Chas mentioned that Pitt released the 2007 football media guide for download — so I read it from electronic cover-to-cover. Things that I liked/caught my eye/were interesting/etc…

Page 6, “This Is Panther Football” —

Dave Wannstedt and Stillers’ coach Mike Tomlin posed for a picture together. There was talk that Wanny only took the Pitt job as a way to eventually get the Steelers job. Oh, the irony.

Page 6, “This Is Panther Football” —

We were in a staff meeting and I’m sitting at the far end of the table — it was the ’76 year, the year we (Pitt) won the National Championship — and I think my job that day was to make the coffee. I’m looking at Coach (John) Majors and said to myself, “Someday, I will be the head coach at the University of Pittsburgh.” -Dave Wannstedt

Page 7, “This Is Panther Football” —

I believe I can make a difference on the football field, but just as important, I believe I can make a difference at the university and in the community. I think all those things are vital and all those things are very important.

I hardly believe any college football player would say this without having it written down for him.

Page 8, “This Is Panthers Football” —

With 49 consensus All-Americans, Pitt is 7th among Division 1-A programs. And Penn State fans tell us we have no history.

Page 9, “This Is Panthers Football” —

The outfit Tony Dorsett wore to accept his Heisman Trophy was spectacular. Must have been a ’70’s thing, I guess?

Page 10, “This Is Panthers Football” —

On a page subtitled “Championship Caliber Staff” lies a picture of Paul Rhoads.

Page 13, “This Is Panthers Football” —

A collage of Pitt players in the NFL including Kevan Barlow in his Steelers practice uni. There’s some doubt as to whether he’ll even make the team.

Page 15, “This Is Panthers Football” —

Tyler Palko makes two appearances on the “Pitt Is So Great Because We’re Community Minded” page. Seriously though, Palko is known to be a great guy and his love and care for a friend with Down Syndrome are well documented.

Page 17, “This Is Panthers Football” —

The point in having a page about the Petersen Events Center is what…? I don’t seem to be able to recall the last time I saw a Pitt football game played at the Pete.

Page 20, “This Is Panthers Football” —

The player’s lounge in the Pitt locker room at the UPMC Center looks like a pretty nice place, yeah?

Page 22, “This Is Panthers Football” —

The U of Pitt was founded in a log cabin back in 1787. Our school was founded in a log cabin and I’m damn proud of it.

Page 23, “This Is Panthers Football” —

While Pittsburgh used to be called Steel Town, they need to call it Knowledge Town. -President Bush

That President of ours, always good for some comedic relief.

Page 26, “This Is Panthers Football” —

On a personal note, I almost got my own picture in the media guide (sort of). At College Basketball Gameday back in January I was in the front row, dead center…but in the picture they used, a giant flag is being waved and blocking me from view. Grrr…

Page 41, “2007 Preview” —

The title page of the section about the upcoming season features the picture above. Offensive lineman Jeff Otah blocking…his own teammate?

Page 42, “2007 Preview” —

The QB section notes that Tyler Palko took all of the meaningful snaps of the past three years and I become more and more unsure about the 2007 season.

Page 46, “Preseason Depth Chart” —

The preseason depth chart they have does not include the incoming recruiting class so it’s not really what we’re looking for.

Page 48, “Preseason Honors” —

I never knew that there were s many preseason awards and lists out there. It seems like every player on the Pitt roster is listed with some sort of award they could receive.

Page 64, “Coach Profiles” —

Fact you didn’t know: Chris LaSala, assistant AD and director of football operations, is a graduate of West Virginia.

Page 69, “Coaching Staff” —

Yet another fact you didn’t know: There is such an award called the “Big East Video Coordinator of the Year.” Our video guy, Chad Bogard, is a two time recipient of the award.

Page 73, “Player Profiles: Chris Bova” —

While scanning the profiles I came across the word matriculating. If you know what that means without looking it up then I’m impressed.

Page 92, “Player Profiles: Austin Ransom” —

I think Austin Ransom wins the award for the best hair on the team.

Looks like a certain Simpson’s character.

Page 99, “Player Profiles: Oderick Turner” —

In high school, Turner was the NJ state high jump champion. Jumping over a height of 6-4, he can clear me by 2 inches.

Page 107, “2007 Rosters” —

The pronunciation guide clears up a debate I had with someone last year about how to say Jovani Chappel’s last name. For the record, it’s “sha-PELL”.

Page 113-130, “2006 Season in Review” —

This whole section is just stats from a disappointing year and is pretty dull in general.

Page 134, “Team Records” —

All kinds of fun info in this section and especially on this page.

Longest play from scrimmage in team history: 91 yards (George McLaren in 1917 and Alex Van Pelt in 1992)

In 1914 we beat Dickinson by a score of 96-0. More recently, we pounded Rutgers 76-0, back in 1977. On the other hand, the biggest margin of defeat came in a 72-0 loss to Ohio State back in 1996.

Page 135, “The Last Time…” —

The last time we had a punt return for a TD is Revis’ against WVU. I don’t think we’ll be forgetting that one anytime soon.

Page 131-164, “Team Record Book” —

The above two items were just a small sample from what I think is the best section of the guide. If you’re going to read one section, this is the one.

Page 166, “Pro Football” —

The guide lists 23 Panthers on NFL teams, however it was done before Curtis Martin retired so the actual number is 22. The most former Panthers on one team is three: Larry Fitzgerald, Greg Lee, and Gerald Hayes of the Arizona Cardinals. The Jets (Darrelle Revis, Hank Poteat) and the Saints (Tyler Palko, Rob Petitti) are the only other teams with more than one former Pitt player.

