This is why the Big East will be an ugly megaconference next year. Mike Tranghese can be one hell of a salesman:

Doing some major politicking with its BCS partners, the Big East made its automatic bid in the BCS more secure in the last month.

The Big East shored up its automatic BCS bid after convincing BCS representatives to consider the strengths of incoming Big East members Louisville, Cincinnati and South Florida and to disregard outgoing members Boston College and Temple.

A conference can lose its automatic bid for not averaging a top-12 finish for its champion over a four-year span according to BCS regulations.

This year’s Big East champion, Pittsburgh, is No. 21 in the BCS rankings. That would have started the “doomsday clock” on the league’s need to average a top-12 finish.

But Louisville (No. 8 ESPN/USA Today; No. 7 AP) is 10th in the BCS, so the Big East keeps a run of top-10 finishes going back to 1999 when Virginia Tech, now a member of the ACC, finished second.

Although the criteria for automatic bids will change beginning with the new BCS contract in 2006, the inclusion of Louisville this season gives the Big East a more secure spot in the rankings.

What will really help would be if Pitt beats Utah.

(Or, should I drink it now, or wait ’til it goes down.)

I don’t have a lot of my 21 year old Glenfiddich left. I’ve been saving it for either a really good day or a really bad day. Right now, I’m tempted to hit it tonight. An article like this will have that effect:

Defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads is emerging as a front-runner for the head coaching job at Pittsburgh, according to newspaper reports.

I’m trying not to panic. Rhoads has been the only guy actually interviewed so far. Wannstedt and Hoke have withdrawn from consideration. So technically Rhoads would be the frontrunner when he was the only guy interviewed.

I am just getting a bad feeling. Paul Zeise seems to think it will be either Rhoads or Pelini. While it was supposed to be his Q&A, it was really an extra column. He runs down some of the candidates, and wonders why Pitt doesn’t seem interested.

As for Matt Cavanaugh, I’m still trying to gauge if he is a legitimate candidate or if this was another situation of “let’s appease some of the influential alumni by asking for and getting rejected by another Pitt guy.” My guess is that it is the case, but we’ll soon know.

Sal Sunseri would be a great choice but he doesn’t seem to be high on the list. He would take the job in a minute but I’m not sure he’d get the offer for a lot of reasons.

Pitt is missing the boat by not at least seriously looking at Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley. He’s a recruiting machine, he has Western Pennsylvania locked up and he is also an excellent coach. Defense is not the problem at Penn State. The only sticking point with Bradley is that he’s never been anywhere else, but that may not be a bad thing. I think if he got this job, he’d be here for life because this is home.

Pitt has not asked for permission from the Buffalo Bills about Tom Clements, so I am going to assume his candidacy has not yet gotten off the ground.

I’d be fine with Pelini. I don’t understand why Novak (Northern Illinois) and Amstutz (Toledo) aren’t even being brought up in the conversations, Bradley and Sunseri I think could work. I don’t know about Clements.

Rhoads. I repeat, cancel my season tickets.

It would tear me up. I love the trips into Pittsburgh for the games. I don’t have the words to convey how great a time I have, and how much these games mean to me. Even when I don’t get to stay over for the night — which has become more common — it is just good. The guys here at PSB are guys I know I can count on and trust. Outside of the games, we rarely get a chance to gather as a group. How do you put a price on that?

That said, hiring Rhoads tells me that getting rid of Harris was about 1) going cheaper and 2) personality conflicts. That it was never about questioning whether Harris could take the team any higher. How can you hire his assistant if you didn’t believe Harris could do the job?

I won’t support that.

Crap. Now I’m depressed.

I realize Pitt didn’t seem to have this guy on their list of potential head coaching candidates, but I did.

Miami of Ohio’s Terry Hoeppner was hired as Indiana’s football coach Friday and vowed to take the Hoosiers to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1968.

Damn. Well, I guess we’ll find out whether I was right about Hoeppner at what has to be one of the worst jobs in the BCS conferences.

Easy to forget, this week with the coach search in football. Not to mention the fact that Pitt has had the week off (finals?). With no games, no real news, so this week it’s been time to look at individual players.

