There was a pleasant attack on Fraud Graham (Yes, I would like to make that one stick) from the Steelers.
The Steelers practically threw a party when they heard that Pitt coach Todd Graham quit. That goes from the top to the bottom, from those who work in the offices to the coaches and every-day workers who came into contact with Graham and his staff in the building.
They described Graham as an arrogant man who had no use for anything the Steelers might have offered, and they say he resented having to share the building and the indoor practice field at the UPMC complex with them.
Before Graham, the Panthers and the Steelers ate in the same cafeteria, although at different times. Graham came in and put an end to that. The cooks at the cafeteria still prepare the food for the Panthers, but it is then brought over to the other side of the building, where Pitt created its own cafeteria to serve Graham’s players and his wishes.
Instead of embracing the advantages that an association with the Steelers might bring, Graham rejected them, even if there was little he could do about the shared facilities. That really came down to just sharing the indoor practice field and the parking lots because everything else is separate, including weight rooms, outdoor practice fields, locker rooms, etc. It’s one building, but it’s really two, like a big duplex.
I admit, I don’t understand the resentment. Other than the fact that just about every college football headcoach has at least a touch of “little dictator” in him and hates the idea of not controlling everything.
One thing I will caution about this hit piece. Despite the Pitt/Steelers shared Southside complex, there has yet to be a coach for Pitt that has done much with the Steelers side. Walt Harris, Dave Wannstedt and now Fraud Graham. None — and it never comes out until after they are gone — seem to interact much with the Steelers side. Graham seemed to have taken it to another place, but it isn’t entirely atypical.
For a pro football coach — from a position to the head coach — there just isn’t much time for much else. Especially at work. They’re in film. Meetings. Non-stop. And it is much the same for college coaches. Only with recruiting
Think about Jabaal Sheard talking before the Browns-Steelers game. Eating in the cafeteria and little else.
The shared facilities are a great selling point for recruits and is a very cost effective thing. But even the Steelers beat writer admits that it is a duplex. That suggests more like seeing each other in the parking lot more than in the hallways.
Also, I would dismiss that suggestion that Pitt consult the Steelers and Rooneys for the next coach. That was pretty much how Tom Bradley got his interview last year. And dear god no to this bit:
While they were at it, Pederson might even think of asking Rooney if he had anyone on his current coaching staff who might make a good candidate.
Go away.
Out of all the coaches Fraud Graham brought with him, Patterson and Dodge (Maybe) seem like sincere guys. But this needs to be a complete regime change. I’m hoping they wind up on their feet somewhere. And for their sake I hope it’s not with Graham.
I know he will be gone after the bowl game but I would have no problem with a new coach keeping him as a DC.
HC – Bob Junko; OC – EJ Borghetti; DC – Donna Sams
they’re in film
Does Wanny even know the meaning of blitz though?
The contract states that neither program can share the outside fields at the same time and the PITT players are forbidden to initiate contact with any Steelers even if they see them in the parking lots, etc… But I’m sure there is some interaction there anyway but not as it would appear if you read articles about the place.
That shared cafeteria was used at separate times also.
In reality we inhabit the same humongous building on the Southside but we really don’t share or interact in any other way with the Steelers.
This is how it was explained to me last year and that’s what I saw the times I walked around in there..
He looked like a good coach at his outher jobs becuse he had 2 great offense coordinators.
and when he came here he knew he could get dickrods offense coordinator.
but when dick rods people left he knew he was screwed.
Pederson was giving him a hard time on who he wanted to bring in as his next OC per Zeise after a while our AD sticks his nose in were it should not be he did it to wanny also.
plus TG wife was bitching at home she missed Texas.
And he knew he had no QB for next year only a freshman and TINO he knew with out a good oc and with tino he was screwed so to shut the wife up he left what a prick he is,
The only good from this story is that it makes you realize that perhaps PITT got a free “do over” for a guy who was burning bridges left and right.