Page 183, “Postseason Games” —

They have picture of Palko from last year’s Senior Bowl…but not one of the ones with him in a script Pitt helmet.

Inside back cover —

Forget the words, I just really like the actual photo they used.

So there it is, (most) of the good stuff to see in this year’s football media guide. The season is just around the corner.

If you have Comcast On Demand, turn it on right now. There you’ll find a replay of Pitt vs. Providence from January 25, 1988. With Pitt holding a 6-5 lead and 15:24 left in the first half, we start the fast break. Jerome Lane gets the ball, winds up, slams it — broken backboard, glass everywhere, crowd goes nuts.

Here’s how: Your Town > Local Sports > Fox Sports Pittsburgh > Pitt Hoops

It’s the original broadcast with a few cutaways where FSN’s Rob King interviews former guard Jason Matthews. Watch it for yourself and you’ll enjoy it. You can also Pitt and UConn play for the 2003 Big East Championship with some commentary from Brandin Knight.

On the football side of the On Demand fun, you can watch the Blue-Gold game that happened back in the spring. I’ve yet to watch more than a few minutes of it but you might be able to gauge how a few more players look after watching it. From the On Demand main menu, go to Your Town > College Life > Pitt > Athletics. Your commentators for the game are FSN’s Marshall Harris as well as Foge Fazio.

Sorry to have taken a few unannounced days off. Things have been crazy with a lot of family travel and other work issues that completely took me away from the computer. Time I thought I would have was completely occupied with other things. It likely won’t get cleared up for another week, so I’m not going to say I’m fully back yet. There will likely be spurts and starts, but nothing consistent.

Something I did read that was almost too painful. At SI.com, Luke Winn had a list of the top impact transfers in basketball since 2000 — or at least those who helped their team to the Final Four.  Two squads with impact transfers included the teams that knocked out Pitt in 2003 and 2004.

Oklahoma State’s quartet: Joey Graham, PF (from Central Florida) Stephen Graham, SF (from Central Florida) John Lucas III, PG (from Baylor) Daniel Bobik, SG (from BYU)

…

Robert Jackson, PF, Marquette (from Mississippi State)

Against Pitt, Jackson went for 16 points on 6-8 shooting.

Someday, I won’t wince when I see these sort of things.

Mike DeCourcy in the Sporting News has an interesting bit about how b-ball coaches get recycled their images rehabbed a lot quicker and frequently these days because they have a better shot at good paying assistant jobs after failing in their first stint as a head coach. Unlike in the ’90s when the NCAA had some pay restrictions on assistant coaches.

Consider the case of Paul Evans, who reached the Elite Eight at Navy in 1986, won two Big East championships at Pittsburgh and made seven NCAA appearances at the two schools before the Panthers dumped him in 1994. The guy who discovered David Robinson got a few interviews, mostly from programs that wanted to pay in canned goods.

Coaches who lost jobs in the ’90s became victims of the heinous decision by NCAA members to restrict one member of each Division I staff to making $12,000 annually. Those whose salaries had been limited eventually won a lawsuit against the NCAA, but the rule effectively depressed assistant coach salaries the rest of the decade.

In other words, you either had to go back to a bottom rung as an assistant or try to work your way back-up as a coach at a small D-II or -III school. Evans was also older and less inclined to start over on the coaching ladder.

Whether it’s the high school all-star games or local honors a few local stories on some of the players on the incoming freshmen class.

Leftover from the Big 33 game, Defensive Lineman Wayne Jones got some attention. I did not know that Artrell Hawkins was his older brother.

Fullback Henry Hynoski got the love locally for his Big 33 game (hat tip, Frank).

Hynoski ran well on limited carries in tough yardage situations.

He bulled his way into the end zone to score a second-half touchdown in Pennsylvania’s 28-10 victory over Ohio.

And he pass blocked particularly well, especially considering that wasn’t a big part of his job description as the dominant player in a dominant offense at Southern.

Meanwhile, WR Maurice Williams out of Erie gets attention in Altoona. Apparently he must be the biggest name on the East-West All-star game. Well, that and he has a sister on basketball scholarship at Penn State (probably the women’s team).

Williams said he eventually picked the Panthers because they were the school that made him feel they needed him the most. Pitt has put together a couple of very good recruiting classes under Dave Wannstedt, and Williams is optimistic about the program’s future.

“These last couple of recruiting classes — especially this one — are very good. This season, we should be at least two or three games above .500,’’ Williams said. “But we have to go there and work hard and set our marks.’’

For Williams, that will involve making the transition to receiver.

Finally, in the Lancaster area, Pat Bostick does not win the local paper’s athlete of the year. That honor goes to Jordan Gibbs who will be an OL at Pitt.

But whether he was punching open holes on the offensive line for the Penn Manor football team or pouring in points on the basketball court, Gibbs was impossible to ignore.

He played a vital role on both teams, leading them to unprecedented heights in his final season.

That’s why his selection as the New Era’s Male Athlete of the Year was not a difficult choice.

“It’s an honor,” says Gibbs. “I know a lot of good athletes over the years have been given (the award) before me, and it means a lot to be named with them.”

On Sunday, Gibbs will leave Lancaster to begin the next phase of his life.

He earned a full scholarship to play football for the University of Pittsburgh, and is headed west to take a few summer courses and begin his conditioning program for the Panthers.

Gibbs is also the first kid out of Penn Manor to get a D-1 athletic scholarship

The Pitt Athletic Department has confirmed the new logo through a press release to the media, an e-mail to Panther Club members, and on the website.