A good piece on Chevy Troutman, can you picture him being one of THuggins Bearcats?

It was on his way back from a recruiting trip at Cincinnati that Troutman discovered Pittsburgh almost by accident. Troutman, a cousin and aunt were driving back from an unofficial visit with Bearcats coach Bob Huggins. They drove through Pittsburgh on the way back to Williamsport.

“We came through the tunnels,” Troutman remembered. “When we got to the other side, it was all lit up. I was like, ‘Damn, that’s hot.’ It was pretty sweet.”

[Personal aside. Everyone always talks about the view of Pittsburgh from Mt. Washington, but that image coming in from the 279/579 is very underrated. I spent all of college it seemed on the other side going out 376 and to the Turnpike to go back to see family. Never a great view of the city coming back. Then when I ended up West of Pittsburgh (Chicago then Cleveland), I came back into Pittsburgh to see friends and when you come up and around that bend into the city — it’s just a great view.]

Aaron Gray gets another piece as his game has vastly improved along with his minutes. He has become a more than capable back-up for Taft. I mean, sure he’s no Darren Morningstar, but who is.

Keith Benjamin, the other heralded freshman recruit hasn’t gotten much playing time yet. Mainly because of Graves’ stunning leap this year in development. It was a surprise to Benjamin who believed he was going to be able to step in and start in place of the departed Julius Page. He is definitely frustrated with not getting to play, still he seems to be doing his best to understand. Troutman and Krauser have helped by pointing out how little they got to play their first year or so.

Chris Taft has not been as dominating as expected early on. Hard to judge so early in the season, and against such poor competition. I expect his game will pick up vastly once the Big East schedule kicks in. The downside for Taft — as far as being an NBA lottery pick — is that it will suggest to scouts that he doesn’t want to work hard every game.

Ray Fittipaldo, the Pitt basketball beat writer for the Post-Gazette has his weekly Q&A posted. Hard to question or complain much about the team to date, but there was some questioning regarding Pitt starting and playing Demetrius.

Q: Am I the only one who thinks the Panthers could do significantly better than Yuri Demetris at the swing position? I finally got to see a game on Tuesday, and it didn’t seem like Demetris was much of a factor at all. Why not see what Mark McCarroll or John DeGroat can do as a starter? Also, is there a chance we’ll see a power lineup this season with Gray at center, Taft at power forward and Troutman at small forward?

FITTIPALDO: I’ve had more e-mails about the small forward position this season than anything else. It’s quite the topic among Pitt fans these days. Demetris is a senior who has bided his time in the program. He is smart, a good passer and a decent outside shooter. John DeGroat is in his first season in the program. Compared to Demetris he is a freshman in terms of knowledge of the offense and defense. He is more skilled, is a better rebounder and certainly a better scorer. At this point, Dixon seems enamored of Demetris and what he can provide for the team. There could come a time in the future when DeGroat plays more. But it doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen any time soon. Dixon has barely used him the last few games. As for the power lineup, Dixon has indicated that having Gray and Taft on the floor on the same time would not be an ideal situation because teams would go small and look to beat those guys off the dribble.

DeGroat is okay on the offensive end, but has looked lost on defense. Pitt is still defense first.

Final item comes from an ESPN chat with Andy Katz on Wednesday, December 15 (subscription req’d).:

Joe ((scarsdale)): hey andy- who do you think is the early favorite to cut down the nets? I dont think there have ever been this many contenders early- do you have to give GT the early respect because they went all the way to the championships or does GT or perhaps even Duke get any consideration?

Andy Katz: I’ve got five teams that have separated themselves: Illinois, Oklahoma State, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Kansas. The second tier is close with Syracuse, Wake Forest, Kentucky, Duke and maybe Pittsburgh and Louisville. But it’s still so early.

People are not sleeping on Pitt this year.

I mentioned before that I was doing some guest-blogging over at College Basketball Blog. My latest, Part 1 on the Big East and where it is headed is there. I will probably post it here in a week or so.

The good part about Dave Wannstedt pulling his name yesterday from consideration as head coach, he did it early in the process. As much interest as his name and profile automatically seemed to make him the frontrunner in the search, imagine how worse and ND-esque it would have been if he had waited until next week or even after the formal interview to change his mind. The downside, I had finally gotten to the point where I could type Wanny’s name without double checking the spelling.

