After taking some time for finals and for Coach Walt Harris to get acclimated to Stanford, everyone is back together for a couple days of practice in Pittsburgh. The players talked about Coach Harris leaving, and hoping that Rhoads gets the job.

Harris called this season, “probably the most memorable season I’ve had.” He did duck and weave about whether he wanted to stay, continually pointing back to the players themselves. Interesting by its absence was any actual endorsement for Paul Rhoads to get the head coaching job.

Pittsburgh City Council issued two resolutions declaring Monday was “University of Pittsburgh Panthers Day” and “Walt Harris Day.” The players and coach were downtown to receive the honor. More player reactions seem to suggest they at least believe it was a clash between AD Long and Coach Harris that led to the change.

Pitt will practice again today and tomorrow before breaking for Christmas. The team is supposed to arrive in Tempe on Sunday and will be practicing down there for the week.

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:

• Steve Young had is lowest Qb rating as a 49er (97.2) compared to an eye popping 104.7 the year AFTER Cavanaugh had left! Exhibit A Exhibit B

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.

The Pitt web site has a countdown clock to the Fiesta Bowl. They also seem to be doing a nice job of assembling information for the Fiesta Bowl. This includes activities for those attending (mostly in PDF).

For Pitt fans, there hasn’t been much in the way of news or talk about the actual Fiesta Bowl. All caught up in the soap opera of Harris leaving/pushed and the search for the next guy. Todd McShay of Scouts Inc. was actually asked a Pitt question in his ESPN.com chat:

Kennny (Pittsburgh): What do you think Pitt’s biggest weakness is going into the Fiesta bowl?

Todd McShay: I think the running game. Their ability to throw the ball has been a big part of their second half surge, thanks to Tyler Palko’s emergence as one of the nation’s more efficient passers. But throughout that, they still have been unable to establish much of a running attack. Against an offense like Utah that can score in bunches, you have to be able to run the ball to keep Alex Smith and company off the field.

I’m not as worried about running the ball as I had been. Tim Murphy in the last few games seemed to have established himself and was running forward and aggressively. Hopefully that will continue.

Meanwhile, Coach Walt Harris is still trying to get Pitt ready for the Fiesta Bowl. While the debate can (and likely will) continue as to the merit of having Harris pushed out as head coach. It has been clear to most (aside from Ron Cook) that Harris really didn’t want to leave.

Harris, allowed to leave Pitt for Stanford earlier this month without protest in a move some players essentially consider a firing, is emotional knowing he will no longer coach the No. 19 Panthers beyond next week.

“Sure,” Harris said Monday night. “I’m trying to act like it isn’t, I guess because I think that’s probably the way you’re supposed to act. We were down at City Council today for University of Pittsburgh Football Day, and it is very emotional, I spent eight years trying to rebuild this football program and I think we accomplished that.”

Asked if he wished he were staying, Harris said, “I think those questions are, unfortunately, behind us now. I do love these players, I have told them how much they meant to me, and that life goes on.”

Some players were more vocal about Harris’ departure, with star quarterback Tyler Palko saying Harris’ departure “stinks.”

I don’t think it is any exaggeration to say that AD Jeff Long’s job could ride on this hire. While there were plenty of factors — local recruiting, coaching staff issues, contract extension posturing, in-game coaching and, of course, money — the conventional wisdom has become that the overriding factor was personal animosity between Long and Harris.

If the next Pitt coach doesn’t do any better (or worse) than Harris, and/or Harris does well with Stanford in the now very intriguing PAC-10; then Long will be viewed as a guy who ran off the coach that rebuilt Pitt and had them going in the right direction (just not at a fast enough pace), just because they weren’t best buddies.

Long would easily be thrown to the wolves by the administration.

Meanwhile, another former Pitt player is now Coach of the Year, in the PIAA:

PIAA champion Thomas Jefferson leads the team with four players after bouncing back from two regular-season losses to win seven consecutive playoff games, defeating defending champion Manheim Central 56-20 for the AAA title.
…
TJ coach Bill Cherpak, a former Pitt player, was the runaway winner in the coach of the year balloting of writers and broadcasters.

