There’s been some noticing that Coach Harris’ tenure at Pitt is just about over. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but it seems like there is some sense of bewilderment over the turning on Harris. From Stewart Mandel at SI.com:

PITTSBURGH: Eighth-year Panthers head coach Walt Harris has been the subject of unrelenting criticism from the local media this week following Pittsburgh’s 29-17 loss at Connecticut. He’s taking particular heat for his decision to have QB Tyler Palko down the ball on third and goal at the Huskies’ 12 late in the first half and settle for a field goal. There have already been several articles calling for his head, and one columnist — assuming Harris’ firing to be inevitable — went as far as to write a column analyzing potential replacements. “To be honest, I haven’t been on top on the criticism because I don’t read the papers, I don’t listen to sports radio,” said Harris, “so I am naive or ignorant about what you guys are saying.” Harris has led the Panthers to three straight bowl games, but last year’s 8-5 finish, after starting the season in the top 15, was considered a disappointment, and this season is shaping up to be a rebuilding year.

I find this somewhat surprising since Mandel was one of the few to note back in August that Harris was on the hot seat. (I can’t believe I really believed only a couple months ago that Harris might get another year with a 5-6 record, in my after the fact defense of that, I guess I presumed there would be signs of improvement in the team and recruiting.)

Meanwhile Tom McShay of Scouts, Inc., via ESPN.com (insider subs. req’d) puts Harris in the underachieving/say good-bye group.

Things have gone from bad to worse for Harris. The team underachieved in 2003, losing three of its final four games. A home loss to Nebraska, a “near miss” against D-I AA Furman and a 12-point loss to Connecticut has turned the situation into a virtual witch-hunt. Harris will be lucky to survive the season.

The other coaches on the list include: John Bunting, UNC; Paul Pasqualoni, Syracuse; Gary Crowton, BYU; Keith Gilbertson, Washington; Ron Turner, Illinois; John Thompson, East Carolina; and Rich Brooks, Kentucky.

See, here’s the thing with the now very loud cries to fire Harris. There was rumbling/complaints about the way Harris coached by the fans after both 2001 and 02. It was muted though, because he had earned it by rebuilding the program and bringing in some great recruits. Most of that good will was spent after last season. It was his team, all his recruits, all the talent was at its peak. And the team never played up to their potential. He was given a little more slack because he did have a great recruiting class — which then went poof while Harris was no where to be found.

This was to be a rebuilding year, and what was expected (at least by me) was more like the 1997 team that wasn’t that good, but played hard and with enthusiasm. The team just improved as the season went on, and Harris was the leader. Instead, the team has played without passion, energy and doesn’t look like it’s getting any better. Harris has to take the blame and ultimately the fall.

There are some must reads in the papers today. The first is an almost great piece by Shelly Anderson. It would have been a great piece, except she gets bogged down in her own personal recollection from being the only beat reporter at Pitt practices in the Johnny Majors II era to Harris’ first year. The point was to show how little interest remained in Pitt football at the time and how Harris was responsible for helping to save and resurrect Pitt. She just spent a little too long on it.

Despite some obvious flaws, he didn’t become a bad guy overnight. In fact, he has never been a bad guy and in years to come should be remembered as one of the more important coaches in Pitt history.

It has been mentioned at various times that Harris deserves immense credit for salvaging a program on the brink of death. That is as true as the sky is blue, although it’s probably not a strong enough attribute to salvage his job.
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Things should have peaked last year, with a talented, experienced team and a preseason ranking. For me, last year’s 28-14 loss to Miami at Heinz Field was the definitive indicator that Harris had reached his ceiling as a major-college coach. As talented as they were, the Panthers were not competitive with the Hurricanes.

Now, at a disappointing 2-2, the warts seem exaggerated.

Harris overextended himself as the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator. He outthinks himself at times in play-calling. He separated himself too much from the defense for most of his tenure. He has been too loyal to some assistants. He doesn’t express himself well in news conferences and other public group settings. And recruiting hasn’t escalated the way it should have.
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Harris probably is best suited to be an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in the NFL. He would make more money than he is at Pitt. He wouldn’t have to sweat the myriad details that go with being a head coach, including news conferences. And he would have a head coach to provide some checks and balances with his play-calling.