The University of Pittsburgh’s torch-cut Panther head, first unveiled in 1997, is being reintroduced with a sleeker, more polished look. The new mark is the result of the creative efforts of the Pitt Athletic Department and Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC).

I called that they would use the word “sleeker”. By the way, we also know who to blame for coming up with this.

But wait, there’s more of this drivel…

The new Panther head will be a secondary mark for Pitt Athletics. The primary logo will remain the arching block-style PITT, first introduced in 2005. The PITT logo will continue to be the featured mark on the uniforms for each of the University of Pittsburgh’s 19 intercollegiate teams.

“We have been known as Pitt for more than a century and that name and logo will continue to be our primary identity,” Athletic Director Jeff Long said. “After receiving consistent public feedback, we felt the time was right to give our Panther head a more refined, contemporary look and one that is easily reproduced and recognized.”

Merchandise with the “sleeker” Panther will be available in stores beginning July 2. Those of you who can’t wait that long can shop on the Pitt online store which is carrying the new clothing as we speak.

There are very few fans that would be against a return to the script Pitt and colors from Pitt’s better days. There’s been plenty of discussion about it and I don’t care why we’re not wearing it, whether it be something legal or someone just making an executive decision about it — I just want to see a return to those colors.

Are we going to see that soon? Well, there are some seemingly small changes being made according to Sitting Ringside.

The “PANTHERS” across the chest will be replaced with “PITT” and blue pants will return for the first time since 2003, when they were worn against Virginia Tech.

It seems like we’ll never get to the point where we see the same jerseys that we wore against Youngstown State in that throwback game. Thankfully I picked mine up in that auction of the game-used jerseys because we might never see them on a Pitt team regularly for a while.

I don’t know what bitter Pitt fan did it. I just don’t want to end up on his bad side. It just keeps getting stranger. The collapse of one of Pitt’s best recruiting class in a couple decades came with the confluence of the Big East being a complete mess, Pitt’s 2003 bitter disappointment of a season, the questions that began swirling around Walt Harris led to a complete picking off of verbal after verbal.

Yet, aside from being part of what cost Harris his job, Pitt didn’t actually suffer for the lost players the way the players themselves have:

Johnny Peyton, WR: signed with USF, looked good as a freshman, then got in the doghouse and eventually quit football.

Andrew Johnson, RB: changed to Miami, never was able to climb the depth chart and suffered injuries; currently at Akron after transferring.

Anthony Morelli, QB: had his redshirt burned for no apparent reason at PSU, can’t shake the “dumb” label of not being able to read defenses, and played such a lackluster first season as starter that most PSU fans are hanging their high hopes on the fact that he didn’t suck in the Outback Bowl.

James Bryant, LB: moved to fullback because of depth chart issues, against his wishes; has been suspended numerous times; and is now transferring as a senior because he still wants to play linebacker.

Only Alphonso Smith (CB) seems to be doing okay for himself at Wake Forest.

Not that there is much else to see from the 2004 recruiting class. Also transferring: Brandon Mason, Rashad Jennings, Robbie Agnone, Kelvin Chandler, and Tyler Tipton. Special mention to Steven Walker who was kicked off the team and out of school after the first semester, and is now in prison for murder.

There were/are some good ones from the class: Darrelle Revis, Derek Kinder, Scott McKillop, Darrell Strong, Marcel Pestano.

But, wow. It’s stunning to realize that as demoralizing as it was to lose out on all of those players back then, it really wouldn’t make much of a difference now or the past couple years with on the field action.

Breaking news: Pitt and Penn State fans dislike one another. I’ve sometimes heard over the last few years that it’s a “dead rivalry” and that a ton of people don’t really care. Personally, I’ve always wanted to see the annual football game make a return and things I’ve read this week have opened my eyes to see that I’m not the only one and there is still bad blood. It’s too bad this is all being played out by fans and not players on the field, but it’s still happening whether you’re for the return of the game (100% of the Pitt fans and half of the PSU fans) or not (the other 50% of the PSU fans).

The first time in a while that I really started to think about the rivalry was with this post on Mondesi’s House. It wasn’t actually the post as much as the comments, where Adam (a convicted PSU homer) had this to say in response to “Things That Annoy You About Sports”.

Pitt fans who think Penn State is afraid of them. Honestly, Penn State doesn’t need Pitt to generate buzz. There will be 105,000 asses in seats to watch TEMPLE. So c’mon, admit you need us, and admit that Joe was right in going to the Big 10 and move on. Come to Beaver Stadium twice to every one time we go to Pitt and everything will be ok. Otherwise, quit taking pot shots at JoePa on natinal television on what is supposed to be your biggest rivalry game (on a Thursday night no less, can anyone take that seriously?). And remember, your sour grapes go no furthur east than maybe Johnstown. No one else cares the Pitt doesnt play Penn State. We are busy winning.

Oh, the fire was definitely started with that. I’ll save his very first comment of Pitt fans thinking PSU is afraid of us for later in this post. The rest is easy to pick apart though.

It is more than easy enough to cram that many people in a stadium a few times a month for four months when you live in the middle of no where. This is Happy Valley, not New York City. There is nothing to do in central Pennsylvania other than count down the days to the next Penn State home game. Let’s look at that in comparison to the city of Pittsburgh, where on any given Saturday there are many more choices of things to do instead of see a college football game. I’m not saying the Pitt’s excuse for low attendance, but saying how great Penn State’s attendance is in comparison to our’s is absurd.

Adam also makes a great point — in favor of the Panthers. I forget where I read this, but someone made the point that Penn State is a state school, while the University of Pittsburgh represents a city.

Population of Pittsburgh and surrounding metro areas: 2,358,695
Population of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: 12,281,054

So tell me, which is easier to draw fans?