As for the facilities… College football and NFL football are two different animals. NFL guys are fighting for their jobs on a daily basis (from head coach down to practice squad). They don’t have a NY minutes worth of time to reach out to the college guys who essential have 4 year guarantees to put in their systems.
That being said, it must be unbelievably motivating to sit in an NFL facility and watch the “professionals” go about their business. Especially a class organization like the Steelers. That is something that every college coach should make a priority to point out to each of their kids. My speech would be “there is where you want to be and this is the level of professionalism that it will take. Pay close attention to our NFL partner boys”. But as you pointed out, the narcissism of some college coaches will not permit it.
Happy Holiday Chas. Thanks for having the site!
A recent example- Paterno thought he could have a “normal” press conference after the scandal broke by announcing that Sandusky talk was off limits, but had to cancel the presser after 200 outside reporters showed up loaded for bear.
We know this guy is a douche now but the more I hear the more I shake my head at how he was able to snow everyone that interviewed him at Pitt and no one picked up on his douchery.
1) Mrs DeCicco, whose son transfered to Wisconsin in August, took an immediate dislike to TG when she met him ar Pro day this past spring, when all TG wanted to talk about is how much money he had … which appears to be a recurring theme from players and others who he had made new acquaintances
2) a few Pgh area HS coaches have reported that TG told hthem how superior Texas HS football was to Western PA. Though likely true, what a stupid thing to say!
Not UPMC.
1.) There was a story that M. Tomlin had a conversation in the cafe with one of the QBs after a game and commenting on pos/neg.
2.) The Pitt ammenities (i.e. weight room) has been said to be nicer than the Steelers’. Sounds like the Rooney’s are on the thrifty side. Some players had been known to come over to the Pitt side back when it may have been accepted.
Any (other) past players able to confirm or deny this?
FRANKCAN.
And Patterson would be wise to divorce himself from Sleazoid. Hopefully he get an offer from us or someone else other than Sleazo.
They haven’t since 2000 I believe, Hank Poteat seems right.
Cristobal doesn’t have a history of using programs as stepping stones. Graham already did before he came to Pitt. Write a contract with a $3-5 million buyout – at least – for whoever eventually comes in anyway, but there’s no reason to think Cristobal would skip town in 2 or 3 years. 5, maybe. He has to actually prove himself at Pitt first (if he ends up being the choice).
Johnny Majors was here for only 4 years, and wont he National Championhip. I’ll take that anytime, everyday, twice.
Jackie Sherrill was here for 5 or 6 years. We went to a Sugar Bowl, a Fiesta Bowl and two Gator Bowls. We were number 2 twice. If you expecting someone to stay for 10 years. Isn’t going to happen unless Pitt shells out some big bucks, which is why they lost Sherrill, imo.
Only a PITT man would stay for 10 years and most of you don’t seem to want a Pitt man.
So that’s that!
Now, what some of the seniors should have done is find out where the Steelers drink beer after their practices and just ‘drop in’ by accident for a cold one.
More and more there are stories coming out about Graham’s actions and personality that are most probably true – at least I believe all of them.
People have asked me why I didn’t agree with the pessimistic and the guys who couldn’t stand him and here’s why.
On the football side I thought he was doing the right things and that his recruiting was going to pay off in 2012 and especially in 2013. I really had no problems with him on football theory and how he handled the team as far as football and discipline goes. On the latter I commend him for taking decisive actions and not having multiple incidents under his watch while he was here. On the former I’ll say this because we all disagreed with each other. I still don’t have a real problem with his answers to the problems with the offense. Sunseri sunk us this year and I actually would have thought people knew that anyway.
So, My problems weren’t about his football approach and I’m notice that some guys who felt the same changed their tunes pretty quickly on Wednesday.
