DC Matt House has been his main recruiter and working with House seemed to seal the deal according to PantherLair. He picked up the offer 2 weeks ago while here for a prospect camp. Maddox’s best asset is his speed. He allegedly ran a 4.38 at an Ohio State camp last year. He had 1,133 total yards and 10 touchdowns on offense and 3 interceptions on defense last year. The coaches project him as a CB at the next level.

Stay tuned for more here on PittBlather. I expect at least 2 or 3 more verbals before the end of the month.

The last two days has him one shy, as Pitt added a second verbal for the day.

While not the pedigree of Grimm, they added an athlete-WR-S from Philly. Patrick Amara from West Catholic.

He’s a 3-star to 2-star to unrated player who visited Pitt the previous week and picked up an offer. He’s got good size at 6-2 and is roughly 170 pounds.

His other offers are admittedly not impressive. Low MAC to 1-AA programs (and UCF). But Pitt liked what they saw in him. Here’s a collection of his highlights (warning, autoplay).

The Trib website is already posting an article by Kevin Gorman on Mike Grimm making his verbal to Pitt (so we will see how long until it gets pulled).

In the meantime…

He is Pitt’s first of two WPIAL recruits and fifth overall from the Class of 2014.

“All the Pitt coaches made me feel comfortable,” Grimm said. “They respected me as a player and made sure everything was OK. They were grown-up about the situation and made me see that I could really grow as a person and as a football player from being there with them.”
…
A three-year starter for the Black Hawks, Grimm switched from left tackle to strong-side last season because Bethel Park’s quarterback, Levi Metheny, is left-handed. Grimm projects as a right tackle in college.

Grimm is excited about playing alongside former prep All-Americans Adam Bisnowaty of Fox Chapel and Dorian Johnson of Belle Vernon on Pitt’s offensive line in the future.

“It made me feel more comfortable, meeting those guys and talking to them at games this year,” Grimm said. “It made me feel like it was a good place to be because everybody is at the same caliber, and we can succeed the same way. We can make each other better.”

Being close to home was an obvious factor in his decision.

In the recruiting rankings he is a high-3 star for Scout.com, 247 and ESPN.com. Rivals.com puts him at 4-stars. He had offers from most of the Big 10 and ACC schools.

Grimm was a very important player for Pitt and this staff to get. He was long considered a Pitt lean/lock, but he couldn’t be taken for granted. If Coach Paul Chryst and the staff managed to blow it with him, it would have been devastating in terms of building the team and fan confidence.

It’s not likely that Grimm will step in and start as a freshman, but it won’t be surprising to see him make a push early. Given Bisnowaty will be at left tackle and Dorian Johnson will likely be at right tackle, seeing him slide to guard wouldn’t be a surprise.

UPDATE (9:00 am): Well since the cat is out of the bag, PantherLair (Rivals.com) has put out their (free) story on Grimm’s verbal.

“After Friday, I really knew I wanted to go there. Being with the coaches and talking to a lot of the team, I think I fit in really well with the guys they have and the offensive line that’s there. And I think it can help to have a big local offensive lineman committed; it can help them recruit guys from the area.”

Grimm knows the impact of a four-star commitment on the offensive line, and he plans to go to work on the recruiting trail. Those efforts will start with another four-star recruit from western Pennsylvania.

“I definitely think that Shai McKenzie could excel behind a big offensive line,” he said. “I’ve talked to him a couple times and I feel like he’s a really good running back. I think he could excel with a great offensive line and definitely reach his full potential.

“They recruited a lot of big linemen last year and they’re planning to take three or four this year, so I think a good quarterback and a good running back could help the school excel and make it on the big bowl level and even with winning an ACC championship.”

And former center Ryan Turnley gave his endorsement to the coaching staff in developing the O-line after hearing the news.

The big downside with Bertke is that he plays in the lowest level of high school football in Ohio. He did lead his team to a 10-2 record last year and has had some sniffs from the big boys like Ohio State and Michigan. The good news is that he’s obviously not expected to start right away or anything, so he’ll have time to adjust to the college game. The QB position is one where you can never have enough options. Tony Pike was the 3rd option in Cinci after Ben Mauk couldn’t get a 6th season of eligibility and Dustin Grutza broke his ankle. Anything will be better than what we’ve had behind Tino Sunseri the past 2 seasons.

