Well Utah has a new head coach. Kyle Whittingham, the defensive coordinator, opted to take over at Utah rather than jump to his alma mater, BYU. The entire Utah coaching staff, right now, is completely disjointed.

Pitt ranks poorly on the latest “official” graduation numbers, but that isn’t surprising:

Pitt spokesman E.J. Borghetti said the time frame of the study works against Pitt. Pitt’s first three classes used in the study were recruited by former coach Johnny Majors, the fourth by current coach Walt Harris.

The incoming class of 1996-97, which is included in the study, previously came under scrutiny because 14 of the 19 players transferred after the coaching change, contributing to Pitt’s rate of 16 percent for that class.

“The study focuses on a time period when, frankly, our football program was very poor on and off the field,” Borghetti said. “We are now performing very well in both arenas.”

Borghetti said of the players who were seniors on the 2003 team, 15 of 19 graduated and eight of the 11 black players earned a degree. He also pointed out that the Panthers’ starting defensive tackles for the Jan. 1 Fiesta Bowl against Utah are three-time Academic All-American Vince Crochunis and two-time Academic All-American Dan Stephens.

Sadly these reports can’t be taken seriously because the data is stale and until recent changes were made never took into account transfers in or out of the school.

Piece on how DT, Vince Crochunis, is the only player left from Pitt’s 1999 recruiting class and how far the entire program has come from his first recruiting trips to Pitt.

College All-American teams are being produced. Sports Illustrated has its All-American team. Rob Petitti was listed under “honorable mention.” He made the second team on the Sporting News’ All-American squad.

Cornerback, Darrelle Revis was named to the Sporting News’ Freshman All-American First Team.

Joe Bendel at ESPN.com names his All-Big East team. Tyler Palko, Greg Lee and Rob Petitti on the offensive side. Nobody on defense. Josh Cummings and Adam Graessle on special teams.

And just because I have a bit of a venal streak, Ivan Maisel names Boston College Flop of the Year.

Slight correction from my comments last night. I said that no Pitt player broke the 30 minute barrier. I was wrong. Krauser played 36 minutes in the game. I must have misread the box score.

Here’s the press release from Pitt, along with the box score/play by play (PDF version).

It was supposed to be tougher. That seems to be the reaction in Pittsburgh to the way Pitt absolutely dominated Memphis. Memphis just couldn’t handle Pitt inside.

Free throws, though, were not good. Graves was 1-5, Taft was 3-6, McCarroll, Ramon and Gray were all bad. Krauser was great at 15-18. Troutman was a respectable 4-6. Compared to where he was last year, it is marked improvement.

Despite poor shooting — Taft missing 2 straight dunks(???) — Pitt still had 5 players in double figures (Krauser, Taft, Troutman, Graves and McCarroll).

In the sightings department lots of past Pitt stars: Charles Smith, Demetrius Gore, Bobby Martin, Jerry McCullough, Toree Morris and Curtis Aiken all in attendance. Forgot to mention last night. There were two shots of Isiah Thomas during the game. What were the odds? Camera. MSG. Isiah Thomas. The camera just loves him. Actually, Thomas was downright reclusive leering out of a sky box as opposed to standing by the players locker room entrance as he usually does during a Knick game.

In Memphis, they see a team that is in complete shambles.

The Jimmy V Classic? How about The Jimmy V Disaster?

That’s actually a more fitting description of what Tuesday night turned into for the Tigers, who dropped a 70-51 decision to 11th-ranked Pittsburgh at Madison Square Garden.
…
Though the game lacked any real intensity, the postgame scene did not, thanks to the Tigers holding a players-only meeting in the locker room.

Calipari spoke with media. The players were still talking.

Calipari fulfilled his radio obligations. The players were still talking.

For about 30 minutes, this went on. Then, after about three minutes of shouting that could be heard through the wall, the staff entered and shuffled some players out.

Anthony Rice, the senior captain, confirmed what has long been speculated about this team:

There are chemistry issues.

“There’s a lot of jealousy around here, and some people finally just said what they had to say and got it all out,” Rice explained. “I think it’s good, but if it doesn’t carry over, then it doesn’t mean anything. You can have all the meetings in the world. But if people don’t change, it’s still going to be the same old …”

Not a good day to be a Memphis fan.

You know, it’s kind of reassuring to know that it can be NYC, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago, or Coshocton, Ohio. The one thing you can count on in reading a paper, is that if there is a local connection it will be mentioned/played up. All the NYC papers did not fail to mention where in the NYC area Pitt players were from in their coverage. All were impressed with Pitt’s win. The Post called it a ‘Punishment.’ Newsday saw a Pitt defense that looks even tougher than last year. The Daily News focused on Krauser’s leadership.

Assuming Pitt wins on Saturday, against Penn State, Pitt probably won’t move anywhere in the polls this week. It looks like the only team ahead of them to lose was/will be Syracuse, and I don’t see the Orange dropping behind Pitt for losing to a really, really good looking Ok. St. team.

