If you were actually watching the GMAC Bowl the entire way through, it would appear that ESPN broke into the game to report Wannstedt will take the Pitt job. More to come.

Okay, I just have to get something out real fast about Wannstedt reconsidering.

Lee actually called me up for this (and something else that he might actually post), since he saw the report on Fox Sports Pittsburgh, and since I live in the Cleveland area, I don’t usually see FSP.

Initial impulse is, “Good!”

Not necessarily because I am sure he would be the best choice. But because I am sure Paul Rhoads would be the worst, and that was what my gut was feeling would happen. Anything that keeps Pitt from being turned over to Rhoads (and causing me to cancel my season tickets) is a positive.

Funny to read that the timing is now right, a week later, though. Does every school go through crap like this when it comes to getting a new coach, or is it just Pitt?

That’s all we can do. There has been nothing, but wire stories saying a decision is coming. Maybe this afternoon. I hope not. I mean, I may be driving myself nuts but a decision or announcement today would make it most likely to be Rhoads. Cavanaugh and even Pelini would take a little more time to get even the basics of the contract in place.

I’m just worried. The more I think about it, the more I become convinced that Pitt is looking to go cheap. Real cheap. I look at how Louisville just gave Petrino a big raise, and even then the AD acknowledged there will still be risks that he leaves.

Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich still expects Petrino’s name to come up when higher-profile jobs open.

“There are certainly schools out there that have more money than us,” Jurich said. “But we’re going to do everything in our power to keep everything stabilized here.”

That’s understanding the nature of college football, awillingness to look clear-eyed at it, and understanding if you want to keep or get someone you don’t wait to respond with the money and/or contract. Yeah, Petrino nearly bolted last winter for Auburn. There’s no guarantee he won’t go somewhere else in a year or two. But you deal with the situation, and prepare just in case.

I don’t see that from the Pitt administration. I see unpreparedness, fear and an unwillingness to pay or really look for the kind of coach they say they want– someone to take them to that mythical “next level.”

Antonio Graves appears unlikelty to play tomorrow night because of his ankle. That means the freshmen will get more playing time.

Ramon will probably get the start in place of Graves (if Pitt starts the 3-guard lineup). He got starts early in the season when Graves was first hobbled by the high ankle sprain, and played very well. Coming off the bench, Ramon hasn’t been as good a shooter. With the improved competition of Richmond (as opposed to St. Francis), it will be interesting to see if maybe Ramon just plays better when he starts as opposed to coming off the bench.

Keith Benjamin will also see increased minutes. Benjamin hasn’t played nearly as much because of knee issues in the fall. Benjamin has been a little behind in getting up to speed on the defensive end. And with Pitt, you don’t get the minutes if you don’t play defense.

Then there is a rather silly piece sounding the trumpets of fear for Pitt basketball. That by next season Chevy Troutman and Mark McCarroll will graduate, Chris Taft and Carl Krauser could leave for the NBA, Coach Jamie Dixon leave for another job.

Dixon will get mentioned, but as I’ve said before, it won’t be to USC. They want to hire a new coach in the next couple of weeks, and I just don’t see any coach bolting a top-10 team mid-season to start rebuilding another. If they were waiting until after the season, maybe something to watch, but not now. Really, looking at college basketball right now, there aren’t a lot of jobs that could come open that would be better than Pitt’s. So, yes, his name will come up, but I don’t see many places where I can take it seriously.

Taft is very likely gone. We all knew that going into the season. I’m just happy he is here for his sophomore season. Krauser, could very well leave. That will be a big question mark, but I already like what I’m seeing from Ramon. Graves has so dramatically improved.

Right now, there should be no other feeling other than optimism regarding the b-ball team and program. Changes coming or not.

You know, a couple weeks ago I half-jokingly mentioned that Paul Rhoads pulled his name from consideration for the Utah State job. Since then, things have moved beyond a joke.

Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator and former Pitt quarterback Matt Cavanaugh, and Pitt defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads are the finalists for the Panthers’ football coaching job, vacated Dec. 12 when Walt Harris resigned to take a similar position at Stanford University.

Bo Pelini, considered the lead choice (after Wannstedt) seems out of the mix despite the support of Bob Stoops.

Cavanaugh is hardly beloved in Baltimore. They blame him for their lousy offense. Strange how certain coaches can be magnets for abuse (Harris, Cavanaugh) while others are left alone (Rhoads, Billick).

Sunseri’s looks to have been merely a bone tossed to some old alumni. Tim Lewis’ appears to have been a token sham. This despite, the fact that some consider Lewis to be a legitimate future head coach. From ESPN’s Chris Mortenson:

NFL teams do benefit when they go through the entire process, too. There are a bunch of qualified minority candidates that need to be “discovered.” Almost all of them this year are on the defensive side of the ball – specifically, I’m thinking of Romeo Crennel (Patriots), Tim Lewis (Giants), Donnie Henderson (Jets), Jerry Gray (Bills) and Greg Blache (Redskins), not to mention Cowboys offensive coordinator Maurice Carthon.

