I know the premise might piss some off as too flippant, but I can’t disagree that Pitt coaching searches are a bit of a pip. A groundhog day thing full of crazy rumors, angst and a bit of self-loathing.
So, yeah. Matt Canada took the OC position at LSU. More money and a higher profile job. Calling it a “lateral move” is either ignorant or an attempt to cheap shot Pitt. I favor ignorance in this case.
To expand on some of what I said the other day. If Canada had stayed at Pitt and had similar success for just one more season he would be in the mix for head coaching jobs in the MAC, C-USA and Sun Belt. Have success at LSU for a year or two as OC. Especially in light of all their underachieving in the past 7 or 8 years and he is in being interviewed for AAC, low Power 5 conference jobs and OC spots in the NFL.
Pitt made LSU pay for this. A three-year deal at well over a $1 million (some are saying closer to $1.5 million) a year. Pitt stepped up more than expected. They offered about $2 million for 2-years. But there is a limit to what Pitt can do. It isn’t about being cheap or not being willing. It’s about having a limit on revenues.
LSU football is one of the highest revenue programs nationally. Bigger stadium. Bigger donors. Bigger pool of donors. Bigger TV deal. Bigger.
But Canada did make LSU sweat as well on this.
But he had made a promise to Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi — “One of my great friends,” Canada said Wednesday — that he wouldn’t make a move until he spoke to him, face to face.
“He wanted to go back and talk to his coach (Tuesday) night and do it like a man,” Orgeron said, apparently impressed by this act of loyalty from his newest employee.
So, before he signed an LSU contract, Canada flew from Baton Rouge, La., to Pittsburgh to meet with Narduzzi, who desperately wanted to keep him on his staff.
Loyal to the end, Canada didn’t offer many details of that private conversation when he spoke to the Tribune-Review on Wednesday, but he did say it was “a lengthy discussion.”
“He made it hard. It’s hard to leave your friends,” he said. “We just talked boss-to-employee, talked as friends. It’s a hard decision to make when you leave great people and a great place.”
Asked how seriously Narduzzi and Pitt’s administrators worked to keep him, Canada said, “It went above and beyond any expectations I would have. I’m more than humbled.”
Not sure the word loyalty is quite how I would apply it, but that’s semantics. I still don’t begrudge Canada for this move or consider it any sort of betrayal. It is a move that makes a lot of sense for Matt Canada.
I don’t know who Pat Narduzzi will hire next as the OC. Safe to assume he will not be an air raid style coach. And likely an OC who can work with the QB — as opposed to say an OC that was a O-line or running backs coach.
The other story that came out is that Athletic Director Scott Barnes is leaving for the same position at Oregon State — maybe. Not surprisingly, there was a short and carefully worded denial issued by Barnes via the Pitt Athletic Department.
“I am aware of a report stating that I have accepted a position at Oregon State. That report is not true.”
Not that he won’t accept. Or that he has been offered. Just that it is not true that he as already accepted. Probably because the job has not yet been formally offered.
Steve Clark, OSU’s vice president of university relations and marketing, told The Oregonian/OregonLive that “we are aware that there are national reports that this position has been offered. We can neither confirm or deny those.
“To my knowledge, the position has not been offered at this time.”
The Oregonian/OregonLive reported on Dec. 8 that Oregon State was conducting preliminary interviews for the position last week in Las Vegas and learned that the search has since narrowed its pool of candidates. Barnes is believed to be among the candidates.
Barnes’ name surfaced as a possible option at OSU shortly after Stansbury’s departure.
This has been a long-rumored possibility despite Barnes being AD at Pitt for less than a year. Oregon State lost their athletic director after just over a year to Georgia Tech, and Barnes’ name was one of the first to surface.
Oregon State’s football coach is Gary Andersen who before he bolted Wisconsin for Oregon State — opening the door for Paul Chryst to leave Pitt and return to Wisconsin. Which led to Pitt both hiring Pat Narduzzi as football head coach and firing Steve Pederson as AD. Before that, Andersen had been the head coach at Utah State and had been hired by Barnes there when he was AD.
It’s all connected, man.
It has become something of a recent trend with ADs bolting like they are Todd Graham. Syracuse lost their AD after less than a year to Minnesota. In all cases, the reason tends to do with ties to the school or location. GT was the alma mater of Stansbury. Syracuse’s AD was from Minnesota. Barnes is from Spokane, Washington.
Never a dull December for Pitt football.
I presented a scenario earlier of how the City and Pitt should use the upcoming Federal infrastructure program to get developers to build light rail and a stadium (I prefer multiuse dome) near or on campus. The city and state and Pitt need to step up.
buffoonery at the expense of Pitt.
I have a more simple solution, hire a God D_mn Pitt Man.
