Just a couple articles to pass along.

This one from last year about coaching compensation after being fired. Why bring it up? Oh, no reason.

You think Pitt fans were the only ones in shock about “the slide?” Not even close. From Manchester, Connecticut comes one of the better pieces that pretty much nails what the play meant.

If you’ve watched football for 50 or so years, maybe you’ve seen a worse play call. Then again, maybe not.

If it had been a bang-bang, sliding play at second base, Pittsburgh’s quarterback Tyler Palko would have been ruled safe. Because it wasn’t, he was ruled down on Connecticut’s 13-yard line, which brought up – are you ready for some real football? – fourth down and goal. That’s right. On third and goal from UConn’s 12, after a timeout during which the critical call no doubt was discussed on the sidelines, Pittsburgh and head coach Walt Harris ordered their QB to slide right for a better angle on an ensuing field goal attempt.

Can’t you just hear the Panthers on the bench screaming, “Slide, Tyler, slide”?

They didn’t exactly raise a white flag, not on the spot anyway. But from that moment on, or before anyone could say, “No guts, no glory,” UConn took firm control of its first Big East game en route to a 29-17 victory over one of the country’s more well-established programs…

Let’s go back to the play that changed the game. Coaches will argue, of course. You know the drill. Football is a 60-minute game and players must execute on every down or pay the price. The game is founded on structure, discipline, and most any other word you’ve ever seen written on a locker room wall. But sometimes, one call can change a game and this one unquestionably did.
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Through all the years, a lot of premier Panthers have called a lot of plays, but until Thursday night, “Slide right” probably wasn’t among them.

By tipping his hand, Harris handed the game to UConn, which was smart enough and good enough to take it.

One call changed everything.

One call that will be Harris’ epitaph on his Pitt coaching tenure.

The hot seat. That which Coach Harris firmly is sitting upon. Yet there is really nothing about it in the national media. That’s depressing. That means, that Pitt, for all the climbing back into respectability has very quickly slipped below the radar. Syracuse coach Paul Pasqualoni’s own precarious position is really the only hot seat in the Big East, and this despite being one of only two games this past Thursday.

Even Joe Bendel in his ESPN.com inside the Big East doesn’t actually put Harris on the hot seat — he just notes that he his being killed in Pittsburgh radio.

The point of contention centered around Harris’ decision to have quarterback Tyler Palko slide for field position on third-and-goal from the UConn 12 with 57 seconds remaining in the first half, instead of taking a shot at a touchdown. Palko said he would have preferred to have gone for a score, but added he didn’t want to question his coach or he’d get benched. Harris, whose team (2-2, 0-1 Big East) plays at Temple (1-4, 0-0) on Saturday, responded to the sophomore signal-caller’s comments.

“I think that’s probably a comment that if asked, he’d probably like to have it back,” Harris said. Harris should have taken a shot at the end zone. Palko is his biggest recruit in years and his players needed a jolt of confidence. The decision not to go for it gave the impression that he’d rather retreat — to a fledgling conference member, no less — rather than attack.

The Pitt defense, thought to be the strength of the team, faltered against the Huskies. It yielded 185 yards to tailback Cornell Brockington and failed to record a sack. A week earlier, Furman nearly upset Pitt by amassing 423 yards and 38 points before losing in overtime. Temple might provide a short-term elixir, but that’s not even guaranteed. Owls quarterback Walter Washington threw for 278 yards in the Panthers’ closer-than-expected 30-16 victory last season at Lincoln Financial Field. “We’re learning,” linebacker Clint Session said. In 2003, Pitt’s defense was the primary reason for a late-season free-fall and a disappointing 8-5 record, which turned the critics against Harris.

Palko is emerging as Pitt’s only true offensive threat, particularly since the running game has been held to less than 100 yards the past three outings. He’s thrown for a combined 647 yards the past two games and led the Panthers with 49 rushing yards against the Huskies. Problem is, Palko is running for his life every time he drops back to pass. The offensive line got dominated by UConn, which recorded four sacks, and is proving to be a severe weakness. Harris says the road to a national championship is paved by a great offensive lineman, yet he’s had only one lineman drafted in eight years. By the way, that player wasn’t taken until the seventh round.