Hopefully we have another verbal tomorrow. 4* OT Mike Grimm may be announcing tomorrow afternoon. The Bethel Park standout worked out on campus this past Friday. All signs point to a Pitt verbal if he does announce tomorrow. This recruiting class could look a lot better over the course of 24 hours.

*edit*

Chris Peak from Rivals is reporting that Dennis Briggs from Shady Side Academy has also given us a verbal. He’s a 5’11 190lb RB/DB From Pittsburgh. He had offers from us, Toledo, and Yale.

The U19 squad is only bringing four true guards. Marcus Smart of Oklahoma State was a lock. Nearly as much of a lock, Rasheed Sulaimon from Duke and Michael Frazier. Frazier just happens to be on Billy Donovan’s –the U19 head coach — Florida squad.

Robinson made it past the initial cut-down from 26 to 16. Guards like Rodney Purvis (NC State), Kris Dunn (Providence) and Javan Felix (Texas) were among the first to go. But on the final cut, the U19 coaches opted for guards that not only played defense, but were also scorers. Hence Ryan Arcidiacono of Villanova didn’t make the final cut either.

Robinson’s shooting — especially from outside — likely played a significant role in not making this squad. Except for Payton, all of the guards making the squad shot 3s at 40% or better. And while Payton’s 32.0% 3-point shooting isn’t far from Robinson’s 31.3%; Payton shot 47.5% overall compared to only 36.8% by Robinson.

It’s not all bad that Robinson will be on campus all summer. The Kentucky players all turned down even going to tryouts in the name of getting more time together in Lexington.

I think playing on the U19 squad would be beneficial, but with all the changes to the roster from this past year it really can’t hurt for Pitt’s starting point guard to get all the time possible with the new teammates. On and off-the-court.

“It felt like a new home and a new start and I need to get away and start clean.”

The 6-foot-8, 240-pound Randall also considered Iona and Minnesota. He visited Pittsburgh last Thursday.

Randall, a Bronx native who played at South Kent (Conn.) and Paterson (N.J.) Catholic, averaged 2.1 points and 1.5 rebounds as a sophomore at Rutgers.

He opted to transfer in the wake of the Mike Rice scandal and could obtain a waiver to play immediately.

Randall was a 3-star center coming out of prep/high school. He’s got two years of eligibility remaining.

His minutes and numbers went down from his freshman to sophomore year.

That was something of a surprise to see his numbers decrease, since the minutes for him were supposed to be increasing.

Prior to the season, head coach Mike Rice told the Blue Ribbon Yearbook that he was one of the most improved players on the team, and that he had a future as a big time rebounder. Then his minutes declined from his freshman year. All told, he only played double-digit minutes in 10 games.

 

Part of the reason he didn’t play is because he didn’t rebound. He was fine on the offensive end, but only grabbed 7.7% of the boards on the defensive end. To put that into perspective for Pitt fans, 6-0 point guard Tray Woodall’s defensive rebound % was over 10%.

But Randall has the size, and he has the athleticism.

So that potential is still there. As is the very chance of seeing minutes right away with a waiver. Obviously, Pitt could use another extra body to absorb some minutes in the frontcourt for the coming year. As it stands it is Young, Zanna and Uchebo are the only true centers and power forwards on the roster.

Run the Floor, makes a point that I can’t entirely disagree with regards to Randall. That the kid — and maybe Pitt for the future — might benefit from him not getting a waiver. Obviously he needs work and it might be more beneficial for him to not be forced into the rotation. Still, my money is on him getting a waiver and getting around 10 minutes a game.

Then there is guard Trevor Lacey. The transfer from Alabama. There was a brief flare of a rumor last week that he had committed to NC State. Lacey directly extinguished the rumor on Twitter. As it stands, he all indications are that he is deciding between Pitt and NC State.

NC State under Mark Gottfried has been fantastic at reeling in the talent. Gottfried was a hell of a recruiter when he worked for Jim Harrick at UCLA in the 90s and even at Alabama when he was the head coach (1998-2009). So, from that perspective he is hard to bet against. His ability to coach the talented players to any consistency is something entirely different.

Still no indication as to when he will make a decision. Since both Pitt and NC State have multiple scholarship openings, there is no real chance one school would run out of scholarships before the end of the summer (hopefully Lacey won’t take that long).

UPDATE: So much for waiting on Lacey. He’s now made it official with the Wolfpack. Damn.

Still two weeks until the ACC becomes official and I have a strong distaste for Gottfried. He’s beaten Pitt for Beejay Anya, Linnard Freeman and now Lacey. Of course, no one ever disputed his skill as a recruiter.