Just because no one asked, my personal preferences for Pitt’s next head coach — based on who was actually interviewed — in order:

1. Bo Pelini: Good and ambitious. Even if he bolts for a higher profile job, he will likely leave things in even better shape in terms of recruits and national prominence. There’s a certain air of inevitability to him and the job.
2. Sal Sunseri: Still very well connected to the local high school coaches (not to mention the fans and boosters). Comes with a great history of recruiting well everywhere. Wants the job. Unfortunately, I don’t think Pitt wants him.
3. Tim Lewis: I’m not sure what kind of recruiter he actually is/would be. He has moved successfully from college programs to the pros. Went from being a top draft pick to coaching after a career-ending injury. Obviously has a passion for the game and smarts. I think he would be better than expected. I don’t think, Pitt was serious about him, though.
4. Matt Cavanaugh: His star has faded as he has gained more responsibility for the Ravens offense. Jim Fassel has been the one getting all the credit for getting Boller up to Jon Kitna levels in the NFL. Ravens offense, not exactly the best thing to have on the resume. I don’t know how much interest he actually has in a college job, even at Pitt. Not to mention how much interest Pitt has in him at this point.
5. Paul Rhoads: Sadly, probably Pitt’s second choice after Pelini. The things people want to criticize Harris for, seem to apply just as much for Rhoads. Except that he seems to be a better interview.

Looks like we will know soon.

Things that will effect Pitt this year in basketball:

Home win = 0.6

Road win = 1.4

Neutral win = 1.0

For a lot of us, this might be the only time we’ll be happy to be shown a math problem.

This is how the Ratings Percentage Index will factor game sites into its rankings. The basic formula still uses a ratio of a team’s winning percentage (25 percent), opponents’ winning percentage (50 percent) and opponents’ opponents winning percentage (25 percent). But now home victories will count 40 percent less than wins on a neutral court; road victories will count 40 percent more.

This will become an important step in changing the way college basketball teams establish their schedules. There will be more incentive for teams to play on the road in future years because road warriors will be more likely to gain NCAA Tournament bids and favorable seeding. The selection committee does not choose teams strictly based on the RPI, but it is an important factor.

And next season in football:

So college football doesn’t want to be like the NFL, huh? Well, the grand game will take a big step toward the pro game next season when all six BCS conferences use instant replay.

There still are a few hurdles to clear, but after the Big Ten’s success this season with the inaugural model, look for everyone to follow suit. The Big Ten used replay 43 times in 53 games and overturned nearly half (21) of the calls.
…
Bottom line: It’s good for the game when bad calls can be corrected on the field. If you have the technology, why not use it? The Big East, SEC and ACC have been exploring the use of replay all season and likely will approve it at their respective spring meetings. The Big 12 considered using replay last year but didn’t have enough time to implement the system. And the Pac-10, which seems to drag its feet on every major decision, is exploring the possibility, too. Finally, some sense.

Not much of a problem to me with either. For the issue of replay, keep it simple and don’t worry about issues of the clock.

The RPI changes were coming, everybody knew the changes were going to reward road games more, and Pitt still went out and set up a very, very weak non-con. Only one road game (Penn St.) and a neutral site game (Memphis) the rest are all home games against mainly cupcakes. How sad is it when the tough part of the non-con will be home games with Richmond and South Carolina. Teams with a combined record of 9-5. Yes, the Memphis team was expected to be better, but it’s still no excuse for the rest of the schedule. Pitt may be ranked #10 in both polls, but its RPI is #56. Even more embarrassing is the Strength of Schedule (SOS) played so far is #240. Only NC St. (#256) has a lower SOS than Pitt for all top 25 teams.

When Pitt gets smacked come the seeding time for the NCAA Tournament, and the howling begins again, they will point to the non-con. Just like they did last year.

So Rick Majerus backs out of a “dream job” with USC, leaving their athletic department looking like dopes. I mean this is worse than a drunk, quickie Vegas marriage where the next day one partner sobers up, takes a look at who is sleeping next to them and gets a divorce. I mean USC held a press conference introducing Majerus as head coach. That’s taking the guy home to meet the folks stage.