Surely there are some out there, who have graduated in the last 40 years from PITT who can run a Department of Sports Teams, most of whom not many even care about or watch. Other than parent(s).
A PITT man won’t be jumping at the first opportunity to bolt Pittsburgh for lovely confines of some screwball college campus town, run by the local snowflakes.
And No it doesn’t have to be Wanny.
The only thing they were EVER fast about was tearing down their On Campus Football Stadium.
Then you perhaps wouldn’t have much of the animosity that exists since that stupendously stupid decision was made.
Instead of bus trips to the North Shore in a rented stadium with a High School drawn logo at mid field(and it even took 10 years to get that) and 1950’s vertical stripes in the endzones.
If he’s waiting to see if the fans are going to ask the university to spend $$ to retain him he’s once again misread the fan base.
Other than K Stallings No one cares if he leaves. He forced Jamie Dixon out and had no real plan in place to replace him.
They need to give the AD job to EJ Borghetti and be done with it. He’s a Pitt guy, He understands the fans and the area, (Because he talks with them) He’s not pompous (like Herman & Stevie) and he has been training for the gig for some time now. Pat Gallagher can certainly be called in to advise when necessary and maybe they can bring in vice-chancellor Dr. Randy Juhl who was named interim Athletic Director after Steve was shown the door to also act as an adviser for a few months. After that he’s on his own or on his own as much as any of these guys are anyway.
Right now Pitt’s just another neighborhood school in Oakland much like Georgetown and GW are neighborhood schools down here in DC. The Miami’s and USC’s have found a way to be city schools and integrate with the culture of the city.
When Heinz was built, Pitt locked itself into a 30 year lease. Pitt will be at Heinz until that place closes. Pitt still has 15 years to go on that lease. I would agree that over the next 5 years, Pitt should at least investigate opportunities and begin fundraising efforts if it’s viable.
People will surely say, that doesn’t matter.
It all matters in the over perception of a program.
And PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING. Especially to trendy high school kids. How they look, what they wear and yes where they go to school.
He was ready the last go-round imo.
He’s been around and seen how it all operates and has seen it done 3 different ways under Cornhole, Jeff Long and Herman.
He should know what works and doesn’t work by now. And surely has some ideas of his own.
And like Tony mentioned….HE KNOWS THE MARKET !
This was on full display by the way he handled the Dixon departure and the Stallings hire.
Time will tell.
Also EJ wouldn’t leave because he loves the area and the people that live here. That can’t be said for any AD that I can remember.
We NEED a PAT Signal…about now.
Somebody WANTS to come to Pitt !!!
I think those should be VERY IMPORTANT considerations BEFORE hiring another mercenary who has no ties to Pitt or Pittsburgh.
Heinz Field logistics just don’t work EXCEPT for the BIGGEST Games.
Not for the Students. Not for anyone but the most DIEHARD Pitt Fans… many of them Steeler Fans blinded into believing Heinz Field is a TOP NOTCH Facility that High School Recruits are just dying to play in.
NOT!!
Does this suggest we’ll be wearing those in the Pinstripe Bowl ?
Probably a LONG time… but oh well.
Yes even this matters to these Trendy High School kids these days.
We need to get his Followers up over 100K at least.
It’s only at 46k now.
So whoever hasn’t get on there and ‘Follow’
It’s the USC Quarterback.
Let’s Go Pitt ! Follow the Nard Dog !
Great pick up today. Early enrollee and he’s coming here for engineering.
Doubt there are too many REALLY good OCs available running the “Smoke ‘n Mirrors” Offense to the extent that Canada likes to run it.
Hopefully, we get a Guy who likes to make use of BIG Offensive Linemen and a Fullback… at least when it counts.
Stud O-line from South Florida who had offers from Alabama, Auburn, Florida State and several other bigtime programs.
YUGE kid at 6’7″ 320 lbs
ESPN has Jerry as a 4 star
This kid could be all-American in 2-3 years.
BTW, 2 recruits today.
Drake and now Browne.
Good day for coach.
I just hope, we can get a young QB some valuable experience next year and work him in slowly to prepare him (presumably MacVittie) for the following year.
I would be looking for a former Pitt student athlete who has had a VERY successful 20 year career in business and is in a position to take the pay cut to come back and lead the University to national prominence in athletics. The leadership skills needed to be a good AD are very similar to those needed by a good business, GM, COO, President, etc. You need to be able to communicate, set a vision for the department, manage people, hire/fire, SELL, raise money and manage one or two big capital projects. The right person could give Pitt a good 15 – 20 year run. He (or she) would be loyal to the university and wouldn’t be looking for greener pastures.
Just one man’s opinion.
LSU had to hurry as they were losing QB commits.