When they were recruiting me, they weren’t arrogant about anything, they weren’t lying to me; they were being honest with me. They’re just a good staff.

Williams is listed at 6’2 180 and had offers from Syracuse, Temple, Buffalo, and a few others. He was on an unofficial visit and was here to participate in an invite only workout with 10 or 11 other players.  His primary recruiter was DE/LB coach John Palermo.

I know a lot of people aren’t pleased with the lack of results thus far and a few of the players we haven’t landed, but as I mentioned on the Optimistic portion of my OvP column on recruiting: it’s an end game. It’s not over a player chisels his name into stone faxes over his Herbie Hancock. Sorry, I forgot which antiquated method of communication is used to submit a verbal.

One chiseled stone we’re eager to get is Washington, PA RB Shai McKenzie. McKenzie released his top 5 in order of preference yesterday. Right now, the list is Florida State, Pitt, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, and Arkansas. Local paper the Observer Reporter had an interview with Shai and he told Jason Mackey how he narrowed his list down.

“Who was honest,” McKenzie answered. “Relationships. What did I like about a lot of these schools. Which coaches kept in contact with me and showed their interest. If I was a priority or not.”

That seems to bode well for us. If we aren’t showing McKenzie that he’s a top priority something is very wrong. Given that we’re #2 on his list it’s safe to assume he knows how desperately he’s wanted. If Chryst and company land McKenzie and Keller Chryst, no one will complain about recruiting for a few months.

Who the hell am I kidding? Yinz will always find something to complain about; it’s Pitt sports. There’s always a reason. On a personal note, sorry for the lack of posts from me lately. I’ve been busy and had some personal issues to deal with (sorry for the twitter whining, followers) but hopefully things will ease up a little bit soon.

Former Vanderbilt basketball player Sheldon Jeter, embroiled in a transfer dispute with Commodores basketball coach Kevin Stallings, said Thursday his appeal to Commodores officials to be released to Pitt has been denied.

Jeter, from Beaver Falls High School, announced in May his intentions to transfer to another school closer to home. Stallings informed Jeter, as is his right under NCAA scholarship bylaws, that he could transfer to any school in the country with the exception of Pitt.

The rules for appealing a denial of transfer are stacked against the student. They can file an appeal, but it is filed with the school that employs the coach and from where the kid wants to depart. If anyone can find some examples where an appeal went against the coach I’d love to know.

The other detail is that we at least have confirmation of one piece of previously unclear information. Only Pitt was blocked by Vanderbilt and Kevin Stallings.

As the Vandy blog Anchor of Gold notes, this is the first time Stallings has put a restriction on a transfer. The reasonable suspicion on the restriction would be that Stallings believes there was some tampering — yet he won’t come out and make the accusation.

Jeter could still transfer to Pitt, but he could not receive a scholarship for the first year. That’s a tough pill to swallow and not surprisingly, Jeter isn’t saying what he will do.

Part of the problem here, is that after the initial news that Jeter had some restrictions on his transfer, no one talked. Jeter opted not to take it to the media. Apparently trying to work it out with Stallings and Vandy quietly. Vandy and Kevin Stallings refused to make any public comment. Stallings in particular wouldn’t say a word.

Side note, in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette piece it notes,

Stallings has not spoken publicly about his decision to deny Jeter a transfer to Pitt. Stallings could not be reached Thursday.

From The Tennesseean:

Stallings did not publicly disclose his reason for blocking Pitt.

Jeter has not returned numerous messages from The Tennessean seeking comment.

In case you missed some recent examples of transfers with restrictions that gained notoriety.

As for Vanderbilt’s denial of Jeter’s appeal, this isn’t the first time a college program has taken this kind of step and it certainly won’t be the last. There was Phil Martelli denying Todd O’Brien’s request to be cleared to play at UAB, and despite media pressure Martelli refused to budge.

And there’s also the case of former Wisconsin forward Jarrod Uthoff, who would ultimately be cleared to transfer to Iowa after head coach Bo Ryan was criticized publicly for prohibiting the move.

The Uthoff case from last year is the example from which I think Kevin Stallings learned the lesson of keeping quiet. Uthoff and his family made the restrictions public and helped create more attention on the matter. Bo Ryan responded — and did so poorly. He basically spoke of Uthoff as chattel. How the school and coaches invested in him by recruiting and coaching him while he was redshirting in his first year. As if that gave them greater right and claim to control his choices.