So that means the search is back to where it was and the names that were there before, are rehashed. So, yes, Pitt coach Jamie Dixon’s name is back in play. The thing is, USC wants to make the hire within the next 4 weeks because the senior associate AD who conducts the b-ball coach search leaves in mid-January for Syracuse. Daryl Gross will be the guy taking over from retiring AD Jake Crouthamel. Man, the people up in Syracuse have to be feeling good about this guy already.

I just don’t see Dixon leaving Pitt in mid-season for the job. I wasn’t convinced they could get him after the season, but definitely not mid-season from a top-10 team. It would crash the entire season. Maybe you get someone like Paul Westphal — a USC alum and coach at mid-major Pepperdine. Or you get the guy still looking for work, Tim Floyd.

Another factor is that the guy doing the search and hire will be coming to Syracuse and the Big East. Can you imagine how awkward his first time speaking to the Pitt AD would be. There might be issues.

—

Chris Taft isn’t too worried about his numbers and the expectations.

Taft is aware of the chatter surrounding his game. He would like to live up to everyone’s lofty goals. He just thinks that it’s going to be hard to do in Pitt’s team concept offense.

“After the year I had last year everyone expects me to get 20 or 25 night in and night out,” Taft said following Pitt’s 73-42 victory against Coppin State Saturday night. “To be honest with you I would love to do that. I’m going to try and rebound so crazy that I can have 20 [points] and 10 [rebounds], but it’s going to be hard. We have more than one person who can score. You have me, Chevy [Troutman], Carl [Krauser], Antonio [Graves], Yuri [Demetris]. We try to balance it out.”

Under Ben Howland and Jamie Dixon, Pitt has only had one player average more than 18 points per game in a season. That was Ricardo Greer in 1999-2000, and he averaged 18.1 per game. Balance has been Pitt’s trademark.

It is true. Each year, we expect one player on Pitt’s team to have scoring numbers far above anyone else on the team, but the numbers always seem to be well balanced. Greer was the only one to score that much, because he was just about the only one who could score consistently on that team.

I like that while Taft would like to have better numbers (and is willing to admit it), he also knows the team’s style and is willing to play within it. Speaks well of his maturity and desire to win versus just getting numbers.

I don’t expect Graves to play against Richmond. I figure Pitt has to give him time to let the ankle heal. Especially since Big East play starts in 2 weeks or so. Depth is finally here for Pitt, so there isn’t going to be a huge gap with him out. It will be interesting to see how Ramon does starting for him again. Ramon got to start the first couple games when Graves first sprained the ankle and shot very well. His shot wasn’t as good in recent games off the bench.

It would appear that the first wave of interviews will end today or perhaps tomorrow. Sal Sunseri was supposed to be the last candidate interviewed. Now it appears, though, that Long will interview one more candidate — Randy Shannon, the defensive coordinator for the Miami Hurricanes. Why? Sadly, it looks to be for appearances:

Sources have said that Long indicated he would like to interview at least two minority candidates for the job. He met with New York Giants coordinator Tim Lewis Friday; Shannon would be the second minority candidate if the two were to meet. Long has been in close contact with the Black Coaches Association throughout the interview process.

Amusing sidenote, Tim Lewis’ agent is Walt Harris’ former agent, Bob LaMonte. You know, the guy who called out the Pitt administration during the season for a contract extension. That would be an interesting meeting.

As for Lewis, it now seems as if it wasn’t much of an official interview.

Giants defensive coordinator Tim Lewis met with University of Pittsburgh athletic director Jeff Long on Friday to discuss the school’s vacant head coaching job, though it was apparently an “informal” interview and Tom Coughlin did not know it was taking place.

Coughlin denied yesterday that Lewis interviewed for the Pitt job and insisted that no one from the school had contacted anyone in the Giants organization to request permission to speak to Lewis. “I don’t think that anyone in the organization would take a phone call and not let me know about it,” Coughlin said.
…
However, Giants sources described the meeting as “preliminary talk – not an official interview,” and one source added that Lewis informed Coughlin as soon as the meeting was over. Lewis and Coughlin had previously discussed the possibility that Lewis would be a candidate at Pitt, and the two spoke again about the subject yesterday.