Was he really interested in being a college head coach? I don’t know. His agent, the vilified Bob LaMonte seems to indicate otherwise.

Lewis, who also played at Pittsburgh before returning there as an assistant coach, was only mildly interested in the position. He has set his sights on loftier jobs.

“I never spoke to him about the job,” Lewis’ agent, Bob LaMonte, said yesterday. “What we try to do at our agency is to get NFL jobs for our clients. I was never involved in that.”

Of course this comes after he was clearly out of the picture so take what the agent says with that caveat.

Cavanaugh gets an endorsement from Steve Young, who thought well of him with just one season when Cavanaugh was his QB coach. The passage, though reveals the thing I have been suspecting might be an underlying issue for Pitt’s coach search.

He [Rhoads] is an intriguing candidate, not only because of his intelligence (high school valedictorian) and upbeat style, but he would carry a lower price tag than Cavanaugh, who’s worked for four NFL franchises and owns four championship rings (three Super Bowl; one national championship).

One NFL source said money could be a sticking point for Cavanaugh, although compensation has yet to be discussed between the two sides in earnest. Harris makes an estimated $600,000 in this, his eighth and final season with the 19th-ranked Panthers, who face unbeaten Utah in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1.

Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback and NFL analyst Steve Young said yesterday that Cavanaugh is ready for a head coaching position. Cavanaugh was briefly Young’s position coach with the 49ers.

“I think a lot of Matt Cavanaugh,” Young said yesterday by phone. “He is a great offensive coach. I think he has done a great job of coaching in Baltimore and been given very little. You have seen the best of Trent Dilfer in Baltimore. You have seen kind of the best of everybody who has gone through there. He hasn’t been given a lot to work with.

I really believe in Matt a lot. I also know he has been preparing for this kind of job for a long time.

“Matt has a sense of what it takes to play. I would be very willing to jump on board of any discussion of Matt Cavanaugh being a coach in college, especially at Pitt.”

This is why I fear Rhoads will get the job. He’d be cheaper, and Pitt won’t spend the money if it isn’t their first choice. To get Cavanaugh, they would have to pay him at least $500-600 K to start. Not to mention he’d be in a better position to to demand better pay for his assistants.

Rhoads would be cheaper from top to bottom. That seems to be what Pitt wants.

Smizik’s column blasting the search is one I can agree completely. Mainly, because, he makes the points we’ve been making here for the last 2 weeks.

Sad to say, but Pitt is not looking for the best man available. It’s looking for a best man who fits a tight job description.

It is curious, to say the least, that Pitt is not in the market for a successful head coach who would consider Pitt an upward move. Wouldn’t a proven commodity be a more safe choice than the men being considered, none of whom have head-coaching experience?

And it’s astonishing, to say the least, that Long, who has worked in and around college football at places such as Michigan, Oklahoma and Virginia Tech for some 20 years, would come up with such a Pitt-oriented list after being at Pitt less than two years.

Indiana, which is a considerable step down from Pitt, had a broader vision for its coaching search. It was able to lure Terry Hoeppner to head its downtrodden program. Hoeppner brings a 48-23 record in six years on the Division I-A level, a top-10 finish in 2003 and the reputation of helping to develop a pretty fair quarterback named Ben Roethlisberger at Miami (Ohio).

If Indiana can reel in a coach with such qualifications, why can’t Pitt at least be considering men with those credentials?

It might have to do something with the money. It might have something to do with how Pitt views itself.

By going after candidates who not only have Pitt ties but who are not at the top — or even on — other school’s lists, Pitt looks to be bargain hunting.

To raid another school means having to pay something approaching the going rate for top-of-the line coaches, which is about $1 million a year. It also means getting involved with possibly having to buy out the coach’s existing contract.

Those appear to be financial areas where Pitt does not want to go.

Another reason for looking at Pitt men almost exclusively is that it lessens the chance of the new coach using Pitt as a stepping-stone for another job.

Meanwhile Ron Cook has gone silent. Actually, other than to take shots at Harris, he had little constructive to say. That’s because if Rhoads gets the job, Cook will be one of the lead cheerleaders. Cook has been puffing him since August 2003.

I guess I keep getting shocked at how much love there is for Rhoads. The defense collapsing last year was the big reason Pitt underachieved. The offense was what bailed out the defense. The Syracuse loss can be pinned right on the defense. The OT game against Furman that people point to as a negative on Harris — The defense allowed 38 points! Last I checked that was Rhoads’ department. Temple? The UConn loss was a joint effort. Ineffective offense helped wear down the defense. The defense carried the offense for only one win this year — Ohio U.

Well, at least there’s basketball…