Not surprisingly, it blew up in Ryan and Wisconsin’s face and definitely played a role in removing the restrictions.

Conversely it could be fair to say Sheldon Jeter made a tactical error in being quiet about the matter. Uthoff and his parents made sure the media knew. He did interviews. Talked about it. Kept it in the news cycle and brought unwanted attention to Wisconsin and Bo Ryan.

Jeter allowed his situation to disappear from public awareness (outside of Pitt and Vandy fans). He let Vandy whisper some excuses without any rebuttal.

Jeter’s only leverage really was public attention. Vandy/Stallings, though, has the control over his transfer. The system is rigged to favor the school and coach. By trying to work quietly and with some dignity to the whole thing, he completely weakened his position to get what he wanted.

The Virginia Tech blog, The Key Play has a proposal on the scheduling that does away with fixed cross-over games in favor of priority partner scheduling.

A priority partner would be chosen for each team every two years, and result in a home-and-home series. Priority partners would be determined by closely matching teams according to total number of regular season ACC wins in the previous two years, while avoiding permanent crossover pairings. The following example uses 2011 and 2012 ACC wins to set the schedule in 2014-2015 (because 2013 games haven’t happened yet).

It’s an interesting idea because it is a bit like the approach taken in the Big East with basketball scheduling. Unbalanced schedules in Big East basketball set to maximize competition and make TV partners happy with marquee games.

Football tends to schedule a little further out, so there are some chances that good match-ups turn out to be dogs, when based on records from prior years, but on initial review it is an idea worth considering further.

It’s no secret that football is king. Even the worst televised college football game generally beats the best college basketball games in the regular season. But how do individual games do on certain channels? And just as important, which teams draw the ratings?

Big Apple Buckets takes a stab at breaking some of it down. It’s very interesting about the drop-off in viewership from ESPN to ESPN2 or ESPNU. If the game is on CBS or ESPN, it is significantly higher (by at least a factor of 3) than ESPN2 or ESPNU.

Part of me wonders if at least some of that has to do when ESPN and CBS air the bulk of their college basketball games. CBS doesn’t start airing college basketball until at least mid-January. ESPN doesn’t do that much college basketball in November and December — at least compared to January to March, because of college football, NFL and then the college football bowl games. Big Monday, for example, doesn’t launch until January every year.

So the ESPN2 and ESPNU numbers could be depressed from the games they air in November and December that don’t get a lot of attention.

There were 98 teams that played at least five games on one of the networks. (Full list in spreadsheet form.) The most surprising to me is Old Dominion’s eight. The Monarchs took advantage of the CAA’s television deal with NBCSN and some nice non-conference games with VCU and Virginia to make it on a bunch. The only problem? The biggest viewership for any ODU game was 58,000 for the Friday, Dec. 7 game against VCU on NBCSN.

The Mountain West is where NBCSN is really making its money. New Mexico and UNLV were the two highest drawing teams by average viewers. Amongst the 22 teams with at least two appearances on the network Harvard finished eighth and Penn ninth. (On the minus side Hofstra and Columbia were smack dab at the bottom, which could be related to their poor play last season.)

It should be noted that things weren’t all bad for non-BCS conference teams. Temple and Butler both performed well in the ratings. The Bulldogs made 12 appearances and averaged a 0.52 rating. Gonzaga also did okay with a 0.4 rating in 17 appearances. Interestingly enough, Davidson earned a 0.27 rating in seven appearances and beat out BCS teams such as Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Clemson and St. John’s in the ratings.

Amongst BCS teams Cal and Arizona State performed surprisingly poorly. Not so surprising are DePaul and Seton Hall being amongst the laggards. While the new Big East features big draws like Georgetown and Butler, schools like the Blue Demons and Pirates could be the noose around the neck. (Creighton’s ratings last season were on par with St. John’s and Villanova.)

The spreadsheet is definitely worth checking out. Pitt placed 33d on the list. They had a rating of 0.38. Compared to the rest of the ACC (excluding Maryland, but including Louisville) Pitt would be ranked 7th (the Panthers would also be ranked 7th in last year’s Big East) in being watched. Pitt suffered for only having 1 game on CBS and 5 games on ESPN — which also included a weekday (Friday) 2:30pm game in November against Delaware. Most of Pitt’s games last year were on ESPN2 or ESPNU. It can be a bit of a self-fulfilling prophesy for some programs. Get on the prime channels — CBS and ESPN — for college basketball exposure and your ratings are sure to be higher.