Apparently Lewis – who is not allowed by Coughlin to speak to the media – told Long that if they wanted to meet again, Long would have to ask the Giants for permission. Giants GM Ernie Accorsi said no one from Pitt has contacted him. Lewis, who turned 43 Saturday, was a star cornerback for Pitt from 1979-82.

Apparently Coughlin had given permission for Lewis to meet informally with Pitt without prior notice — if it happened in New Jersey.

As for Pelini, he is still considered the leading candidate for the job. Oklahoma isn’t worried one way or another now. This past weekend was the last chance to recruit for a couple weeks. Right now recruiting is in an NCAA mandated “dead period” where coaches cannot have any contact with recruits.

This helps explain why Pitt wants to get their guy this or next week. Give them chance to put together a staff, and even a gameplan; look over who their commits are/were; prepare to contact the present commits, reassure, and go hard after some others; introduce themselves to area coaches; and all the while other schools’ coaches are doing nothing.

A column wondering how it came to be that coaches are actually turning down jobs with seeming regularity. Last I checked it was called market forces. Look into it.

In a weird way, I genuinely enjoy Penn State sportswriters telling me that Pitt won’t hire Tom Bradley because we can’t get past our blind hatred of anything connected to the Nittany Lions, as I believe Centre Daily Times (State College, PA) senior sportswriter Ron Bracken is doing here.

“The odds are better that I’ll pin Kerry McCoy than that Bradley will get the Pitt job. Which is less a reflection on his qualifications than his heritage. The biggest obstacle in Bradley’s path to becoming the head Panther is his ties to Penn State. He played there, both of his brothers have played there and he has coached nowhere else but there. Bradley has been told privately by a Pitt administrator that while the school would love to have him, it would never happen because he was “a Penn State guy.”

First off, don’t tell me who to hate and how much to hate them. My desire for Pitt to succeed supersedes any distaste I have for your isolated little hick-assed farmers school, and I certainly hope that the Pitt administration feels the same way. Secondly, which Pitt administrator, exactly? Was it a real, flesh-and-blood administrator or just the same guy who gave Dan Rather Dubya’s military records? Was it Jeff Long? I doubt it.

Not that Bracken doesn’t make a good secondary point.

“There is also this to consider: What Penn State assistant coach, besides George Welsh, has left the program and become a successful head coach at another school? Casting not one aspersion in Bradley’s direction, but Penn State has not exactly been known as the cradle of coaches during Joe Paterno’s tenure.”

I guess we’re just assuming that Paul Pasqualoni hasn’t been successful? Well, I guess I won’t argue that much. Bracken continues on to suggest that this might be a good reason for Penn State itself to look outside of its own family for Paterno’s successor. Very good point, and one that I hope everybody up at University Park ignores.

But the funny part is, due to a careless website editor, a second, smaller story was stapled on to the tail end of Bracken’s commentary. And this smaller piece fully explains why so many of us Panther fans are excited about potentially stealing Tom Bradley away.

Lee picks Lions
Shawn Lee, a 6-foot-3, 215-pound running back-defensive back from Upper St. Clair High near Pittsburgh announced Thursday that he would sign a letter of intent with Penn State on Feb. 2. He made the announcement after Joe Paterno and Tom Bradley visited the high school. He becomes the 12th athlete to give the Lions a verbal commitment and the third this week.

Exactly. Another solid recruit (Rivals gives Lee 3 stars) plucked out of the WPIAL by Bradley. His recruiting prowess in Western Pennsylvania is the main reason why so many of us Panther fans are interested in your defensive coordinator. The job he did coaching said defense this past fall would be the second reason. In any case, our love of Pitt will always trump our hatred of you. Get over yourself, already.

Speaking of Rivals, Pitt’s football recruiting class is currently ranked 43rd. Not bad for a drifting, coachless wreck. Incidentally, Nebraska is #1 (how?), Ohio State #5, Michigan #6, Penn State #33 (that’s the best recruiting class you’ve had in years?), and West Virginia #35 (unfortunately, they’re the only Big East program ranked ahead of us).