Make it a long term thing. When the Steelers are tired of heinz field, then Pitt will have a stadium ready for the Panthers…and the Steelers can play there for two years while Heinz is torn down and they get their new digs.
I don’t ever see eye to eye with you on basketball, but you were 100% correct on Canada and you are right about the ways Pitt has to build a fan base within the community. I live in a suburb of Dallas & Fort Worth (actually about 1 mile from everybody’s favorite UPitt) and I am a grad school alumnus of TCU.
While TCU is private and Pitt is a state funded institution, there are similarities when it comes to challenges filling a stadium in an urban environment. Winning helps the atmosphere, but even TCU struggles to fill a 50,000 seat stadium unless it is a big game.
I have attended TCU events with Chris Del Conte (AD), and one thing Chris always talks about is reaching young suburban families with children; whether or not they are graduates of the school. It costs about $1,000 for a family of 4 to attend a Cowboys game, so for many people, a TCU game is a viable option if you want to see quality football at an affordable price. Over the years, TCU athletics has reached out to suburban schools and youth sports organizations across the Metroplex. At every home football game, kids 13 and under can go on the field, get a Bleacher Creature jersey, and run out with the players. It seems small, but my 8-year old loves TCU football because he can go on the field and experience the Horned Frogs run out of the tunnel. This stuff works. Not to mention the plethora of bounce houses and kid activities that are offered as part of the gameday experience. I don’t get up to Pittsburgh very much, but I didn’t see anything geared toward kids when I went to the Marshall game this year (entered on Casino side).
Bottom line, TCU is growing its fan base through the community because they know alumni alone won’t be enough. They have a donor base with deep pockets, but the board of trustees understand the importance of strong athletic programs across the board. The baseball team made it to Omaha the last 3 years, and the hiring of Jamie Dixon showed their desire to elevate their hoops program. TCU football coach Gary Patterson was extended through 2022 and he makes over $4.5 MM per year. Why didn’t anybody poach Patterson when he was still a hot coaching commodity and not that well compensated? Interests in oil and gas leases. You have to get creative with compensation or it will always be a revolving door for places like Pitt where playing in front of 30,000 yellow seats is the norm.
I know everybody pines for an on campus stadium, but I don’t think that will happen at Pitt in my lifetime. In order for that to happen, somebody has to have foresight and be creative to attract investment from multiple stakeholders. When it came time for the Cowboys to build a new practice facility, Jerry Jones brought together corporations, hotels, real estate developers, and local high schools in a public-private partnership to build a 12,000 seat stadium that offers the local high schools the ability to use the facility for games. Jones created the Cowboys Club so he could sell memberships to watch the Cowboys practice and work out at the fitness center. Link below:
link to espn.com
In Pittsburgh, you would need to first secure the location. After that, you would need to form a partnership with the Rooney’s which is probably easier said than done. Other than being a pipe dream, the only way you could justify a football stadium for Pitt is if the site generated a significant amount of incremental tax revenue for the city. Some developer needs to come to Frisco, TX and look at the result. How about a development with a 45,000 seat stadium shared with local high schools and a professional soccer club. A practice facility for Pitt and the Steelers with a high rise hotel, fitness center, sports medicine headquarters, retail space, and corporate office space? Bill Dietrich is dead, so I don’t know any other Pittsburgh industrialists that could make this happen. Does anybody have the number for Henry Hillman? He is 97, so maybe he can make one final legacy donation.
To do an OCS you need a chancellor and AD with this as a goal. This requires a two track approach. The first area is land acquisition which local pols are not interested. Politicians are only interested in two things – votes and money. To get our San Fran wanna be mayor involved he must be convinced that there is a block of voters ie Pitt alums, students, parents and fans prepared to vote in accordance with this. The burg LBGT community has voted in block for him and judges with success (not my cup of tea but to each their own). They have been successful and he knows this. So to get emminent domain and the like he must sell as low cost demand.
There are several areas which folks have talked about. Using one example the Hazelwood Industrial area. On the south side of the Mon over 600 acres was donated to the city – combine this with UPMC and Pitt committing research buildings and you have the land. link to post-gazette.com
Next there is this new idea of private financed infrastructure that Frank referred to. I dont quite know how this works yet but would cut down public money. Leases are made to be broken, period.
Problem is that this requires forward thinking leadership which Pitt lacks.
I understand fundraising is so-so, Hiring Stallings? Jury still out.
Barnes did a good job with the Pitt rebranding and trying to keep Canada. Worlds apart from anything Steve P. would have done,
I have faith in Coach Narduzzi. He’s given us two eight-win seasons in a row. This year’s team should have played before sell-outs at Heinz with the offense we had.
Gallagher is the key piece. Not Barnes.