Ending his comment saying, “We are busy winning” had to have been made by someone who very recently jumped on the Penn State bandwagon. Obviously someone has forgotten that PSU’s record from 2000-2003 was 22-26. Busy winning, indeed.

But wait, this all extends into basketball too.

As for the basketball team, did you notice PSU isnt on the Pitt schedule this year? why? because last year we didnt have a losng record. 15-15. Apparantly thats too goo a record for Jamie Dixon to deal with. as soon as we become remotely competitive, we are taken off the schedule. funny dont you think?

Yes, Adam, because Dixon is the guy who has total control of the schedule. I also wasn’t aware that schedules were made after each season. Oh wait, they’re not. Too bad that 15-15 record was a fluke; this year’s PSU hoops record was 11-19 with all of 2 wins in the Big Ten.

That’s just one little fan though, albeit one uninformed fan. The debate was brought up yet again at Mondesi’s House with this post. More of the same babble going on — it all died down for a while though.

Then I gave you a story from Penn State’s student newspaper, The Daily Collegian. Many of the comments were what you’d expect: anti-Penn State, calling Paterno names, and all around hatred toward Happy Valley. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking some of the exact same things some people wrote. We had one brave State fan who naturally went with the name “JoePa”.

And Nick, if it’s Penn State’s loss that the alleged rivalry not be renewed, why does this issue eat at Pitt fans so much? –JoePa

I don’t know, JoePa, if the story appeared in “The Daily Collegian” then there must be a fair number of PSU fans that care a little. –Nick in State College

Not the first time Mr. Paterno has been wrong. I think that’s why some Penn State fans aren’t quick to want to see this rivalry start back up. Paterno is looked to as a god by PSU fans, and if a god doesn’t want to see this game get played then neither will his followers. Those followers are also the same ones who called for him to retire after the 2004 season, saying things like, “He’s too old!” I guess he’s not too old to ruin a great rivalry though.

A few days later, that post was then relayed to the masses over at the AOL Fanhouse by Brian Grummell. Grummell says maybe Penn State should join the Big East or go Independent, and while even I can agree with PSU fans that they won’t go Independent, they have nothing special going for them in the Big Ten. No one considers them a real rival while they’d like to think they have something going with Ohio State and Michigan State.

Penn State fans always say how they don’t care about Pitt when they need to take a look at themselves first. Ohio State is too busy playing in the most important games of the decade against Michigan to consider PSU even a mini-rival. Just because you play Michigan State for trophy doesn’t mean that constitutes a rivalry either. In Big Ten basketball, Penn State is dirt.

Meanwhile, Pitt has a solid group of rivals. Sure, West Virginia has beaten us up the last couple years but that doesn’t automatically take away it’s rivalry status, at least judging by the “conversations” that Pitt and WVU fans had during last year’s Backyard Brawl. In basketball, we’re building rivalry games with teams like Marquette, UConn, and a WVU team lead by Bob Huggins.

The last place where we saw this come up in the last week was Black Shoe Diaries. Other than taking a shot at some of our commenters (” Well hey, Pitt fans. At least you’ll always have your dignity.”), there wasn’t anything too special in the post. One thing that did stand out to me was that PSU shouldn’t leave the Big Ten because of “the opportunity to be highly ranked and in the running for the BCS every two or three years.” Well if you guys are as good as you think and the Big East is as bad as you’d have everyone think then wouldn’t you be able to come over here and go undefeated, be ranked Top 10 all the time, and earn the BCS bid every year?

The comments were full of great stuff though. There were a few Pitt fans who comment here that made their point over there.

Now listen, I can’t argue with the results we’ve seen from the last few Pitt football teams. I also don’t consider Pitt to be a top college football program right now and I’m not sure if they’ll ever get over the hump into that top group. I’m have realistic enough thoughts to see this. I do, however, think that sometimes Penn State fans, while they’re busy putting our program down, over-inflate their own program. Remember when the author over there said the Lions were “in the running for the BCS every two or three years.” I’ll let Stuart take it form there.

If by “in the running for the BCS every two or three years,” you mean you’ve made 1 BCS bowl game EVER, then yes, you are in the running. Every 2-3 years would mean you’ve been in 3 to 5 by now. I’m sure math is not a strong suit for you.

That’s not even close to the best comment I saw though. In response to a Pitt fan’s remark, we get this gem.

“So, until you actually win a game against us this decade IN ANY SPORT, remember you are winless against Pitt and will be for the foreseeable future.”

Before you go spouting off maybe you should look first – I prefer wrestling over basketball any day of the week.

Wrestling
PSU-Pittsburgh W 26-19 2005
PSU-Pittsburgh W 28-15 2004

So how many million people out there filled out there brackets for this year’s basketball tournament? How about this year’s wresting tournament? How much money was wagered on each? I laughed out loud when I read that.

Penn State always tries to make excuses about how they don’t care about their basketball team, but this has to be the worst one I’ve heard. At least say you’d rather spend your money on making that stupid ice cream rather than trying to convince us more people care about college wrestling then hoops.

Anyways, remember when Adam said Penn State isn’t afraid of us in that Mondesi’s House post?

A commenter at the Penn State blog gave us the exact reason Paterno won’t schedule us.

The bottom line is we don’t need this rivalry. We’ll get our guaranteed win elsewhere.

It would be horrible to lose a team like Pitt, wouldn’t it? Penn State fans will call us a second tier program, however they know it’s not out of the question that we could be them. How do you avoid that? Don’t play them.