Hail to either Bradley or Pelini.

When you are facing a team like Coppin St., where the outcome is never truly in doubt. The most important thing is to rest those that need it and not have anyone get hurt. Pitt rested Mark McCarroll, who suffered a concussion last Saturday against Penn State. Unfortunatlely, Antonio Graves re-injured his left ankle — he had a high ankle sprain at the start of the season that allowed the freshman Ronald Ramon to start some games. Graves was on crutches at the end of the game, and is uncertain for Thursday’s game against the Richmond Spiders (ESPN2, 7pm).

The game stories, though, focused on a very good night for Chris Taft, when the Coppin St. Eagles focused much of their energy on successfully containing Chevy Troutman. Taft had a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds. This came in only 24 minutes. Benjamin got 13 minutes, so I think we can assume that he will not be redshirting this season (he might be eligible for a medical redshirt, but he has already appeared in 6 games — the limit for the entire year).

The next game is against the Spiders. Richmond is one of the few potentially dangerous teams on Pitt’s non-con. They are 4-3, with blowout losses to Wake Forest and Virginia. They did beat Seton Hall in New Jersey to open the season.

Well, now that Bo Pelini has been interviewed, he has been anointed the frontrunner for the Pitt job. Pelini says he wouldn’t take over any job until after the Orange Bowl. Wonder if that means he wouldn’t assemble a staff and get them out to the recruits while he stays in Norman, or just that he won’t do anything. Kind of important. In some reports, Pelini may be getting an offer as early as Tuesday.

There are still other interviews. Matt Cavanaugh was interviewed last night or will be interviewed today (reports have conflicted). Sal Sunseri is supposed to be interviewed on Monday, and even has put together his coaching staff.

Back to Pelini, who in the previous article received plenty of positive praise from Oklahoma head coach (and his present boss) Bob Stoops. Here’s a story from last year when Pelini was interim head coach at Nebraska — if he ends up with the job, he will be drawing comparisons to Steeler Coach Cowher for sideline behavior.

Tim Lewis already seems to have been forgotten. Looks like that was just to appease the NCAA for minority interviews. A shame, Lewis struck me as an interesting candidate. Wrong to do that sort of token interviewing and even worse when the person you are doing that to is an alumni of the school. Just not right.

The lifeblood of a football program, of course, is recruiting. Chuck Finder writes a sure-to-infuriate-the-locals piece arguing that Western PA isn’t what it used to be in terms of quantity of top recruits. He points out the demographics have been shrinking in the region. (Something I think Lee has pointed out before). He’s not arguing that the well is dry. He is just saying that the talent level, locally is not what it was in the ’70s and early ’80s. It’s a fair point, but one I’m sure many people in Pittsburgh will not want to hear.

The Trib’s recruiting guy, Kevin Gorman, though argues that the next Pitt coach has to focus very, very hard on the WPIAL kids. He points to the kids that have been flowing to the Big 11. I agree that Pitt really, really needs to improve the local recruiting. Gorman, though, seems a little too close to the subject. He covers the recruiting in the region, he knows all the kids and the coaches. So, it seems he is overstating the overall talent level. In some points, he seems to suggest recruiting a couple kids, just to win points with their high school coaches for the future. Maybe a decent strategy, in what could be a bit of a lost recruiting year, but it’s also admitting the kid isn’t really that good.

Final note, a story on new Indiana head coach, Terry Hoeppner had this one thing that caught my eye:

Woodlan football coach Leland Etzler made a phone call to Terry Hoeppner a couple of weeks ago to gather information for an effort to get Hoeppner inducted in the Indiana Football Hall of Fame.

Etzler couldn’t help but ask about the rumors going around that Hoeppner might leave Miami of Ohio to become head coach at Pitt or Indiana.

[Emphasis added.]