Still, while I think Pitt is a bit higher draw than last year’s numbers indicate, Pitt is still ranked in the upper-third of programs.

Want to see some more numbers? These involve dollar signs. Here’s a look at ACC revenue and some of its distribution for the past five years.

ACC television revenue nearly tripled from 2008-12, while the conference’s bowl income increased 50 percent and league basketball tournament receipts declined. This according to the ACC’s five most recent federal tax returns.

The net result for the conference’s 12 member schools during that time: Their average annual share of league revenue increased more than 43 percent, from $11.8 million to $16.9 million.

This placed the ACC in the middle of college football’s five power conferences, behind the Big Ten and Southeastern, and ahead of the Big 12 and Pacific 12. Their average per-school payouts ranged from the Pac-12’s $11.1 million to the Big Ten’s $23.8 million.

Most interesting is seeing the ACC Tournament in Greensboro becoming more of a money loser. You want to see the incentive to get to MSG (or even Barclays)? This is the reason.

The 2011-12 ACC men’s basketball tournament at Atlanta’s NBA arena grossed $5.1 million, a 21.9-percent dip from 2007-08 at Charlotte’s NBA arena. The $13.1 million in 2008-09 reflects the Georgia Dome venue and attendance of more than 30,000 per session.

For those who’ve noticed the empty seats at recent ACC tournaments, the revenue drop is no surprise. Will the additions of Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame for the 2014 event, and Louisville for 2015, goose interest? Or is this further evidence that the league needs to take the tournament to New York?

Take. The. Tournament. To. New York.

Two men who were members of the University of Pittsburgh football team when police said they were caught with drug paraphernalia failed to appear in court for their preliminary hearings this morning.

One of them, Khanyin Mosley-Smith, 21, came to city court later this afternoon with a letter confirming that he had performed community service and will have his charge dismissed, according to Mike Manko, a spokesman for the Allegheny County district attorney’s office.

The other, Eric Williams, 20, did not show and was held for trial in Common Pleas Court, Mr. Manko said.

So missing the hearing, not a big deal since the matter was all resolved. No real harm or foul there.

Whether he gets back on the squad this year — or next — is still an open question. He is still suspended indefinitely.

In a fantastic compilation of coaching tenure in college basketball head coaches, would it surprise anyone to know that the coaching turnover in Division 1 basketball coaches these days is worse? This past offseason, there have been 43 coaching changes. That’s 12.25% of all the jobs. In 2012, 46 (13.1%). And 2011 was a whopper at 55 changes (15.67%).

In just the last four years, 193 coaching changes have taken place. There has been a huge spike in coaching turnover.

Jamie Dixon has been at Pitt for 10 years. That places him at #42 among active coaches in terms of tenure at one place.

If you only include major conferences and high-mid-major programs like Gonzaga, Dixon is 15th in terms of tenure. Here’s the top-20 in major conferences:

1. April 3, 1976 Jim Boeheim, Syracuse
2. March 18, 1980 Mike Krzyzewski, Duke
.
.
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13. July 1, 1995 Tom Izzo, Michigan State
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15. March 27, 1996 Billy Donovan, Florida
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18. April 12, 1998 Rick Barnes, Texas
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22. April 1, 1999 Kevin Stallings, Vanderbilt
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25. July 26, 1999 Mark Few, Gonzaga
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27. July 14, 2000 Mike Brey, Notre Dame
28. March 21, 2001 Rick Pitino, Louisville
29. March 27, 2001 Jay Wright, Villanova
30. March 29, 2001 Bo Ryan, Wisconsin
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35. March 19, 2002 Leonard Hamilton, Florida State
36. April 3, 2002 Lorenzo Romar, Washington
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41. April 14, 2003 Roy Williams, North Carolina
42. April 15, 2003 Jamie Dixon, Pittsburgh
43. April 21, 2003 Bill Self, Kansas
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47. Aug. 22, 2003 Scott Drew, Baylor
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49. April 20, 2004 John Thompson III, Georgetown
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51. July 7, 2004 Thad Matta, Ohio State
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55. April 1, 2005 Matt Painter, Purdue

That much churn in the coaching carousel, has the impact of also driving up the salaries for coaches. So while you will hear and read about coaches complaining — in their own self-interest — about the increased pressure to win and expectations. You don’t hear them complaining about how it has also resulted in driving up their compensation for coping with that increased pressure.