As to him personally?… I was stationed in Texas and have worked with Texans who are the exact same way as Graham is publicly. I realized from experience that in Texas the saying is “Go Big” in everything and they do, sometimes in ways grating to a Northerner. The difference is those guys I worked with and lived with were actually sincere in their bluster and backed it up with thier actions out of the limelight and got results. Graham’s “used car salesman” routine didn’t bother me as much as it bothered guys who spent more time, or live now, in PGH. I actually didn’t even think about it much because I was more concerned about the actual PITT football side of things.
I figured he was a football coach with a Texas sized ego and a Texas sized way of selling his program. I didn’t realize that was a cover for a scheming, lying, totally self-centered individual. There is a difference between the two and I was wrong some counts about Todd Graham.
To me, any of these three guys being mentioned feels like a breath of fresh air as opposed to what we know about the departed.
Isn’t this pretty much an endorsement for how good he is as a coach, how people in the business feel about him and how successful he’ll be at PITT?
We wouldn’t be worrying about that at all if we felt he was a mediocre head coach.
About Jackie Sherrill his 1st season as head coach at Pitt was in 1977 and was here though the 1981 season. He was a southerner and ultimately wanted to coach at Alabama.
than i thoght abough TG and his wife and that made me think he would not stay.
so i looked into fickell more and lked what i read.
Ithink what i want you cant get any more i would like the coach that is at a school for 20 years wins 12 games in his forth year and adverages 8 wins a year for 20 years’
i want for pitt our own BEAR BRYANT or some one like that.
There is one coach with a history of loyalty available…
“Just wondering… is the only reason some fans are so opposed to Cristobal because they think he’d leave early for another job?
Isn’t this pretty much an endorsement for how good he is as a coach, how people in the business feel about him and how successful he’ll be at PITT?”
NO – Example: Todd Graham. He left after one season and a 6-6 record for a team picked to finish 2nd in the BE. Most national folks think he is not that good of a coach.
My questions about Cristobal centers around him not really proving much. The guy has been a FIU for 5 season and had 1 (yes 1) winning record (2 if you throw in the .500 year and the bowl that he won). PLEASE NOTE THAT THE ONE WINNING SEASON THAT HE HAD (THIS YEAR) WAS WHEN FIU’S STRENGHT OF SCHEDULE (SOS) RANKED 119 OF 120 D1 SCHOOLS!
I know that it is an upstart program but he really hasn’t done anything of note. Seems to me like he is young and energetic and people want him to succeed. I hope that he does but his record doesnt suggest anything that would convince me that he is nothing more than just another “hail mary” pick.
2007 Florida International 1 11 0 (W’s .083)
PTS/G: 15.1 (120th of 120) ? Opp PTS/G: 39.1 (116th of 120)
SOS: 0.05 (68th of 120)
2008 Florida International 5 7 0 .417
PTS/G: 24.7 (69th of 120) ? Opp PTS/G: 28.3 (80th of 120)
SOS: -3.80 (107th of 120)
2009 Florida International 3 9 0 .250
PTS/G: 22.9 (88th of 120) ? Opp PTS/G: 35.3 (111th of 120)
SOS: -1.27 (82nd of 120)
2010 Florida International 7 6 0 .538
PTS/G: 28.8 (50th of 120) ? Opp PTS/G: 27.3 (65th of 120)
SOS: -5.08 (106th of 120)
2011 Florida International 8 4 0 .667
PTS/G: 26.2 (67th of 120) ? Opp PTS/G: 19.4 (16th of 120)
SOS: -7.13 (119th of 120)
Florida International 24 37 0 .393
please tell us what this guy has proven? He is young – yes.
He is a head coach – yes (not a very good won based on W’s and L’s I might add. Again, the one winning season was this past year when his SOS ranked 119 of 120 D1 schools.
Why are we throwing “hail mary passes” for H.C. at a BCS school that will soon be in the ACC ?
We have proven that we are willing to pay 2M. Add another 200-300K and you could get just about anyone to come. Why are we looking at this guy? I don’t get it.