Seems that Wannstedt’s withdrawal wasn’t the only change. Houston Texans DB coach and life-long friend of AD Jeff Long, John Hoke, appears to already be off the list of possible candidates. The guy has a good resume, but he would have been an awkward choice considering his long friendship with Long. It just would have come off as some classic cronyism.

On the other hand, a familiar name is back on the list –Matt Cavanaugh. Guess the fact that the Ravens are showing an offense again, is restoring some of his luster. Actually, I missed it the first time I read the article, but this is troubling

Wannstedt suggested that he went back and forth on the Pitt job. He has a close relationship with chancellor Mark Nordenberg and entertained the idea of coming home. He even researched the current Pitt roster and some of the incoming recruits, just to stay on top of things.

He reportedly would have required higher salaries for his assistants, though that was not seen as a deal-breaker.

[Emphasis added.] Going hand-in-hand with finding the right guy to be head coach is getting the right assistants. You can’t skimp on them either. That was an underlying issue when Harris was running things. The pay of Pitt assistants was on the lower end.

In an almost passing comment regarding who LSU would get to replace Nick Saban, Tim Brando mentions Wannstedt:

I’ve spoken with Wannstedt and while he said no to his alma mater, Pitt, understand that school lacks the commitment to excellence in football that LSU already has.

Sal Sunseri, the former Pitt player and assistant, does not appear to be on the list despite his interest. I know he is also popular with some alumni and boosters, but he does not seem to be high on Pitt’s list. Other former Pitt players are letting everyone know that they would be interested in becoming part of the next Pitt coaching staff. Alex Van Pelt is volunteering to be a QB coach (no comment); and Teryl Austin (who? name not ringing any bells), presently the Seattle Seahawks DB coach, wouldn’t mind being a defensive coordinator.

AD Long did actually conduct an interview yesterday. Paul Rhoads got his interview, and got an endorsement from ESPN recruiting guy, Tom Lemming. Of course, Lemming isn’t exactly ripping any possibilities. From his online chat at ESPN on Tuesday, December 14 (subscription only):

Jerry: Tom. Do you have any word on recruiting at Pittsburgh now that Harris is leaving?

Tom Lemming: I’ve been hearing Matt Cavanaugh, Bob Davie, Dave Wannstedt and Tom Clemons as the four candidates. Pitt’s recruiting has been on hold and will suffer for the time lost. I think all four are great candidates. They can’t go wrong with any of them.

The less said about Paul Rhoads as Pitt head coach, the better.

In other football related notes, Bill “the original offensive genius” Walsh explains and apologizes for his 2 1/2 star crack on Pitt.

Walsh reportedly made the comments moments after former Pitt coach Harris was introduced as the coach at Stanford. He said he cringed when he saw the words in print.

“I was promoting Walt to some local writers, and what I was saying was, ‘He took a program that was probably two-and-a-half stars and made it a four-star program.’ When he got there, he had to deal with some lower-level athletes, but he built it up.”

Walsh claimed some of his words were in the wrong places, blaming himself for not being clear enough.

“It sounds awful, and I feel awful,” said Walsh, 73, who led the San Francisco 49ers to four Super Bowl victories. “I have all kinds of friends in Pittsburgh, and this is embarrassing as hell for me. We were on the Stanford campus, and I was talking about how beautiful this campus is and how Pitt’s campus was in a tougher part of town from what I remembered. But that was from 20 years ago. I understand it is beautiful there. Dan Rooney (Steelers owner) told me that. I feel stupid for any of this happening. I just don’t know if an apology is enough.”

If that’s the way he wants to spin it. Fine. I’m willing to let the thing drop.

Mike Prisuta defends AD Jeff Long and Walt Harris for allowing Harris to coach the Fiesta Bowl. He makes the same point I made a few days ago when Ron Cook was complaining about this. You let an interim coach, coach the game and you risk getting trapped into hiring that guy if the team wins. Specifically, Paul Rhoads. That just isn’t a route that should be followed.