If you can’t find good beer these days, you aren’t trying.

North Carolina keeps telling everyone it wasn’t an athletic scandal, but an academic scandal that just happened to involve some athletics. Yet, they can’t seem to put it behind them. Perhaps because every drip, drip, drip of information they finally, tortuously release when forced to suggests something else.

Julius Nyang’oro, the former UNC African studies chairman at the heart of an academic fraud scandal, had a cozy relationship with the program that tutored athletes, according to newly released emails.

Members of the academic support staff offered Nyang’oro football tickets and the chance to watch a game from the sidelines. One counselor offered to discuss athletes’ coursework over drinks, and another negotiated with Nyang’oro to schedule a no-show class.

UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp and other officials have said the Academic Support Program for Student Athletes did not collaborate with Nyang’oro or his department manager, Debbie Crowder, to create the classes to help keep athletes eligible to play sports.

The university, in its own investigation and in a probe helmed by former Gov. Jim Martin, had concluded the fraud was not intended to benefit athletes because nonathletes were also enrolled and received the same high grades. They have pinned the blame solely on Nyang’oro and Crowder.

The emails were released to The News & Observer this month as part of a public records request filed nearly a year earlier. None of the details within the correspondence had shown up in the numerous investigations conducted since the university confirmed the existence of the fraudulent courses in May 2012.

Is it a pure smoking gun? Not really, but once again it shows that this is not simply an “academic scandal.” It’s yet another piece that gets added to the pile of evidence. And once again it raises some more questions about the investigations if these e-mails never made it into any of the reports.

It’s one of those things. UNC has a bit of a holier-than-thou attitude about their academic component and their athletics. This has been a major blow, yet they keep claiming it was a limited academic scandal. Everyone else looks at it and sees that it is obviously an athletic scandal with academics.

I have trouble believing that UNC is actually trying to cover it up, per se. It seems more like a collective sense of denial. That this really didn’t happen. That it was all just a couple of rouge people that made this mess. So they keep ignoring/rationalizing away the big chunks of evidence that say something else.

/Penn State fans just shake their heads at such a willful inability to see the truth.

You know what happens when an athletic department is more awash in money than ever? You start spending it on things about which you really  don’t care. For example, Nebraska basketball. A program that hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 1998. A program with six total appearances, and zero NCAA Tourney wins.

That Nebraska poached an assistant from Georgetown.

But the Hunter-to-Nebraska development is wild, mostly because it means Nebraska just poached an assistant from Georgetown. And while it would be easy to question how Georgetown could let that happen, I think a better use of this space would be to highlight exactly what’s going on in Lincoln.

Simply put, this is not your grandfather’s Nebraska.

Or your father’s Nebraska.

Or even your older brother’s Nebraska.

The Big Ten school opened a new $20 million basketball practice facility in October 2011, will open a new $179 million basketball arena this season, and is paying second-year coach Tim Miles a salary that’ll eventually exceed $2 million annually, which brings me to Hunter and his salary. A source told CBSSports.com that it’ll be $230,000 a year, and that all three Huskers assistants now make at least $200,000 a year. So while Nebraska is still quite obviously a “football” school, the administration has made it clear it thinks there’s no reason basketball can’t operate at a high level, too.

The splintered Big East is going to find out that the arms race in basketball is going to get even more cutthroat. There’s a lot of money coming into the five major conferences, and there’s only so much more they can plow into football.

Programs are willing to put money into places where they have never done so before. Rail on Jamie Dixon’s latest extension, but if Tim Miles is getting a deal that will soon cross $2 million. At Nebraska. Then it is harder to say Dixon is overpaid. Now, just pay some closer attention to the assistant coaches salaries, Pitt.

Speaking of coaching and assistants…

It’s a long, but phenomenal piece on one assistant trying to climb the assistant coach ladder. This dude is not getting $230K to be an assistant. His story isn’t even atypical. There are so many assistants grinding and trying to get up the ladder. Making progress and then falling back.

Over the past two years, he has applied for dozens of coaching jobs at all sorts of levels — from Texas Tech University to Jacksonville State University to Odessa Community College.

He’s gotten close a handful of times. At the 2012 Final Four, in New Orleans, he was one of two finalists for an opening at Youngstown State University. More than 150 people had applied for that job, says Jerry Slocum, the head coach. Mr. Slocum eventually settled on someone with more experience recruiting in the Rust Belt.

Last summer, with few prospects, Mr. McRoy put in a call to Michael Grant, a former colleague who had an opening on his staff at Stillman College.

