There was a pleasant  attack on Fraud Graham (Yes, I would like to make that one stick) from the Steelers.

The Steelers practically threw a party when they heard that Pitt coach Todd Graham quit. That goes from the top to the bottom, from those who work in the offices to the coaches and every-day workers who came into contact with Graham and his staff in the building.

They described Graham as an arrogant man who had no use for anything the Steelers might have offered, and they say he resented having to share the building and the indoor practice field at the UPMC complex with them.

Before Graham, the Panthers and the Steelers ate in the same cafeteria, although at different times. Graham came in and put an end to that. The cooks at the cafeteria still prepare the food for the Panthers, but it is then brought over to the other side of the building, where Pitt created its own cafeteria to serve Graham’s players and his wishes.

Instead of embracing the advantages that an association with the Steelers might bring, Graham rejected them, even if there was little he could do about the shared facilities. That really came down to just sharing the indoor practice field and the parking lots because everything else is separate, including weight rooms, outdoor practice fields, locker rooms, etc. It’s one building, but it’s really two, like a big duplex.

I admit, I don’t understand the resentment. Other than the fact that just about every college football headcoach has at least a touch of “little dictator” in him and hates the idea of not controlling everything.

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Oh, what a day.

It has been hard to keep up. Exactly a week too late for this crap to start going down. Too much stuff coming to a head, and now this again? Okay, let me apologize in advance for the expected lack of coherence. It has just been too chaotic and too insane today.

I am a natural cynic. Just the way I have always been. Not sure how or why. I just am. Being lucky enough to have had a few years writing at the now defunct AOL FanHouse gave me the opportunity to observe many turns on the college coaching carousel. Everything from Dana Altman taking the Arkansas job and then running back to Creighton. Lane Kiffin napalming Tennessee. Yet, this one even blew me away.

Yet the Tennessee-Kiffin-USC situation is probably the closest parallel. You had a brash coach. One who critics would say was much more style over substance. Makes radical change to the program. Lots of people affected.  And for the most part the fans went with it because it may be a time to shake things up a bit more. A guy who struggled in the first year as the players transition to a new style. But at the same time, there’s hope because of the recruiting class that is coming.

Then the abrupt bailing — taking almost all of the new staff he brought in with him to leave a crater. Yet, somehow, as much as the “Fall of Saigon” chaos that ensued when Kiffikins bailed. He had the balls to speak to the players directly to tell them he was leaving, and to at least pay false lipservice to the media.

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I’m stunned. Truly.

It’s not that I buy into worship of a coach. I also don’t expect blind loyalty or to expect Pitt to be everyone’s dream job. I just never expected that Graham would bolt after only 1 season. Let alone having him take off after a 6-6 season.

Class all the way:

Pitt’s players were informed in a statement from Graham that was sent via text by assistant athletic director/football operations Blair Philbrick.

“I have resigned my position at Pitt in the best interest of my family to pursue the head coaching position at Arizona State,” Graham said. “Coaching there has always been a dream of ours and we have family there. The timing of the circumstances have prohibited from telling you this directly. I now am on my way to Tempe to continue those discussions. God Bless. Coach Graham.”

According to Paul Zeise’s tweet, when the DickRod assistants bolted, Graham called them “mercenaries.”

Right now, they are looking a lot better than Todd Graham.

I’m just hoping he gets June Jones’d at the last minute.

Feel free to vent. I’ll be drinking in a corner.

That while he confirmed much of what many fans thought regarding Tino Sunseri and the offense in yesterday’s presser, the buck still stops with him.

“I have a great deal of confidence in these players,” Graham said. “I really like how the team leaders have taken ownership of this team. And one of the things that I want to make perfectly clear is that everything we do, I am accountable for. Period. I am.

“I’m not pointing fingers and you will never hear excuses come from me. When I say “we” aren’t getting the ball out, I’m not talking about Tino Sunseri, I’m not talking about Trey Anderson, I am talking about we, I’m talking about [quarterbacks coach] Todd Dodge, I’m talking about Todd Graham, because it is our responsibility to coach and teach them.”

Coach Graham probably needed to do this.

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Coming out of an admitted lackluster opening game, the next opponent is 1-AA patsy, Maine. For their troubles, the Black Bears will get a $375,000 paycheck. That kind of payout for a 1-AA patsy is part of why the Big East had to get to at least 9 teams, and why conferences are increasingly going to or leaning towards 9 conference games. It drives down the demand for the overall number of non-con games by BCS programs and will keep down the costs of paying for a guarantee game.

Obligatory, “not that Pitt is taking Maine lightly comment” (unlike me).

“We look at it as, any opponent that comes in, they have a chance to make this a signature win,” Graham said.

And, he added, “If you’re not humble, you’ll get humbled.”

