On AD Jeff Long (thanks, B.B.):

Dave Wannstedt withdrew his name Thursday from the search for a new coach at the University of Pittsburgh, he told ESPN’s Chris Mortensen.

Wannstedt, who resigned earlier this year as coach of the Miami Dolphins, was considered Pittsburgh’s leading candidate.

Wannstedt told Mortensen that he’s not yet ready to jump back into a full-time load as a coach. However, he said that he would keep his NFL options open depending on what jobs are available at the end of the season.

Roughly translated: “I don’t want to have to suck up to high school kids. I can earn a good living as a defensive coordinator, especially if Norv Turner still has a job with Oakland next year. He owes me for giving him one in Miami.”

Wannstedt would have been a popular, sexy pick for Pitt head coach. It would have shown that the school was willing to spend money for a coach and while there was risk, it would have been acceptable.

Now Pitt and AD Jeff Long have to reset. All the named and rumored candidates are coordinators. None have any real head coaching experience. That can be easily be considered Pitt looking to stay cheap. I have to wonder, because there have not been any rumors concerning some of the MAC head coaches we have mentioned on this blog. Novak, Amstutz or Hoeppner, though would likely cost close to what Harris made by the time he departed. A former coordinator, wouldn’t.

Eric Gill’s rumble down the sideline to set up the game winning field goal against Notre Dame has made it to the ESPN/Pontiac Game Changing Performance Finals. You can vote here.

Now, I’m told that if you delete the voting cookie, you can go back and vote each time. This information is supplied purely as knowledge, not instruction. We here, at PSB do not condone such activity. There is a sacred trust when it comes to internet polling, that we would never violate, nor encourage others to do. If you can’t trust internet voting, then what hope is there?

Other media stories regarding Pitt’s coaching search.

Penn State fans must really be spooked about the possibility of Tom Bradley being considered for the Pitt job. An article declaring that Bradley is not a candidate for the Pitt job — because the PSU athletic department hasn’t been contacted (yet).

A couple of NJ recruits still want to go to Pitt, but are worried the school will change its mind. AD Long has already said the school will honor all commits.

Don’t expect anything official from Pitt’s athletic department until a contract is signed:

“I will not comment on the search while the search is going on,” Long said. “The next time you will hear from me on the search is when we introduce the next football coach here at Pitt.”

For Pat, a column from his hometown paper questioning letting Harris go.

Good God, even people in WV are hoping Pitt finds a good coach. That’s been the truly bad part of the Big East problems, you have to hope your rival doesn’t screw up for your own good.

I know the interviews haven’t even started yet, but I think it should be clear that Dave Wannstedt is (and perhaps should be) Pitt’s primary target. This isn’t because he represents Pitt’s most “serious” choice. The other guys contacted so far — Pelini and Hoke — and mentioned for consideration — Rhoads, Sunseri and Bradley — are all assistants. They are lower profile and cheaper possibilities.

I’m not saying that they may not be better choices, but with all of Pitt’s talk about believing that Harris lacked the vision to take Pitt higher, they shifted the pressure to themselves to back it up. Wannstedt would be a high profile hire. He is friendly with lots of national media types — Pardon the Interruption yesterday (12/15) even brought the topic up in their “big finish” segment and both Kornheiser and Wilbon seemed to like the idea. Wannstedt would also be the most expensive hire. Something Pitt has said it would be willing to do, but has never actually done. Not just the money needed for Wannstedt, but what it would cost for the top-flight assistants a coach who hasn’t been in the college game since 1987 would need.

Wannstedt is not saying that he would take the job or what he wants to do:

Wannstedt said he is debating among pursuing the Pittsburgh job or another NFL coaching position for 2005 or working as a television announcer. Wannstedt did well enough as an analyst during last Sunday’s San Francisco-Arizona game that Fox Sports is bringing him back for a Jan. 2 game between Detroit and Tennessee.

“I totally enjoyed the TV last week,” said Wannstedt, who hasn’t officially met with Pittsburgh officials to discuss the vacancy created when Walt Harris left for Stanford. “I am still open and undecided on coaching possibilities, whether in college or the pros.”

I honestly don’t see how they can actually consider hiring Rhoads. They’ll interview him, but hiring him would not be widely supported by alumni and fans. By hiring any holdover from Harris’ staff, it would be seen as Pitt just going cheaper, and not being serious about making the program better. This is not a Ben Howland-Jamie Dixon situation.

Meanwhile the first of what can be expected to be at least a few of Pitt’s verbals has changed his mind. I find this to be expected. So it is hard to work up much of a lather right now.

A puff piece on former Pitt back-up running back Nick Goings breaking out in the NFL with the Carolina Panthers.