Only myopic fools and bandwagon jumpers would not appreciate the work Harris did at Pitt. Anderson is mostly dead on, and this is a must read.

The other is PG Pitt beat reporter Paul Zeise’s Q&A for this week. Possible replacements, slide right, can Pitt get 6 wins, coaching decisions and recruiting.

Q: Four false starts in one series? With the crowd screaming its head off, Pitt is out there screwing around with long snap counts. What is coach Harris’ motivation for this?

ZEISE: This has been one of the most disturbing things of the Walt Harris era – this incessant need to try and “trick” other teams instead of just lining up and playing football. I can’t understand how any coach with an offense with nine first-year starters, that can’t line up right, doesn’t know all the plays yet and is still just searching for itself would think it is advanced enough to try and incorporate hard snap counts into the plan. That’s just plain silly. Every time they’ve tried the hard snap counts, it is Pitt – not the defense – that is usually fooled and ends up getting penalized for illegal procedure. To me, it would be much easier just to line up and worry about getting the play called in a timely manner and make sure everyone can get to where they are supposed to be.
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Q: Why do you think Pitt whiffs on most local “blue chip” recruits? Why do so many not even have Pitt on their short lists any more?

ZEISE: It is a combination of a lot of things. Pitt has been slow to offer some of the top players in their own backyard. Pitt did not capitalize when it had some momentum a few years ago and it has snowballed. Also, Walt Harris has lost a lot of credibility among many coaches in Western Pennsylvania, and I’m not sure if this can be fixed. The opportunity was there for Pitt to really clean up in Western Pennsylvania, but they slip away. One other thing – it is hard to fault a kid for wanting to go to Michigan or somewhere big-time like that given what they have to offer versus Pitt. I mean, Michigan has 100,000 fans every week, they play on television almost every week, they play a lot of meaningful games and go to New Year’s Day bowls – it is hard to compete with that.

I think what is the most disappointing thing about Pitt is not so much the big-timers from Western Pennsylvania that get away – although Pitt should get a few more of those guys than they do – it is the number of great players from this area – including a number of offensive linemen — that Pitt won’t even look at that go on to have excellent careers elsewhere. The list of those kinds of guys is too long to recite. It is one thing to lose blue chippers in your backyard to big-time schools, it is another to lose so many of the next level of quality guys simply because you aren’t doing your homework.

[Emphasis added.]

Lots of things you will find yourself nodding your head at while reading.

Right Guard, John Simonitis, will make his first start of the season after an ankle injury just before the season started.

Puff piece on Kicker Josh “Sunshine” Cummings dealing with playing in the cold.

Back-up QB Joe Flacco is from NJ, but very close to Philly. A sort of homecoming for him — or at least a chance to grab a Geno’s cheeseteak. Mmmm.

Some notes on how bad Temple is.

I criticized the decision by Pitt to cancel Midnight Madness. I stand by my primary criticism — that they took away one of the few events geared almost entirely for the students. But there is more detail than given in the Pitt press release. Seems that attendance at Midnight Madness has not been much higher than around 1500. Of course, reading a quote like this makes me think that the reason for the problem is that Pitt doesn’t have a frickin’ clue as to who they should be trying to get to come to a Midnight Madness.

“The thought behind this is that Midnight Madness is a tough event for families,” said Jim Earle, associate athletic director for business and fan development. “We thought we could cater to all fans, families as well as students, by doing a Fan Fest.”

No s**t! It’s at midnight on a Friday! This should almost be a student only thing. You need to make it a student event. It doesn’t have to be that long. A little time out before they go back to the bars and the parties. Yeesh.

Finally, a somewhat amusing, contrived Question and Answer column.

Q: Who would win a game of Texas Hold’em poker between Walt Harris, Joe Paterno and Rich Rodriguez?

A: West Virginia coach Rodriguez, because in poker as in life, youth and aggression are rewarded. Harris, when faced with a tough call that would require him to slide his chips into the pot, and lacking the option of ordering his quarterback to slide, probably would slide under the table at showdown time. Paterno’s problem would be an ever-dwindling stack, a result of him spending too much time rehashing how close he had been to winning previous hands.

Heh.