“They’re a very well-coached football team,” Graham said of Maine. “The strength of their team is the offense of their quarterback (Warren Smith) and tailback (Pushawn Brown), who operate very, very efficiently.”

Maine head coach, Jack Cosgrove has a simple formula for beating a 1-A program.

“I’ve always felt that in order for a team of our stature to be successful against a team like theirs, they have to play bad and we have to play great,” Cosgrove said of playing and FBS team.

That might do it. Speaking of obligatory, here’s the “just because they are 1-AA, doesn’t mean they are intimidated by a 1-A team” story.

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Coach Graham loves his hyperbole.

We’re going to put it in the left lane and put the hammer down. The way we take the field, call the plays, execute the plays, are all high tempo. Guys are going to play Pitt football with a lot of passion, very physical, and flying around. Fans will hear, see, and feel Pitt football.

He also knows how fans can react.

He is hopeful the Panthers get out of the gates fast Saturday against Buffalo and pleases the crowd, but he knows there is no guarantee that will happen.

His first game at Tulsa showed him how fast things can go wrong.

“The first snap of the game, we snapped the ball over the quarterback’s head, and they picked it up and ran it back 65 yards for a touchdown,” Graham said, with a laugh. “A guy stood up in the stands and said ‘High octane my … ,’ “

Considering that Turnley will be under center for the first game there could be a bit of deja vu.

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The countdown to the opening kick-off of a new season, with a new coach and a new style has will hit T-minus 100 hours at 2 pm today (significantly less from when the tailgating begins). The depth chart was released yesterday. Also taking place yesterday, the Big East coaches teleconference and Coach Graham’s first gameweek presser.

The most interesting thing — at least to me — that came out of Graham’s time in the Big East coaches teleconference  (mp3 file) was where his offensive philosophy came from.

Paraphrasing, but it went back to 1993 when he was coaching defense in D-II and had to go against DickRod’s team. The no-huddle spread “fascinated” him, and as a defensive coach this style was what he hated to defend and plan to stop.

That struck me as a very open-minded and creative approach. Definitely getting out of his comfort zone. Frequently head coaches from the defensive side tend to favor more traditional offenses. Basically, the offense they generally expect their defense to play most of the time.

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Hope many of you can make it out to FanFest. They are usually laid back, entertaining affairs. Think of it as the light appetizer before college football kicks off in a week, followed by an evening home-opener next Saturday. It should be a good evening.

As much excitement as most of us feel for the new season, the new style, the new players. It’s tempered by that bit of unknown. The unknown cuts both ways. It can fuel the excitement as you can project whatever you want. The offense being wide-open and constantly driving to be wildly successful. Then an attacking defense that puts teams back on their heels and forces opposing offenses into hurried mistakes.

On the other hand it is worrying about the O-line (as uusal). Can Ryan Turnley handle being the center for the season? Is the empty hole, lack of a true center ready to play going to doom the offense? Will Tino Sunseri truly thrive in the new offense the way everyone keeps saying? Will he show the consistency in game situations that he appears to have demonstrated in practices?

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We went and visited family in Eastern PA this weekend. The drive back was excruciatingly long. It wasn’t traffic. It wasn’t the weather. It was just one of those trips — if you have kids you probably have a better understanding — where there was always another reason/need to stop. Continual bathroom breaks. Breaks for lunch and ultimately dinner. Little things that just kept adding to the length. Then there was all the complaining inside the car about how long it was taking to only make it worse.

So, I’m a little off today. This means, short bits before I can put my mind all the way back to work.

Brock DeCicco is transferring. Old news, but I wish him the best. If his choices are indeed Iowa, Wisconsin or VT then I hope he chooses Iowa. Given the way Iowa has tortured Penn State in recent years, I’d like to see DeCicco be a vital part contributing to that.

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If you want to review, parse and examine the words, mannerisms and comments of Coach Todd Graham yourself, feel free to watch the press conference here (Maybe. I can’t get the damn things to play. Except for the blooper reel — which has a black bar going across it to obscure the picture and prevent me from grabbing a direct link on the splash page. Rieur1114 had a good point.).

I think I found my way to find it and sadly it seems the main issue is simply mistakes in the links. While there are lots of problems with the Pitt site, credit should go to getting a load of video interviews up from the first day.

The start with Paul Randolph trying to read off his full title really does sum up the ridiculous number of titles so many of the coaches have.

Here’s a transcript of the remarks of Coach Graham from the opening presser (PDF). This link should work for the video.

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In anticipation of the Panther’s summer training camp Paul Zeise of the Post Gazette has written a long article about the team and its expectations for the season.  No real earthshaking news here but he touches on the cost of the new program direction which for a school like PITT is a big step forward:

University administrators hope Graham can deliver the kind of exciting football he is selling because they have made a huge financial investment in him. Graham is making about $2 million per year and was given a pool of $2 million for his staff. The school has made him the focal point of its marketing campaign, going so far as to create a glitzy website called highoctanefootball.com.

