzzi and his staff will bring in top end talent.

**A player that I think is a must get for Pitt is Beaver Falls DT Donovan Jeter.  The 4-star player has Pitt high on his list but it would benefit Pitt if they could get a commitment from him soon.

Huh, I just looked at the updated roster for 2016 and noticed that contrary as in the past we now have 20 rsSR and SR players… and all of them are on scholarship. Looks like the Pitt team is growing up after all those players were purged by Chryst over the 2012 and 2013 seasons.

Coach Pat Narduzzi Quote Sheet

Opening statement:

“So we got practice number four in, a good practice. A good Tuesday practice, and we got some good meetings in. I think we cleaned up a lot of things from Saturday’s practice. I’m happy with how we’re progressing right now and where we are.”

On moving Elijah Zeise from wide receiver to linebacker:

“He’s a good athlete and I think we need him on defense. He’s a guy that can come in and play quality reps for us and he got a chance to start it today. We want the best 11 players from offense and defense on the field, so we have a chance to try it and we’ll see how it goes. We tried it out in bowl practice and knew he could do it. He actually had three straight tackles in a bowl practice period. He has a nose for the football, you see that on kickoffs and special teams. So we’re going to try it out. I think it’ll go well and you’re going to like it.”

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Over the last five years there have been 45 coaching changes at the power conferences, Big East and a handful of other programs that have a high profile/top-25 team (New Mexico, VCU, UNLV).

I thought it might be useful to take a look at how the vacancies were filled.

2011 – 10 changes: 4 Power Moves; 3 Mid-Majors; 2 Assistant Coaches; 1 Ex-Coach/TV analyst

2012 – 8 changes: 3 Power Moves; 4 Mid-Majors; 1 Assistant Coach

2013 – 6 changes: 2 Power Moves; 1 Mid-Majors; 3 Assistant Coaches

2014 – 10 changes: 2 Power Moves; 3 Mid-Majors; 3 Assistant Coaches; 2 Ex-Coaches/TV Analysts

2015 – 11 changes: 2 Power Moves; 4 Mid-Majors; 2 Assistant Coaches; 2 Ex-Coaches/TV Analsyts; 1 NBA Front Office/Alum

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