You know, I never saw his name on any lists outside of this blog. You don’t suppose…

Part 2 of my look at the Big East past to future is at College Basketball (Part 1, here) is up. I’ll be re-posting it on PSB next week. My little co-guest-blogging stint at Yoni’s site is over, and I want to thank him for the invite. If you’re not reading College Basketball Blog, you should. Yoni does a great job covering a subject he truly loves.

We’ve had a spike in traffic in the last couple weeks here. Pitt fans and alumni are trying to find out what is going on with the coach search. We’re sharing what we know, and adding to the speculation. Hopefully, without taking ourselves or the subject matter too seriously.

We do appreciate the comments and there have been some very kind e-mails to us. It is gratifying. So I just want to take a moment first to thank some of our earliest readers, commenters and e-mailers. B.B., JFC, Tony in Harrisburg, Matt, James and Steve — all of you have been great. Thanks for the comments, thoughts, challenging assumptions, extra info. Everything.

To the newer readers, thanks for coming back. I’m sure you’ve figured out that this is not an unbiased source of information.

Considering we do this for fun, and without much in the way of self-promotion, it’s almost funny and at times a little unnerving to realize people are coming here to get information.

Hopefully Pitt will make a good hire in the next week or two and we can get back to actually discussing the games.

Pitt crushed Coppin St. This was not a surprise. No Pitt player went more than 25 minutes in the game. Pitt cruised to a 73-42 win. Pitt never trailed. An easy win against a bad opponent.

I mean, both papers came with the same angle on this game — Coppin St. once upset South Carolina at the Civic Mellon Arena in ’97 in the NCAA Tournament. A #15 seed over a #2 seed. That was really all they had to sell this game against a MEAC team from Baltimore (hell, I didn’t even know where Coppin St. was, and I was born in Baltimore).

I was feeling down last night about the coach search. I’m not saying I feel good about it now, but I’m trying to stay on more of an even-keel. There should be some reason for encouragement. AD Jeff Long appears to be racking up some frequent flier miles this weekend.

He flew out to New Jersey to interview the Giants Defensive Coordinator (and former Steeler Defensive Coordinator) and former Pitt player Tim Lewis. This is an intriguing interview to me. Lewis’ name seems to have come out of nowhere. In the last few days the names have been rather consistent, and he wasn’t mentioned. Not living in Pittsburgh any longer, I wonder how people feel about Lewis since he was let go as defensive coordinator. Did he come in for a lot of abuse. I realize he isn’t comparing well to LeBeau as defensive coordinator this year. The more cynical side of me wonders if this interview is just to appease the NCAA by interviewing an African-American.

Today Long flies to an “undisclosed location in the Midwest” to meet and interview Bo Pelini. On Sunday, Long flies to Indianapolis to interview Matt Cavanaugh, the offensive coordinator for the Ravens. It’s unclear how serious either side is. Paul Zeise at the P-G has his doubts.

The Lewis interview is also important to me, because it is about the only thing that gives me some hope that AD Long might be looking at more than a narrow little group.

So far the process has been questionable and closed off to say the least. In Long’s press conference on Monday, Long said candidates did not have to have ties to him or Pitt. Yet that’s all it has been. Look at the names. Wannstedt was a Pitt alum, and close to Chancellor Nordenberg; Rhoads is the present defensive coordinator; Pelini is co-defensive coordinator at Oklahoma where Long was the assistant AD; Cavanaugh and even Lewis both played for Pitt.

Where is even the spark of creative thinking? It seems that Long hasn’t gotten much past his “mental short list.” And this search, in a much shorter time frame, has become remarkably similar to finding a successor to Howland. Run at a bigger name, then go with the assistant.

Maybe I’m wrong about Rhoads. Maybe he is like Fulmer at Tennessee when they ran off Johnny Majors. No, wait, I’m sorry. According to history, he resigned after not getting an extension with 2 years left on his contract. That seems oddly familiar. Or maybe he’s like Bob Davie at ND after Holtz.

What is surprising me, is how Pitt has suddenly accelerated the search. It seems like a bit of panic to what should have been the expected losses in commitments. A search that Long indicated might take weeks not days, looks like it could be settled by the end of next week. I just think they need to look at a few more guys.

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.