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It starts tomorrow so here’s some info on the projected lineups going into camp.

First off, here is the 2011 Media Guide.  On page 20 it list the lineups going into camp.  It doesn’t seem to hold many surprises, except for the fact there are kids on it I’ve never heard of.  Does the name Brett Zuck ring a bell with anyone?

On offense Myers is listed as QB2 and that will be an interesting aspect of camp to watch.   Hard to tell with a two game suspension hanging over the other competitor for that spot.

With a perfect name to go with the position, Kris Wildman is listed as the starting fullback – if there is such a thing in this offense.  Jacobson is listed at center but there have been reports the staff will try Ryan Turnley there.   The revolving door at center is still moving.  Desmond Brown is listed as second string RB but I think that is because Zach Brown hasn’t suited up yet.  Guess who the starter is?

On defense one eyebrow lifter is that Todd Thomas is listed as the third string Spur… again he was injured and the staff hasn’t seen what he can do.  I’d expect that he’ll move up rather quickly.  Lindsey is listed at defensive end rather than at the Panther position; Greg Williams is there.  I expect some of this to change after camp gets going.  I really can’t see Brian Muphy as a second stringer this season.

On special teams we see Devin Street as the 2^nd string kickoff returner.  I don’t like it personally. I’ve always thought it is kind of ridiculous to have a star player back there and exposed to injury.  Others disagree. I think Street is going to blow up this season and would prefer another speedy WR in his place.  Cameron Saddler is also listed as punt returner but I expect that position will get a good look from the staff.

We also have a third string boundary cornerback named Joseph Lopez…who knew?

All of this is predicated on the fact that the 2011 recruits haven’t been seen in action yet.  I’m not sure any could break into the starting lineup but some may rise up into the two deep.

The schedule of camp will be different this season also.  Media Day will be tomorrow and the last practice that the media can attend is on Friday August 19^th.  After that the practices are closed for the duration.  I’ll try to get to one or two practices to see things first hand.  Let’s hope the media outlets generate some detailed articles about the practices but that would be a change.

First Practice: Tomorrow evening, August 8^th.

Training Camp Preview

First off, I am glad to be asked to continue to contribute some articles on the 2011 version of PITT Football.  It is going to be different and, I believe, much more exciting, than we have seen for the past six years.  If anything it will give PITT fans a whole new issue set to bitch about.  Let’s hope there is a lot more praise than criticism but we’ll see how that turns out after the end of PITT’s first possession in our first game.

One note: I again remind everyone that these are my thoughts and opinions and if I state facts I’ll try to reference them somehow.

OK, we’ll get into players, positions, etc. in another article, that takes research, but today I’ll show how you can start getting your head ready for the onslaught that will be coming out of the SID department beginning next week.

So, how will we follow what is happening in training camp aside from the news papers and radio (with the new color commentator)?  Well, from PITT itself.  Borghetti and staff did an excellent job revamping the electronic media and social networking site during the spring and have continued to do so during the off season and going into the meat of the practices.

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It’s a grab-bag of football links to take us into the weekend.

Last week’s Big East meetings gave Todd Graham a chance to meet and mingle with the rest of the Big East coaches. Not to mention any media that will be covering the Big East. His interview with Brett McMurphy of CBS Sports had plenty of bits to digest.

There’s more to what Graham was saying about expecting to win.

“At this level you can’t afford to have rebuilding years,” Graham said. “You have to produce. Our goal will be to win championships. We expect to be competing for the Big East championship. That’s our goal. We’re trying to win every one of them and get to the national championship game. That’s our focus and goal.

“I’m not going to ask kids to work like we ask them to work and not have our goals at the very top.”

My natural cynicism has me at odds with trying to not mock the over-emphasis of “high octane,” but it is clear that Coach Graham is essentially high-octane on everything. And I have to admit, I like this.

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Todd Graham is down in Florida with Pitt’s contingent for Big East meetings. Not much for him to do other than talk to the media. He’s doing that.

Maybe it’s bravado. Maybe a touch of irrationality. I don’t know and I don’t care. Coach Todd Graham is not trying to lower expectations in his first year.

Pitt’s Todd Graham: “Our expectation is to win the Big East. Anything less than that & we’ll be disappointed.”

I choose to believe first that it is simply in his personality that he expects to win. To succeed at Pitt. The other part is that he does get that there are expectations. That the fans don’t want to have them tamped down. Especially not even before the first preview guides hit the newsstands. He knows what is expected, and he’s not going to pretend that it is unachievable.

It’s also got just a touch of wiggle room. Winning the Big East this year. Not going to the BCS Championship. Not running the table in the non-con. Winning the Big East.