I don’t want to talk money, TV deals, or any of that garbage. In the end, Penn State and Pitt can both live without playing this game. I want to see this game for the fans, for rivalry, for tradition, and for history. By the way, the next time someone tells you a Pitt-Penn State rivalry is dead or doesn’t exist, have them read this post. Have them read the mud slinging that goes on at varioud blogs and websites. Have them recall the last time they didn’t root against any PSU team in any PSU sport (or vice versa for you Happy Valley folks) and then have them tell you it’s dead.

I don’t hold great animosity any longer to Ben Howland. I used to, but I don’t have the energy. I don’t hold great affection for him either. I’ll try to explain in my usual, concise way.

The Ralph Willard era was pathetic. Willard took too many chances on players with some talent but a lot more issues. Willard was horrible as a coach at Pitt. I don’t care what kind of job he has done or continues to do at Holy Cross, I won’t forget just how bad he was at Pitt. Pathetic in-game coach and even worse in reaching the players. I had the misfortune of attending the two biggest collapses by Pitt under Willard. A loss to Rutgers in February, 1996, 71-70. Pitt had been up by well over 20 points in that game and took the entire entire 2nd half to give the game away — 1000 paper cuts. The other, of course, was that epic collapse in December 1998. A 70-69 loss to UConn that Willard claimed caused the team to suffer a sustained hangover effect as they lost 5 of their next 7. I always have believed that Willard sealed his own fate then. Not by losing to UConn, but by saying the effects of the loss stayed with the team for over a month — essentially conceding he couldn’t get the team past blowing the game.

Howland came in as several of the bad seeds either failed out, left or were kicked out for criminal issues. There’s no getting around it or pretending Pitt may have had some of the seedier collections of players this side of a Jim Harrick team.

The resulting teams for the first couple of years were undermanned; but the team embraced a defense first style, the effort was obvious and the game plans sound. The turnaround wasn’t nearly as sudden as sometimes portrayed — except in attitude. Even the second year, the turnaround wasn’t huge. Pitt finished 7-9 in the Big East, a two game improvement. Then came a tremendous run in the Big East Tournament that got everyone’s attention — mainly because Pitt had never done it before. A team that went no more than 6 deep won 3 straight games (including an OT) to get to the Big East Championship. By that point the team was gassed and toasted by BC by the second half.

I remember that run vividly because I had to go to a nearby dive bar to watch. I had just moved in with my girlfriend and she didn’t have cable (and I still married her). So I spent 4 straight days in a little bar filled with cheap beer and smoke. Intently watching the game on a smeared TV screen in Euclid, Ohio I was able to get them to switch to. Drinking probably a little too quickly and much because of the nerves. It was great.

But now there was real hope, belief and some actual expectations. The next two years were very special.

In the 2002-03 season, it quickly became clear that Steve Lavin was not long for staying in charge of the Bruins. All talk centered on Ben Howland considering all that was happening at Pitt. Locally and nationally, few doubted that Howland would be pursued by UCLA. His Southern California roots, his father still back there, Jim Rome pushing him for the job any chance he could get. As my friends and I debated and discussed whether Howland would leave Pitt for UCLA, I posted (way back on my original blog) some of what worked pro/con in Howland leaving; and what goes into being an elite basketball program. By elite, I don’t mean a top team right now, I mean a team that has sustained success, storied tradition, history and fans with a sense of entitlement. UCLA fit that mold.

As you would expect from most coaches, Howland did the usual coachspeak, denial/non-denial cliches: I haven’t been contacted; I have a job; I don’t want to discuss it… Nothing unusual or unexpected. UCLA didn’t even make the NCAA Tournament and Lavin was gone quickly. That meant heavy speculation on Howland was underway early. There was wishful thinking that perhaps the Bruins would cast their eye on Mark Few at Gonzaga.

It didn’t happen. A few days after Pitt lost to Marquette and Wade in the Sweet 16, Ben Howland was introduced as the new head coach of UCLA. I was not surprised, and really was more concerned about who would take over the job at Pitt. There were plenty of compelling reasons for him to take the UCLA job — from prestige to family and all the stuff in between. Disappointing to lose a very good coach, to be sure.

Then some things came out to sour the feelings. (The stories about why Donatas Zavakas was pulled from the game and appeared to quit on the team — for what he said to Howland about the UCLA job, allegedly — I did not hear for a while. For some this is a reason to hate Howland — being distracted by the UCLA job and a player calling him out on it. For me, since I didn’t hear the story at the time it never really entered into my issues with him.)

It turned out Howland didn’t even want to tell his old players he was leaving. That fell to the Jamie Dixon. After that came out, Howland, belatedly, returned to meet with them. That left a bad taste. Then came reading the story of his introductory press conference.

The day after Pitt lost to Marquette in the third round of the NCAA tournament, Howland had a friend contact Guerrero.

“I knew right away what I wanted to do, which was to pursue this opportunity,” the coach said.

That was the killer for me. All the coachspeak about not looking, and happy where he was just went out the window. He had just stated that as soon as Pitt had lost. The pain hadn’t even receded for the fans, the team, and he was having intermediaries tell UCLA he wanted the job. Howland couldn’t even wait for UCLA to contact him like everyone knew they would. The corpse was still warm. It was open and admitted pursuit and made me along with most fans wonder how much he really cared or tried as a coach in the Marquette loss.

As a Pitt fan, how does that not come off as incredibly cold, callous and just wrong by Howland? How does that not create some very hard feelings in what otherwise may have been an amicable departure?

Yes, Howland did a lot of good at Pitt. He helped — along with the new building and an aggressive AD — change the culture around Pitt basketball. That doesn’t change that he created some hard feelings with the way he left.