Pitt better be drawing up their list to move fast after the season. Theadministration will need a new coach, and they better not be overestimating their attractiveness right now.

By the way, the video of Walt Harris’ press conference is still not available on the site.

I really want to see video of the press conference. No reason they shouldn’t put it up on the site. The press conference gets shown on Fox Sports Pittsburgh at 1 pm today. Of course, for those of us who live outside of the region, that doesn’t help. Why do I mention it so soon? Well, today the stories really started, and there is no question that the press conference got tense at points. The media had lots of questions:

Pitt coach Walt Harris was hoping to look ahead to the Panthers’ next opponent yesterday when he sat down with members of the media for his weekly news conference.

Instead of discussing Temple, however, he spent much of the time explaining and defending his play calls from the Panthers’ 29-17 loss to Connecticut Thursday. He also spoke at length about some of the Panthers’ deficiencies and how they were magnified against the Huskies.
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Harris continued to be grilled about his decisions and his relationship with his players until it was stopped by Pitt sports information director E.J. Borghetti, who said the subject had run its course and that it was time to discuss the Pitt-Temple game.

In the line of questions, there were plenty about whether he was losing the team — not reaching them any longer, not being respected. Apparently there was some wondering about what he thought of what Palko (accurately and truthfully) said.

Palko said he would have preferred to have gone for a score.

“You would like to go for it, but he’s the guy that makes the play-calls,” Palko said of Harris, moments after the game. “Heck, I’m not going to question his calls. If I do, I’d find my tail on the bench.”

Harris, whose team (2-2, 0-1 Big East) plays at Temple (1-4, 0-0) on Saturday, responded yesterday to the sophomore signal-caller’s comments.

“I think that’s probably a comment that, if asked, he’d probably like to have it back,” Harris said. “He’s a coach’s son, and I think that had something to do with it. And I think in the heat of the battle and just getting done with a hard-fought game, you know, I’m sure that was a little bit of frustration.”

Asked if Palko tried to talk him into a different play during a timeout, Harris said, “No, he didn’t.” Then, without prompting, Harris offered an explanation for the third-and-goal call.

“I’ll explain it to you, if you guys are interested in it — after the fact,” he said. “We turned the ball over down there early … We hadn’t played very well offensively. We had third-and-12 from the 12, which, to me, is not a great situation to be in.

“We’ve had trouble getting open at wide receiver and protecting the passer. We have a good field-goal kicker, and I thought going in at halftime, 10-10, considering the way that we played and the hostile atmosphere, I thought it was probably a pretty good deal.”

You know, all of that seems almost rational and defensible, except for some key flaws: that would require Coach Harris to make halftime adjustments and the O-line would have to play better. Since those are few and far between events (and I’m not sure if both have ever happened in the same game), that really does no good. It’s also amusingly noted that the women’s basketball coach “attended the conference to support her colleague.” Bringing out the big guns for support.

As predicted here, there is a list of blunders piece of Harris’ best coaching gaffes of the last 4 years. The ever creative Ron Cook is all over it. Yet somehow, he manages to leave the whole 2001 spread offense experiment out of the piece. No list of mistakes is complete without that.

The notebooks try to look ahead. Well, Paul Zeise leads with the struggling O-line:

It could be a long week of practice for Pitt’s offensive linemen.

The line, which has had its ups and downs over the past two years, is back in the line of fire, only this time the criticism is coming from Pitt coach Walt Harris.

Harris said the line wasn’t the only unit responsible for the Panthers’ lack of pass protection and run-blocking in their 29-17 loss to Connecticut, but it should shoulder most of the blame.

Yes. Yes it should. Former QB and TE and now WR, freshman Darrell Strong, is still not ready enough to play according to Harris. This, despite his height (6′ 5″) and natural ability. If he doesn’t get in the game this weekend, they should go ahead and redshirt him rather than waste him for a year. Oh, wait, they did use him in the Nebraska game. I guess he regressed.

On subject of wasting the year, Freshman RB Brandon Mason is expected to play more behind Kirkley. Mason was hurt in training camp, but his thumb is apparently all healed. It looks like Harris wants to use Mason more, and Kirkley will see his carries drop further.