Whether its been retaining commitments of the 2005 recruiting class or luring new commits, Coach Dave Wannstedt has been generating excitement in the Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania.
He met principals and teachers at Woodland Hills High School, signed autographs for some students and did a lot of handshaking. At Baldwin, he did an interview with the school newspaper, walked the halls of the school, met students and teachers and shook plenty of hands. At a few other Western Pennsylvania schools, he smiled and shook more hands.
If you didn’t know better, you’d think Dave Wannstedt was running for political office. But the new Pitt football coach isn’t trying to win votes. He’s trying to win over Western Pennsylvania high school football coaches and recruits.
In his short time as Pitt’s coach, Wannstedt has been bouncing around WPIAL schools, meeting with coaches and greeting anyone else that crosses his path. While trying to recruit some seniors, Wannstedt is more concerned with future prospects and Pitt’s image with area coaches.
He has gone to a handful of schools that don’t have any senior prospects. Wannstedt is showing himself in order to show Pitt wants control of recruiting in this area again. He brings assistant coach Bob Junko with him.
I’ve said that this is a good thing. A necessary thing. And definitely Walt Harris had fallen off in how close he and his staff were concerning themselves with much of Pennsylvania — as evidenced by the fact that not one recruit this year is coming from Eastern Pennsylvania. Still, I think back to the piece from Shelly Anderson, about where the program was when Harris got here versus now. Clearly Wannstedt is stepping into a far better situation. It just seems like a little unnecessary piling on Harris. You don’t need to denigrate Harris to help promote Wannstedt.
Wannstedt is doing the smart thing and showing as much energy as he promised he would bring. Yesterday he was up in Johnstown to visit with one of Pitt’s early commits.
NCAA regulations prohibit coaches from speaking openly about potential recruits, but it was evident that Wannstedt was in town to visit with Greater Johnstown running back LaRod Stephens. The 5-foot-8, 155-pound senior had given a verbal commitment to former Pitt coach Walt Harris and has told The Tribune-Democrat that he would still like to play for the Panthers. He is expected to sign with Pitt on Wednesday.
Stephens was The Tribune-Democrat’s Offensive Player of the Year in 2003 and shared the award with Berlin’s Eric D’Carrion in 2004 after he broke Johnstown’s career rushing records with 4,597 yards and 57 touchdowns.
The visit was the second of three stops that Wannstedt and assistants Curtis Bray and David Walker made in western Pennsylvania on Thursday. Wannstedt, who previously coached the NFL’s Miami Dolphins and Chicago Bears, said that he is making an effort to keep the Keystone State’s talent in Pennsylvania. He also plans to make sure those recruits pick Pitt over rival Penn State.
Speaking of PSU,
“We’re going to. That’s the challenge,” he said. “They have a great program, we all know that. They’re our competition in state. In the great days of Pitt football and the great days of Penn State football, there were great rivalries for recruits between Pitt and Penn State.”
Wannstedt said that he will do his part to get the on-field rivalry going between the two schools again.
“Pitt needs to be playing Penn State each year. I’m all for that. I’m going to see coach (Joe) Paterno next week at the coaches convention in Hershey,” he said.
Should be a fun meeting.