There’s was also — and while this is not at all Howland’s fault, it contributed to fan frustration and animosity to Howland’s departure — the piss poor way that Pitt handled trying to decide on a new coach. Pitt was acting at the time with only an interim AD — no excuse for that since it had been 4 months since the former had left (and he gave notice). So you had the school chancellor and an interim AD doing the search. They only interviewed two candidates: Wake Forest’s Skip Prosser and Jamie Dixon.

Prosser was the guy they wanted. It was to the point where they were down in New Orleans for the Final Four and didn’t even contact any other possibilities to at least informally talk about the job. Prosser ultimately turned down the job and chose to stay at Wake Forest. A good deal of which had to do with still not finding a full time AD. After very publicly flubbing the pursuit of Prosser, the school hired Dixon. Now, obviously this has turned out to be a good hire, but the issue wasn’t the hiring. It was the process — or rather the complete lack of planning and thoroughness in searching for candidates. It just has seemed much more luck then skill.

It was one thing to pursue one particular coach hard and strong, but to not get him, and then fall back on an assistant, who at the time was an unknown and the interview seemed like a courtesy to him and the players that wanted him. It wasn’t like Dixon was the “hot assistant” at the time. The highest profile job he had been considered was at Wright State. This was and is no knock on Coach Dixon. It was the reality of the situation.

Well it came off as minor league and a decision that if they couldn’t get the guy they really wanted, the school would take a clear 2nd choice on the cheap. That contributed to fan frustration and more annoyance at Howland leaving.

Is it all logical? Is it fair? No. It also doesn’t matter. Being a fan has very little to do with logic. There’s just too much emotion involved. A coach leaving a team is like a divorce. It doesn’t matter how many good times were had. It doesn’t matter if on side professes to still care after they were the one to leave. The fact is they left and it is the last memory. There’s going to be bitterness.

Okay, so the afternoon games have hardly been shockers. A momentary scare for Maryland, but even that passed. Let’s face it, we are hoping for more of the same, at least as far as Pitt is concerned in the nightcap.

Antonio Graves got a nice feature story in USA Today.

“I got him on the phone,” Dixon says, “and now that I know him more I can imagine the smile he had through the phone, because when certain things come through that you work for, I recognize the smile he might have had.”

Four years later, Graves’ team bio still lists his happiest and most gratifying moment in sports. It’s the day he signed with Pitt.

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky on recruits. Not only with Graves but when Walter Walters failed to qualify and went to Cleveland St. for a week before failing out there. Considering the NCAA emphasis on academics, Pitt dodged an additional bullet with APR issues. (Seton Hall could be heading for a minefield with that issue once Pitt recruit Mike Davis possibly finally qualifying.)

The New York Post notes what Pitt has done over the years,

They are the Big East’s forgotten power in so many ways. They just competed in their sixth league championship game in seven years, a stretch of excellence that covers two coaching administrations and is unparalleled in conference history. They are one of only 12 teams that have played in each of the last six NCAA tournaments; no other Big East school can say that.

Yet, there is something about the Pittsburgh Panthers that is easy to overlook. Georgetown beat them in that finale last week, and the Hoyas are the fashionable selection among bracketeers to enjoy the league’s longest NCAA run. Just as much energy was devoted this week to who’s not here – Syracuse missing the NCAAs, St. John’s and UConn being left out of NIT – as to who is here.

Of course, we all know why, Pitt hasn’t gotten past the Sweet 16. Syracuse in the 80s couldn’t get past G-town in the Big East Championships for years before finally breaking through. Still at least they made runs in the tournament.
I think Ray Fittipaldo is about sick of getting the e-mails and messages about how bad Gray is. I can’t say I blame him. I try to attribute it to some anxiety about the team not succeeding in the Tournament, but some of it seems like downright hatred. To the point where people don’t even want to admit when he did play well. I guess it’s the problem when you harden your position to an absolute, there are no exceptions. And even if the facts disagree, you still argue otherwise.

Just a little something I had forgotten about Wright State Coach Brad Brownwell and how basically the AD and administration went ultra-cheap on Brownwell to shove him out the door.

Brownell said if he had felt better at his situation at UNCW, it would have taken a coaching offer “really special” to make him leave. But he and athletic director Mike Capaccio couldn’t reach an agreement on a contract extension and Brownell resigned March 30 to take the job in Dayton.

“I had a couple of chances to leave there as an assistant and a couple of other times as head coach,” Brownell said. “Just building a program, being a part of something that was really special, that took a long time, that you put so much of your heart and soul into, you want to reap the rewards of that.

“It’s really a special place, but sometimes things don’t work out. Things change and you don’t always know if you feel right.”

Last year UNC-Wilmington was in the NCAA Tournament. This year they had 7 wins. That AD better have some incriminating photos of key members of the administration.

Periodically, I’ve read some comments or gotten e-mails about the 2003 recruiting class — specifically how those players that changed their minds about coming to Pitt have been busts. I’ve been aware of it, but not wanted to say anything. Not because it would be petty or cheap shots (believe me that isn’t it). Mainly because their careers aren’t over at this point.

The last thing I’d want to do is be premature or, um, un-jinx things by smirking too early. Especially for a certain QB going into his senior year at a state university. Afterall, it just takes one great season and suddenly a couple wasted years and a sub-par season becomes irrelevant.
The other reason is that it, to a now receding degree, scarred me and plenty of Pitt fans about verbals and signing day. There’s still a part waiting for the last minute change of mind, and a big loss of a player. Why bring back all that anxiety?
Of course, now I have to discuss it because Kevin Gorman in the Trib has a pretty good story on it.