The catch: Stillman could pay just $3,000 for the season, plus room and board. Mr. McRoy knew that wasn’t enough to live on, but he was willing to take anything to stay in the game.

YSU is at best a middling Horizon League program. They are a low mid-major. And over 150 people applied for one assistant coaching position.

This is also the ten year mark of one of the worst college basketball scandals. The murder of Patrick Dennehy, a Baylor basketball player. Dennehy was technically a walk-on but it turned out that the Baylor head coach, Dave Bliss was secretly paying his way. After Dennehy was murdered and the investigation began, Bliss was only worried about covering his ass — specifically how to explain how Dennehy could afford the tuition at Baylor. His master plan was to mislead investigators by suggesting that Dennehy got his money — and may have met his death — because he dealt drugs.

One young assistant and former Baylor player, Abar Rouse did not approve of the plan as Bliss laid it out to them. He objected. His job and career was threatened. So, he took to recording the discussions to protect himself and to expose what Bliss was doing. He gave them to an attorney to get them to the NCAA. The attorney also leaked them to the media and eventually revealed his name — without Rouse’s consent.

Rouse was blackballed. If you don’t know or don’t remember this story, watch the video. I remember it, because — and the video shows a clip — there were some sanctimonious college coaches almost blaming Rouse. That he was the real villain for “betraying” his boss. That he wasn’t trustworthy or someone who could be hired. It pissed me off back then, and it still gets me angry.

Reminder, the National Letter of Intent is still the worst contract to sign.

Here is what the NLI guarantees the school:

• The player cannot be recruited by any other school.

• The player must enroll at the school for at least a year, or he/she must give up 25 percent of college athletic eligibility.

• Once said player is enrolled at the school, he/she is bound by NCAA transfer rules, which allow the school’s coach to decide if the player can transfer and receive an athletic scholarship anywhere else. (Also, the athlete still must sit out a year after transferring regardless of whether the program released him or her to receive a scholarship.)

• All these penalties stay in effect even if the school fires the head coach or the head coach leaves (usually basketball) or the assistant coach who recruited the player takes a new job within a week of National Signing Day (usually football).

Here is what the NLI guarantees a player:

• Other schools aren’t allowed to recruit him.

That’s it.

Sure, the NLI contains some language about guaranteeing an athletic scholarship, but that depends on two factors. First, the student must be admitted to the school. This seems logical enough, but if a school is asking the player to sign away all his leverage, the least the school can do is guarantee a seat in the freshman class. Second, the school must have enough available scholarships under NCAA rules.

And of course the scholarship is only valid for a year, with the school-only option to renew.

Beers Above Replacement? Beers Above Replacement.

Can’t believe there was never an actual video made.

Sunseri is trying to make the Saskatchewan Rough Riders. Credit for noting this to Cardiac Hill.

So how is it going. Apparently well, but at the same time exactly what you would expect to read when it comes to Sunseri.

I finally watched Sunseri for a full drive and I understand why he’s up here.

I’ve read that sentence over and over and cannot, for the life of me, decide if it is backhanded compliment or an upfront insult.

Sunseri overcame an initial issue with the shotgun snap to show some zip on his passes. He connected twice with Kierrie Johnson. Sunseri threw a low pass to Jordan Sisco that bounced high into the air, which wasn’t that good. A couple of plays later, Sunseri did a great job of leading Anthony Alexander deep into the corner of the end zone. Alexander made a diving attempt at the catch, but wasn’t able to haul in the ball. It was still pretty darned good.

Sunseri is battling to back-up Darian Durant (UNC). His competition is veteran Levi Brown (Richmond) and Drew Willy (Buffalo).

University of Pittsburgh athletic director Steve Pederson has been signed to a new five-year contract that will keep him at Pitt through at least 2018, Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg has announced.

“With the University of Pittsburgh set to officially join the Atlantic Coast Conference on July 1, our athletic programs never have been better positioned for future success,” Nordenberg said. “That is a real tribute to the hard work and effective leadership provided by>Steve Pederson as Pitt’s athletic director.

“Just two years ago, during a period of significant conference instability, Steve was a driving force in helping us to find the best possible conference home. When we received an invitation to join the ACC, Pitt not only had the chance to move to an outstanding athletic conference but also became aligned with some of the nation’s most prestigious academic institutions. The ACC is a perfect fit for the University of Pittsburgh, and our receipt of their invitation reflects well on both our overall institutional strength and on the tremendous progress made in Pitt athletics under Steve’s guidance.