I guess this was inevitable, with USC firing Henry Bibby as basketball coach:

Among the coaches believed to be interested in the position are former Utah coach Rick Majerus, who is currently a commentator for ESPN and lives in Milwaukee.
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Others interested include Manhattan coach Bobby Gonzalez, Pepperdine coach and former USC player Paul Westphal, and former Clippers coach Alvin Gentry. Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon, who is from North Hollywood, is also expected to be a candidate.

I’m not too worried yet. Nothing will happen until the end of the season. Andy Katz at ESPN.com writes that his name will come up because of his success and where he is from, but also says, “Dixon did get a long-term deal at Pittsburgh, and it would take a hefty sum to pry him away from the Panthers.” I’m not naive enough to think that Dixon wouldn’t entertain an offer, but I don’t think he will actively pursue the job. It’s not that USC doesn’t have or won’t spend the money, but USC has neglected its facilities for some time. Those will also need a big upgrade.

Well, now for the Coach Walt Harris and Pitt part of the rumors and reports. Apparently Harris has met with people from Stanford.

Walt Harris met with Stanford officials earlier this week, and his future at Pitt is becoming cloudier by the day.

He and Southern Cal offensive coordinator Norm Chow are considered the top candidates for the Cardinal job, but Harris might have an inside track now that both parties have shown interest. Chow is scheduled to meet with Stanford officials today.

Stanford athletic director Ted Leland, who hired Harris for the head coaching job at Pacific in 1989, has been “out of the office,” the past five days, according to a member of the Stanford athletic department, and he was believed to be meeting with Harris, possibly on Monday.

Pitt has not formally given Stanford permission to talk with Harris, who is under contract through the 2006 season, but Panthers officials did not attempt to quash Stanford’s efforts, despite knowing that Harris and Leland were expected to meet.

Unbelievable. It seems as if Pitt won’t even bother to pretend it wants Harris to stay. You almost have to believe that there is some personal animosity between Harris and someone important in the Pitt administration to have it go down like this.

Pitt better be damn sure about who it wants to hire and that it can get him. With ND and Washington both struggling to find their next new coach, there is lots of added competition.

Notre Dame received permission from the Buffalo Bills on Tuesday to speak to offensive coordinator Tom Clements about the Irish’s head-coaching vacancy, according to a source close to the situation.
…
Clements has a solid Notre Dame pedigree–he quarterbacked the 1973 Irish to the national title, was an All-American in 1974 and graduated magna cum laude from the Notre Dame school of law in 1986.

Although he has no head-coaching experience, he played professionally for 12 years in Canada, spent four seasons as Lou Holtz’s quarterbacks coach at Notre Dame and is in his eighth year coaching in the NFL.
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The Irish, however, may not be his only suitors. Pittsburgh coach Walt Harris is expected to interview later this week at Stanford. Harris also is believed to be on Washington’s list of candidates for its head-coaching vacancy.

Pitt representatives, according to a source, already have indicated Clements would be among their top candidates if Harris goes.

There would be something funny about a ND guy, choosing to be head coach at Pitt rather than go back to his alma mater. Clements was the Steelers QB coach from 2001-03. I suppose the Rooney family might be amused to see Pitt poach someone from the Bills at this point.

I’m really stunned by what is happening at Washington, though. It would seem that Ty Willingham would be a slam dunk pick to be head coach. Yet they seem to be looking all around and willing to get crazy.

As for who is left, former Notre Dame coach Tyrone Willingham and Boston College’s Tom O’Brien remain the two coaches known that Washington has approached who are apparently still available.

Turner tried to hire Willingham as coach at Vanderbilt in 2001. Mississippi chancellor Robert Khayat was quoted by The Associated Press as saying that Willingham was no longer a candidate at Ole Miss because he is “interested in another job” — apparently UW.

O’Brien has also apparently emerged as a serious candidate — he and Turner got to know each other when each was employed at Virginia in the 1980s. O’Brien had been thought to also be a candidate at Notre Dame, but a source told the Boston Globe yesterday that the Irish are likely not interested in O’Brien, which would leave UW as his primary suitor.

Mike Leach of Texas Tech also remains in the mix, with several reports indicating that he is interested in the job.

There also continue to be rumors about LSU’s Nick Saban, who seems unlikely on the surface. But Saban was hired at LSU by Mark Emmert, who has since become president at UW, and has called Emmert the best boss he has ever had.

Walt Harris of Pittsburgh also remains in the running, though he is thought to be more interested in Stanford.

Among coaches who have been on the rumor mill but who sources said yesterday had not yet been contacted include Fresno State’s Pat Hill, Minnesota’s Glen Mason and former Nebraska coach Frank Solich.

I don’t think it is me, but Tom O’Brien has not impressed me with his work at BC. Not just because of the gak against Syracuse. He has been consistently outcoached when I’ve seen BC play.

I don’t know what to think anymore.