When running backs James Bryant of Reading and Andrew Johnson of North Hills signed with Miami, Penn Hills quarterback Anthony Morelli with Penn State, Pahokee (Fla.) cornerback Alphonso Smith with Wake Forest and Dade City (Fla.) Pasco receiver Johnny Peyton with South Florida, a devastated Walt Harris was left searching for answers of how Pitt’s potential top-25 class went astray.

“That class,” national recruiting analyst Tom Lemming said, “might have cost Walt Harris his job.”

It didn’t cost him his job — directly. What it did was further erode a lot of remaining support. The 2003 football season did more damage to Harris’ job security. The loss of the recruiting class key players essentially removed the safety net that had been there.
The implosion of that recruiting class had a decent amount to do with the swirling uncertainty of the Big East’s status in the BCS mix. Still, there was the fact that the whole thing was a disappointment on top of disappointment and Harris fell back into a defensive crouch and it was widely perceived as a “Not my fault, Walt” move.

There’s actually a comment from Andrew Johnson that, well, is bizarre.

Yet, the five who didn’t sign with Pitt proved that the grass isn’t always greener: Where Smith is the nickel back at Wake Forest, which won the Atlantic Coast Conference, Peyton played immediately at USF, but was dismissed from the team in December 2005. Where Bryant plays fullback at Miami, Johnson saw limited playing time after tearing his ACL and transferred to Akron earlier this month.

“It’s hard to tell how everything would have worked out” if the five would have signed with Pitt, Johnson said. “I don’t regret the decision I made. It made me a better football player, being down there with better athletes. If I would have gone to Pitt, I might have just been handed the job and I would have been the same type of back I was in high school. When you get with the type of athletes and competition at Miami, you have to raise your game.”

I get not looking back with regret, but even before tearing his ACL, he wasn’t doing much with the ‘Canes. If that raised his game, then his game must never have been much before — despite his rankings by the recruiting sites.

Of course, the better thing regarding recruiting is that better days are not only here now, there’s just as much promise for next year.

The Panthers already have a head start on 2008 with commitments from Johnstown cornerback Antwuan Reed and Jones, a 6-foot-2 1/2, 325-pounder who was offered a grayshirt, meaning he would enroll full-time in January. There is a possibility he will start in August if Sheard chooses to go elsewhere, but Jones isn’t banking on it.

“They told me it’s a grayshirt unless a scholarship comes open this fall,” said Jones, who will sign a national letter of intent today. “I think it will be real beneficial. It will give me time to grow and lose more weight.”

The best day about NLI day and recruiting stuff — blind optimism.

The problem with being a long-term cynic of sports in general, it’s that you never know when a story is true or just revisionism. Now let’s talk strength and conditioning. When Coach Wannstedt took over, the stories we heard was about how the team would get faster. Not just from recruits, but strength and conditioning would emphasize speed and slimming down. Stories were written about slimming down. How conditioning had picked up. Remember the bonding over the winter workouts?

Now, I like Buddy Morris. He’s colorful, but more importantly he gets results and has strong loyalty to the school and players love him. Having said all of that, my cynical side reared it’s ugly head at this story.

The former Pitt sprinter is a self-described “fanatic on the technical application of movement.” He speaks as passionately about the metaphysics of strength and speed training. Video coordinator Chad Bogard taped early sprint and weight-lifting workouts so Morris could correct players’ flaws.

Morris also is enlisting the help of Pitt’s resources within the UPMC Sports Medicine Center, from director of human performance Bob Robertson to sports nutritionist Leslie Bonci, to teach the Panthers about lifestyle habits.

“This is the single-most important thing they do, train their bodies,” Morris said. “They play with their body. They need to take care of them.”

Morris seeks perfection, which starts with uniformity. The players must wear matching gold tops, blue shorts and black shoes to workouts. The exceptions are those who don’t meet Morris’ standards and are subjected to wearing pink shirts that read, “I work out at Curves,” a women’s fitness center.

The Panthers were given freedom under Kent, but they now adhere to Morris’ strict regimen. Morris has separated the players in groups of two dozen or less, with workouts scheduled according to their classes, so he can give them personal attention and prevent malingering.

“It’s definitely a shock to me,” redshirt junior linebacker Scott McKillop said. “You have two different personalities. Coach Kent was more of a laid-back person; Buddy is more in your face. He’s basically breaking us down and starting us from scratch.”

I guess, we’ll have to wait and see the results on the field.

UPDATE: The article is wonderfully optimistic, and says all the right things, I know. I’m just feeling cynical about that sort of puffery. Coming into this past season there was all talk about how players were in better condition — LaRod Stephens-Howling or slimmed down (Shane Brooks).

When Kent was hired, it was with much acclaim that Pitt got the guy who helped build and condition L-Ville — and in fact he was a S&C coach who emphasized low body fat.

This might be amusing, following the beginning of the Wannstedt era, this from a Zeise Q&A.

Yes, Mike Kent and his assistant Darren Honeycutt were retained, which may have been the best news of all to come out of the coaching change. I thought these two did a tremendous job last year with the team and now that they’ve had a year to put their offseason workout and their weight training and conditioning program in place, the team’s level of strength and overall fitness should take off. There is no doubt that Kent is one of the best in the business at what he does and Honeycutt should be ready to take over his own program some day.

Things change. I think this change of S&C coach is more important for being a guy Wannstedt wanted more and may be more supportive of and get behind. I don’t think Mike Kent and his regimen was the reason for Pitt’s performance the past couple years.

