I was so busy agreeing with Chas that Walt Harris would be a bad fit for the coaching vacancy at Nebraska (Nebraska Football = tough defense + power running + excellent line play) that I completely forgot about the Harvard of the Upper Monongahela (which is like saying I’m rich in Bulgaria). Hoopie Head Coach Rich Rodriguez would be an excellent fit for Nebraska. And the Omaha World-Herald agreed, listing Rodriguez — along with Jim Donnan (why?), Monte Kiffin (who?), Al Saunders (try it at the college level), Mike Bellotti (as always… does that guy ever get sick of being on everybody else’s vacancy list?), Urban Meyer (not enough experience yet), Jeff Tedford (too West Coasty, but an interesting choice), and Steve Spurrier (dream on… why don’t you just list Dick Vermeil and John Gruden while you’re at it?) — on its list of potential replacements for ousted head coach Frank Solich.

But then Rodriguez had to go and turn Nebraska down before they ever asked. Responding to the World-Herald story, Rich said…

“I’m at West Virginia. I’m not looking for any jobs,” Rodriguez said Monday. “Hey, I went through all of that last year. I don’t want to do it again.”

“I don’t know why,” Rodriguez said of his name being mentioned. “There’s never been any contact and I’d be surprised if there was. I have no interest in leaving.”

Damn. Nebraska missed out on a legitimately good coach that fits their traditional style, Rich Rodriguez missed out on an opportunity to coach somewhere where you don’t have to start every recruiting pitch with “Remember, Deliverance was set in Georgia,” and most importantly, we missed out on an opportunity to get rid of the best Harris-beater ever. Why Rich? Could anyone contend that Nebraska wouldn’t be a better job than West Virginia, even an WVU alumnus?

Perhaps he was afraid that his gawdawful hoopie accent would stick out in Lincoln.

Hail to Nebraska’s Keeping Bo Pelini.

I still haven’t heard anything from Walt Harris himself yet (and to protect Pitt’s nationally recognized recruiting class, Walt needs to say something soon). However, I’m hearing more and more people dismiss Harris as a legitimate candidate for the vacant Nebraska head coaching job. Yesterday morning on WBNS (ESPN Radio) Columbus (the flagship station of the Ohio State Buckeyes Radio Network), “Spielman on Sports” host and former OSU linebacker great Chris Spielman said that he thought Walt Harris would go to Nebraska because he had taken Pitt about as high as it could go. However, Spielman had completely changed his stance by this morning. He said that the behind-the-scenes whispers at ESPN (where Spielman calls college games) is that Harris will not be seriously considered. No word yet on whether Spielman has changed his stance on how much higher Pitt can go.

(Incidentally, it surprises many Pitt fans to learn that many Buckeyes are interested in Pitt football because Walt Harris was so popular when he served as quarterbacks coach under John Cooper in the 1990s. That’s why Ohio State briefly looked at Harris before they hired Jim Tressel in 2001. Along those lines, I think that it would be funny if Pitt denied Nebraska AD Steve Pederson permission to even talk to Walt Harris. Pederson certainly deserves that.)

Also, note Cornhusker great Trev Alberts opinion on Harris as expressed in an ESPN chat session yesterday.

Colson – Pittsburgh, PA: Any chance Nebraska will take Walt Harris away from Pittsburgh?

Trev Alberts: I don’t think that will happen. I know you can make the connection and he is a great coach.. but I don’t envision him being our next coach.

I would have to assume that Alberts would have some knowledge of what’s going through his friend Pederson’s mind. On a side note, Scott landed the shot of the day on the Ohio State-loathing Alberts.

Scott (Leawood, KS): Trev, being a Cornhusker, how does it feel to have a couple of Buckeyes running the football program in Lincoln?

Go Bo Pelini, go. Of course, PSB favorite Matt Hayes still has a story up reporting that Harris is the top candidate in Lincoln. Whatever. I won’t get too worried unless people start turning Nebraska down. As the Cornhuskers work their way down their list, Walt’s name will inevitably come up.

Hey, Chas put together a must-read post yesterday about what needs to fixed with Pitt football that I almost entirely agree with (I would at least consider going the extra step and firing Rhoads, but I do have to give Rhoads some credit for his successes last year). All I would add is that Harris also needs to spend some more time recruiting the less glamorous line positions. Yes our lines are poorly coached. But they aren’t always all that talented to begin with.

And I recognized the Josh Crockett rip off right away. I had read his blog right away Monday morning to get his reaction to that tough loss to UVA. Oh well. At least Virginia Tech beat the crap out of Miami. That’s a lot more than we could manage.

Finally, does anybody out there really think that TCU turned down the GMAC bowl because it conflicted with final exams? Right. We’re not exactly talking about the Harvard of Texas here (we aren’t talking about the Harvard of the Upper Monongahela either, John). I’ve never seen such sour grapes over losing the opportunity for a BCS bowl bid.

Hail to Blogger actually adding the word “blog” to its spellchecker dictionary. I mean seriously, shouldn’t you really recognize that word?

Since this season is almost over, I am looking back on the 16 years of Pitt football that I witnessed first hand with season tickets – as an undergrad on the 4-and-a-half year plan, a law student and a proud alum. Home games were at Pitt Stadium (1988-99), Three Rivers (2000) and Heinz Field (2001-).

The breakdown:
YEAR TICKETS W-L-T COACH
1988 Student (CAS) 6-5 Gottfried
1989 Student (CAS) 8-3-1 Gottfried (Hackett coached final win in John Hancock Bowl)
1990 Student (CAS) 3-7-1 Hackett
1991 Student (CAS) 6-5 Hackett
1992 Student (CAS) 3-9 Hackett (Sunseri coached final loss)
1993 Student (law) 3-8 Majors
1994 Student (law) 3-8 Majors
1995 Student (law) 2-9 Majors
1996 alumni 4-7 Majors
1997 alumni 6-6 Harris
1998 alumni 2-9 Harris
1999 alumni 5-6 Harris
2000 alumni 7-5 Harris
2001 alumni 7-5 Harris
2002 alumni 9-4 Harris
2003 alumni 7-4* Harris

Coaching: W-L-T (pct) seasons Bowl Games (W-L-T)
Gottfried 13-8-1 (.591) 2 0
Hackett 13-20-1 (.383) 3 1 1-0
Sunseri 0-1-0 (.000) 1(part) 0
Majors (II) 12-32-0 (.273) 4 0
Harris 43-39-0 (.524) 7 5* 2-2

The combined Hackett-Majors era (7 seasons): 25-53-1 (.316), with one bowl game (inherited from Gottfried’s last season in 1989).

Sure, Harris is no Jock Sutherland, Pop Warner or Jackie Sherrill, but he is decent. He coached Pitt to its only 9 win season since I’ve had season tickets, and has a shot at only the third with at least 8 wins (one under Gottfried).
Considering how far Pitt had fallen before his arrival, Harris isn’t doing that badly. Not great, but not badly either. There certainly is room for improvement, so let’s hope that happens.