“As we begin this exciting new era of ACC competition, we all have high aspirations for each of our programs. The creativity, strength and stability of Steve’s continued leadership will be an important asset as we pursue those lofty goals.”

In addition to the coming ACC money, the fundraising has been fine.

Pederson also has been instrumental in raising funds for the Panthers Club that subsidizes scholarships for student-athletes. The university reported a record total of $14 million in donations from 2010-2012.

Nordenberg likes Pederson. He has a good relationship with him. As long as Nordenberg remains the Chancellor — and there is little reason to think he is leaving anytime soon — Pederson’s job is safe.

I get why VT has been chosen. Geographically they are within the distance. There’s history from the old Big East. And Pitt has had their number, despite them lapping Pitt in the past twenty years in terms of success.

But a rivalry has to go both ways, and this one doesn’t come close right now. Heck, at best maybe third or fourth on the list for VT fans just in the ACC.

Right now for the Hokies, the rivalry list goes: Virginia, Miami and Georgia Tech. Virginia is an obvious one. No one should dispute that, despite the recent one-sidedness of it. That’s local. Battling over the same recruits. History. The stuff that matters in building a rivalry.

Miami should not be a surprise for the Hokies. They came together from the Big East. They were battling to rule the Big East before they moved to the ACC. There’s enough history to matter.

As for Georgia Tech, the games have been tough since coming to the ACC. And they have mattered. Outside of VT, the Yellow Jackets are the only team from the Coastal Division to get to the ACC Championship game (thanks to the VT blog, The Key Play for the help).

Seeing Miami on the list of teams Pitt fans think could/should be a rival is more than a bit of hubris. Pitt hasn’t beaten the Canes since a wonderful upset in 1997. Since then, Pitt has gone 0-7. The total scores of the games: 236-79. Aside from the almost, so close, what could have been loss in 2002 (28-21) it really hasn’t been pretty. The 9-22-1 overall record against Miami doesn’t even do it justice. From 1984 on, Pitt has been 1-15 vs. the Canes. At best, Miami is a measuring stick for Pitt to see where they are.

Syracuse? As Pitt fans we have barely managed to muster indifference to the Orange in football for the past forty years. UNC and Duke are just automatic in their own mutual hate. Georgia Tech? Um, I’m struggling to see that one blossoming.

For those suggesting, oh, what could have been with Maryland. No. The Terrapins were in the Atlantic. They were going to be cross-overed in football with Virginia (Louisville was placed in their spot when they join in 2014), not Pitt. So there never would have been enough meetings to make any rivalry outside the superficial Steelers-Ravens thing.

Let me be clear, Pitt-VT will probably continue to be a game that gives Hokies heartburn. And maybe in time — and I mean at least 15 years — it will move up on the list as something like a rival with VT. But that is a big question mark.

We’ve seen this dynamic at work. Penn State has been in the Big Ten for over 20 years. Despite what some Nitters will try and tell you, they don’t have a rivalry. Not with Michigan State for the Land Grant. Not with Michigan. And not with Ohio State. The games get the ratings. They have mattered enough for standings. But PSU is not their rival. They are a distant second to Michigan for MSU. Michigan is more concerned with Ohio State and Michigan State (and until it was just cancelled, Notre Dame). Ohio State is all about the team up north.

It’s the same reason we sometimes feel beaten over the head to the point of nausea with pro rivalries like Yankees-Red Sox, Lakers-Celtics, Packers-Bears, NHL’s Original Six. They are so few and far between. Football generally lends itself more easily to rivalries given the violence of the sport and the emotions they elicit, but even in the NFL the rivalries can rise and fade quickly.

This is why Pitt-Penn State was so important to restart for longer than a simple home-and-home — and why I personally believe Penn State has been so amenable to it with the passing of the one man blocking it — what makes college sports what they are. What differentiates themselves from a professional sports league. The rivalries matter. They get the fans and the participants emotional. You have to have that or else your college program truly becomes little more than a minor league franchise.

But in college, one school can have many. It’s why so many are attempted to be jury-rigged after the shifts in conference realignment. The powers in college sports know the value of these rivals. But you can’t just declare a rivalry. It’s something everyone sees right through. It has to form and it has to be mutual.

Pitt is in the ACC in a few weeks. It is much of what we want for our school. Much of what is needed. But don’t make things into what they aren’t.