The argument isn’t that he might leave. The argument is that he hasn’t proven that he can win even with a weak SOS and soft conference (Sun Belt)
Let me remind you of the teams in the Sun Belt Conference that he wasnt successful at dominating.
1 Arkansas State
2 Western Kentucky
3 Louisiana-Lafayette
4 Florida International
5 North Texas
6 Louisiana-Monroe
7 Troy
8 Middle Tennessee State
9 Florida Atlantic
The more you peal back the onion the more you realize that this decision is not grounded in anything other than a severe case of hope. We might has well throw a dart at the wall of D1 HC to get our pick
or we gamble on the coachs from big time schools who havent won big time them selves but are from big time schools.
i say risk it all go with the starthat way we could go to the top or to hell lets risk it what say you. cristobal all the way .
How is Teryl Austin any different? Dude doesn’t even have a record because he’s never been head coach…if that isn’t severe hope I don’t know what is.
I don’t see the attraction for Austin except for that he’s a PITT guy.
We’ll see, I think by the end of this week anyway.
That is my point exactly. If we are going to use the HC experience as a criteria then let’s at least get one that has a resume of winning.
Otherwise everyone is in the same boat. Austin included.
This is what Cristobal had to deal with when he took the FIU job:
“”What we didn’t know, we were pulled into a closed-door meeting and informed we were going to lose 30 scholarships,” he said. “We’re going to have the worst [Academic Progress Rate] in the country, and we were going to inherit five years’ probation from the former staff, and we were going to have 17 ineligible players come to us from the former staff. The list went on and on.”
And Cristobal went on and on.
“We didn’t have a practice facility and we were going to build one, [but] we had grass without a drainage system. The locker room had old lockers, fit for 55, 60 people. Then the weight room was going [woefully underequipped, in so many words], all for the first four years here at FIU.”
He’s done a good job basically starting from nothing.
Cristobal, Fickell, Chryst, I’d be happier with one of the first two but any of the three would be acceptable to me.
Thanks for the article. It does say a lot about how far FIU as a university has come. Not sure what it says about Cristobal considering that he hasn’t done much in the W’s and L’s column. Clearly he has improved the academic performance of the current fball player which is a good thing.
I am not against Cristobal or anyone in particular. We simply need to align our expectations with our picks. You pick a guy with an unimpressive W’s and L’s record and you have to accept that it might be (probably is) a reach.
YOu pick a guy without HC experience and it a reach.
You pick a guy that has a record of winning and the odds are that he probably will do the same eventually.
I simply don’t see how any of the candidates mentioned (the 3 and others mentioned in the past) really distinguish themselves from one another. 1 H.C. (2 if you throw in the OSU guy) who hasn’t won. Multiple Coordinators that come from winning program but aren’t proven. Multiple NFL guys who aren’t proven.
Is the state of college football really that bad? As I have stated before. The most important thing to keep in mind with unproven coaches is to make sure that you are not falling prey to the “Peter Principle”. That is the risk. PITT has falling prey to the “PETER PRINCIPLE” many times over the last decade.
Perhaps this is the best that we can ask for…
and if so they will want a coach in place or did i lose a week end in this mess.
it will be cristobal bye thur when is next home bb game the new coach will be there for sure.
Dominus Cimentarius
vertas et virtus
There isn’t an employee there who has really worked anywhere else and the only world they know is this never ending merry go round that ain’t all that merry.
Sorry folks, it is business as usual in the athletic department at Pitt. “Us” versus “them”. They couldn’t sell water to a beached fish.
Our leader may be right about not relying on the Steelers for guidance, but the level of arrogance in the athletic “department” is real, albeit wholly unwarranted.
Hard to not get a messiah complex when you can turn 20,000 people attedning your games to a 41,000 announced crowd.
Some dude about a score of centuries ago made a big splash by turning the same trick with fishes and loaves. Only thing about him…he was a humble dude.
link to post-gazette.com