Last Monday, AD Jeff Long said the search would take “weeks, not days.” Now all the stories are that Pitt could announce the next head football coach tomorrow. Maybe it’s just semantics but when the search and interview process goes less than a week-and-a-half, that would be days in my book.
Showing how little I know about reading into things regarding this coach search, it looks like Matt Cavanaugh could be considered the leading candidate now, by virtue of being the only one to get a second interview.
He is the first of the known candidates to receive a second interview and he may be the last. Cavanaugh impressed Long during their first interview Saturday in Indianapolis, so much so that Long told him he likely would meet with him again. According to a source close to the situation, Long said, “if I come to Baltimore to talk with you, it means we’re very serious about you.”
The source also said that Cavanaugh likely will accept the job, if offered.
Guess we’ll learn how good this source actually is.
Paul Rhoads is getting calls made on his behalf from area high school coaches. You know, the same ones supposedly alienated by Pitt and Walt Harris. It could just be me, and my attempts to find the negatives to Rhoads because I don’t want him to get the job, but I’m having a hard time with this. Rhoads is somehow loved by the local coaches, but not Harris. Looking at Pitt’s roster (PDF), it is not like the Defense has that much more in local kids than the Offense. I guess Rhoads was just better at blowing smoke up their… That or any time Pitt did piss off a coach or not pursue hard enough, they just blamed it on Harris.
Sal Sunseri’s interview also went well, and he might get a second interview. It appears that Tim Lewis is not much of a candidate at this point.
Bo Pelini seems to be losing steam, as the interview previously thought to have gone well has been downgraded. I think he is still in the picture at this point.
Let’s get back to Cavanaugh since he is the hot choice for today, at least. This from the Baltimore Sun.
Cavanaugh has been the Ravens’ offensive coordinator the past six seasons, when the positives – which include a Super Bowl win in the 2000 season, producing the NFL’s leading rusher last year and the development of Pro Bowl tight end Todd Heap and quarterback Kyle Boller – are often overshadowed by the negatives.
The Ravens have struggled to put together a consistent passing game during much of Cavanaugh’s tenure and are 31st in the league in passing offense this year.
“Matt has been a huge part of the success we’ve had through a number of circumstances,” Billick said. “I’ve had the good fortune of being around a lot of first-time head coaches from my days in Minnesota with Tony Dungy, Ty Willingham, Mike Tice and here with Marvin Lewis and Jack Del Rio. Those are outstanding coaches. But I’ve never been around a coach more ready to be a head coach than Matt Cavanaugh.”
I would also suggest that the offensive line has been impressive during his time. Both for the running game and pass protection.
Anthony Wright, Dave Ragone, Trent Dilfer. Those are some of the QBs Cavanaugh has had to use. The Ravens had a dominate defense and the offense was to play conservative and not give games away.
Then there is a site dedicated to getting rid of Matt Cavanaugh. The creator makes much of the issue of passer ratings on the QBs under Cavanaugh at other places. He gives snapshots of the player’s performance without context as to the record of the team or much else.
These teams where not devoid of talent either 1997 Bears Roster 1998 Bears Roster Players like:
- Qb Erik Kramer, Wr’s Curtis Conway, Marcus Robinson, & Bobby Engram
- 1997 Qb Erik Kramer finished with 14 Td’s and 14 Int’s & a Qb rating of 74.0. Proof Cavanaugh is a Goof
- 1998 Qb Erik Kramer finished with 9 Td’s and 7 Int’s & a Qb rating of 83.0. More Proof
Um, Erik Kramer is talent? Kramer only played 8 games in ’98. He played in 6 in 1999 and hasn’t been heard from again. In ’97 Kramer was 9th in the league in completions and 10th in pass attempts. The Bears were 4-12 in both years. Dave Wanndstedt was the head coach.
More proof he cites is Cavanaugh as the QB Coach for the Arizona Cardinals in 1994. Yeah, that’s a job where there are no excuses for the talent. Who were the QBs? Steve Beurlein in his, uh, prime for one year. Then Dave Kreig at the end of his career. The Cardinals went 8-8 and 4-12 in those two years. Buddy Ryan was the head coach. And everyone knows how much Buddy Ryan loved offense.
His apparently most damning part is his one year stint as QB Coach for the SF 49ers in 1996 (from Cardinals QB coach to 49er QB coach to Bears offensive coordinator — must simply be a case of failing upwards):
In 1996 Cavanaugh was the Qb coach for The San Francisco 49ers where he had access to Jerry Rice and Steve Young. The 49ers finished 3rd in points scored as Mr. Billick would point out but:
As near as I can tell from the actual stats, the difference can primarily be attributed to throwing only 14 TDs to 6 INT in 12 games in ’96, versus 19 – 6 in ’97. The rest of the numbers pro-rate out to about the same in both years.
I’m not saying there isn’t plenty to criticize Cavanaugh, but this is a less than solid effort.