An amusing mailbag thread has been going through SI.com’s Grant Wahl column. He wrote a piece lauding Ben Howland for bringing East Coast toughness to the West Coast and UCLA. Someone countered that Howland is from Cali and got his fundamentals at UC-Santa Barbara. Wahl, conceded the point and then went further to point out that in the early ’90s the great defense came out of the West with UNLV and Jerry Tarkanian. This led to yet another point.

I find it interesting that in your answer about Ben Howland and “East Coast” basketball that you mention as the best defensive team of the last two decades Jerry Tarkanian’s UNLV running the “amoeba” defense in the early ’90s. To close the loop the whole way, the assistant coach that brought the amoeba to UNLV was Tim Grgurich. Grgurich learned the amoeba defense while a young assistant (he was also later the head coach) at, you guessed it, Pitt in the early 70s. The head coach at Pitt then was a classy gentleman by the name of Buzz Ridl. I don’t know if the amoeba defense was Ridl’s invention, but his teams used it extensively.
— Joe Smith, North Huntingdon, Pa.

Great stuff, Joe, and thanks for the amplification. The man known affectionately as Timgurg is another highly regarded hoops mind among the cognoscenti who deserves more widespread attention. Strange thing: when you do a Google search of “amoeba defense grgurich ridl” you get one result, which happens to be in … Italian. We aren’t the greatest Italian reader, but there’s some useful stuff in here if you’re curious, including an origin citation to a 1971-72 Pitt game that will serve as our Hoops Lingo item of the week.

I keep hoping that Pitt will make a better effort to reach Grgurich, to come back and talk to the basketball team. Maybe even give some advice and some tips. Grgurich is a great basketball mind and one of the best career assistants — he was never one for the rubber chicken circuit and gladhanding portion.
Luke Winn was looking at the Pomeroy stats and sees concern for Pitt because of the defense.

Pitt is both highest-ranked team on the list and the most surprising inclusion. Just a year ago the Panthers finished 12th in the nation in defensive efficiency with a rating of 89.8 — and despite losing only one major player, Carl Krauser, have slipped to 115th. Pitt coach Jamie Dixon is a disciple of UCLA’s Ben Howland (their teams were Nos. 1 and 2 in the country earlier this month) but the Panthers have turned very un-Howland-like in 2006-07, riskily relying on an elite offense to make up for an average D. It’s easy to blame the lapse on Krauser’s absence, but Pitt is also giving up more offensive boards: The Panthers ranked sixth in the nation in 2005-06 in percentage of offensive rebounds allowed (26.3), while in ’06-07 they’re 69th (30.7 percent).

I honestly think the defense and rebounding will be tightening up soon. It’s not going to reach last year’s numbers, but it will improve.

A couple of stories I haven’t had a chance to link that are still interesting or worth noting.

Going back to Buffalo, a little bit of history regarding how Curtis Aiken got from Buffalo to the ‘Burgh.

Aiken was so sure he was attending Kansas that he called a news conference to announce a verbal commitment. But after longtime Kansas coach Tom Owens was replaced by Larry Brown, Aiken was advised to re-open his recruitment. Aiken’s grandmother raised him and was getting up in age so he wanted to stay close to home.

Aiken considered Syracuse but the Orangemen had already signed point guard Dwayne “Pearl” Washington. The best option was Pitt.

“[Washington] and I had a strong rivalry and I wanted it to continue,” said Aiken, who scored 1,200 points and handed out 378 assists. “Pitt was the best fit for me because I thought I could have the biggest impact and it turned out to be a good situation for me.”

Aiken, who is a friend and neighbor of Dixon’s, said Dixon likes local players because of their toughness and their head-in-your-chest defense.

“He respects the players that come out of Buffalo because they’re not only talented, but they’re never going to back down,” Aiken said. “They’ll get up in your face, play “D’ 94 feet. That’s the kind of kids he tries to recruit and Buffalo produces those kinds of kids. That’s why he wanted Paul Harris in the worst way.”

Since there are plenty of comments about the physical development of Antonio Graves and other Pitt players, the article from yesterday about Pitt basketball’s strength and conditioning program is worth reading.

One reason for the staying power of the undefeated, No. 2-ranked Pitt men’s basketball team is the behind-the-scenes work of members of the team’s conditioning and nutritional programs.

Pitt strength coach Tim Beltz and UPMC nutritionist Leslie Bonci provide the players with a game plan to either gain or lose weight — depending on which will enhance their play — while adding muscle mass.

“It is unique that we take weight off and change their bodies,” coach Jamie Dixon said. “We’ve had a lot of success in that area.”

The conditioning plan has helped a program that doesn’t often land high school All-Americans and top-20 recruits to become one of the nation’s most consistent teams.

While on the subject of Graves, it is interesting to recall the circumstances of how he got to Pitt (since that has been a question recently). Pitt had a commit from Walter Walters out of Detroit. He was struggling to qualify academically, and with the change in coaches, bailed in August 2003. This opened the door for Pitt to recruit a back-up point guard for Pitt. Especially with a recruiting class that had two big men in Taft and Gray and a forward in Dante Milligan.

Milligan of course eventually transferred to UMass because of lack of playing time. Where he is now playing under 15 minutes a night off the bench. Walters failed out at Cleveland State. Chris Taft left early, and after an unfortunate back injury is now out of the NBA. Quite the “where are they now?” for the class of ’03.
This late opening for a recruit timed out just right as Antonio Graves had finally qualified academically. Graves was an all-Ohio first teamer, but had his offers limited by academic issues. Teams like Rutgers and Charlotte were the only offers until he qualified. At which time, Pitt beat out Cinci and Ohio State for his services.

Since Graves signing with Pitt happened the same month PittSportsBlather began, there’s always been a bit of fondness for Graves at the Blather.