Let’s take a moment from the grim-and-gritty world of Pitt basketball. The buyout skulduggery. The intrigue of who the next coach should be and/or will be.
A little lighter and breezier thing. Spring football practices. A time where about 4/5 of the fall roster is on-hand. Depth charts are theorized. Historic futures are projected. Optimism is rampant. And hopefully nobody gets hurt.
Let’s see. No tarps at Heinz Field. No Penn State after next year. No changes.
In the questions going into camp, the O-line is in flux. With a grad transfer coming in after spring practices — and expected to be a starter — the depth chart is very tentative. Alex Bookser and Jimmy Morrissey are the only returning starters. Lots of opportunity and lots of questions. Plus a brand new O-line coach.
Hmm. I don’t think I’ve been this concerned about the state of the O-line since the first year of Paul Chryst’s reign.
The other big area in flux — and by remarkable coincidence, also has a new coach — is the secondary. With Whitehead and Maddox gone, significant questions are there. Unlike the O-line, though, the depth is solid and it is more a question of who wins the spots.
Thanks to his solid first season as a starter, junior Dane Jackson should have one cornerback spot locked up. But opposite him, will it be sophomore Damarri Mathis or senior Phillipie Motley running with the first-team defense? Taller, more physical options are also there in sophomore Therran Coleman and Jason Pinnock.
The outlook at safety is similar. Narduzzi views junior Damar Hamlin as his starter on the “field” side (free safety), but replacing Jordan Whitehead should be a more wide-open endeavor for new defensive coordinator Randy Bates. Senior Dennis Briggs is a returning captain, Bricen Garner hasn’t played that spot as much, Phil Campbell and Jazzee Stocker are career backups so far, and redshirt freshman Paris Ford is the ultimate wild card.
And this is interesting. Paris Ford is going to be playing at cornerback this spring and Coleman will be moved to the “field safety” position. Presumably backing up Hamlin.
Big time player, making big time plays.
H2P!
– Pitt goes hard at Hurley, but he goes to UConn.
– While Pitt has all its eggs in Hurley basket, Matta goes to UGA.
– Sean Miller isn’t actually interested or has minimal interest, stays at Arizona.
– Pitt scrambles, gets turned down for interviews by Cooley, Musselman, and Grant, since they know they weren’t in the top target group.
– Pitt ends up having to interview Becker, Otzelberger, Jent. Hire either Jent or Becker, and fans aren’t thrilled.
– We are stuck with four years of a coach that the fans aren’t against, but aren’t really behind either.
Saw on the PL board that Goodman called basically this scenario. We cannot afford the above to play out, but I genuinely believe it will.
Pitt should go hard after Hurley in my opinion; although I wouldn’t blame Hurley if he chose UConn for comfort reasons, his brother went all the way out to ASU, so who knows, maybe he’s not afraid to step up to a rebuilding job in the ACC, it’s a matter of how much confidence he has in himself.
Matta – Don’t really care, too many health concerns in my opinion. If he passed the health concern hurdle, he’s a good risk, but I haven’t seen anything to suggest that.
Miller – Don’t really care, unless the baggage is cleared, and we better be sure of it. Even so, he’s only a so-so coach, so he’d have to come here to recruit well (without cheating) to have a shot at being successful, or get a better staff.
Finally, I do believe there’s a loser mentality floating around, which explains the above scenarios playing out through fans’ heads- woe is us.
They do background checks, help prevent leaks and keep anonymity for all parties involved. The way Stalling was hired was an embarrassment but that’s not how all searches are performed. Often times, the AD provides a list of candidates they’re interested in and the firm reaches out on Pitt’s behalf acting only as an intermediary.
This is nothing to get upset with and if you thought Pitt, or any school, is not going to use a search firm you’re being naive. Sorry if that came across as aggressive but it’s just the way the sport works now. Rarely, is a search firm not involved and for good reason.
We know but for once it would have been nice if this had already happened. We know that she decided to go another route a couple of months ago so it would have been nice if this activity was taking place and that they had their guy already (maybe they do but it does not look that way). A prolonged search does no one any good. We are skeptical because we know how Pitt operates.
Pitt fans always assume the worst. I’m not asking anyone to assume the best either, but a neutral stance is perfectly acceptable. Just let the process play out.
RaRa Lopes and Aaron Mathews were misteriously left off. RaRa was the best receiver on the field for Pitt last season.
My concern is that Duzz doesn’t see the true talent of a player, and thus that talent does not see the field.
Three case in points – K.Pickett, Q.Ollison and P.Ford – could there be others…
RaRa Lopes and Aaron Mathews were misteriously left off. RaRa was the best receiver on the field for Pitt last season.
My concern is that Duzz doesn’t see the true talent of a player, and thus that talent does not see the field.
Three case in points – K.Pickett, Q.Ollison and P.Ford – could there be others…
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What are you talking about.. Have you watched HCPN post practice interviews in past.. He never likes just throw out info on how well certain players are doing in camp.. And as far as him not seeing a players talent.. When he was asked about the QBs last year during the season he would randomly bring up Pickett’s name constantly without even being asked specifically about him.. And talk about how great Pickett was doing picking up the offense in practice.. As far as Paris Ford goes he came to fall camp last year late and was behind.. Did you want the coaching staff to just throw him out there and burn his redshirt like they did with Hamlin..
IU fired him. IU is recognised as a blue blood program. If he could not get it done there why do you think he would get it done here. Archie did nothing with his players this year. I just think it would be more of the same. It does not excite me. He would be one of my last picks.
i’m not a fan because I think he’s a lunatic but he and Stallings should not even be mentioned in the same breath.
He’d be a good, safe, hire. Not exciting but I think he could win at Pitt.
I’m not completely convinced Hurley chooses UCON over Pitt. It might just come down to how much he has to rebuild. Pitt could possibly take him further, unless he plays the angle that he can make up ground quicker in a lesser conference.
I don’t like the idea of a Crean hire, but I don’t hate it either. To me it’s kind of a milk-toast hire and Pitt has made few of those over the years. But he’s a million miles away from Stallings.
just don’t wait until the dust settles – make a move soon.
55 – Yeah, Crean is a Folger guy. I don’t think Pitt will be in the running for Hurley. He leaked that he wants to go somewhere the pieces are already in place to win immediately … and a $3M contract.
Don’t count on that.
I’m curious if any other names pop up. It leaked early Crean wasn’t interested so I was a little surprised to see his name pop back up.
Crean is such a jerk I am sure he will be welcomed with open arms by the top donors. Can’t wait for this to play out. Surprise me PLEASE but I am not counting on it.
LMAO
