Well, you rarely get information about these kinds of career moves.

A routine drug investigation led investigators from the state attorney general’s office to a sophisticated prostitution and drug ring operated by a former NFL and University of Pittsburgh lineman and a Plum woman.

The business advertised extensively in City Paper to solicit customers and recruit employees, while principles John Robert “Buck” Buczkowski and Amy Schifano used cellular telephones to stay in touch with drug sources, dealers and the prostitutes in their employ, according to documents filed yesterday with criminal charges by Attorney General Tom Corbett.
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Buczkowski, who helped collect debts from reluctant prostitution customers in addition to his other duties, is charged with 11 criminal charges, including criminal conspiracy, possession and delivery of a controlled substance, promoting prostitution and participating in a corrupt organization.

Let’s hope the City Paper can withstand the loss of advertising.

Actually, the Trib coverage has a little more fun with this.

Bob Buczkowki’s second career ended much like his first — in a bust.

Authorities on Thursday charged the former University of Pittsburgh defensive tackle and first-round NFL draft pick with leading a $1 million prostitution and drug ring in Monroeville.

Buczkowski, 41, of Monroeville, who made ESPN’s “Biggest First-Round Busts” list of the worst-performing NFL first-round picks, helped run an escort service along with his girlfriend, Amy Schifano, 29, of Plum, authorities said.

Buczkowski was the “muscle” behind the operation, and Schifano was the “madam,” state Attorney General Tom Corbett said, announcing an 18-month grand jury investigation that resulted in charges against 10 people.

“This case is about sex, drugs and money, plain and simple,” Corbett said at a news conference outside Monroeville police headquarters. “These defendants created a criminal enterprise designed to profit from sexual exploitation and drug addiction.”
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Buczkowski was considered one of the best prep linemen in the country his senior year at Gateway High School, and a former Pitt football coach said Buczkowski had “natural athletic ability” and would be a “good choice in the (NFL) draft.”

He was selected by the Los Angeles Raiders as the 24th pick in the first round of the 1986 NFL Draft. He went on to play for the Phoenix Cardinals in 1989 and the Cleveland Browns in 1990 before he was traded to the Seattle Seahawks in 1991. Plagued by back problems, Buczkowski was cut by Seattle in August 1991 after five years in the NFL.

I’m guessing they weren’t working the high end whores, or the market for prostitution is really depressed in Pittsburgh. It wasn’t meth whore prices, but not escort level. The prices were apparently $150-$200 per, um, appointment.

In addition to the Wannstedt-Schiano relationship storyline, the other one we can expect to have flogged is that the Big East is now wide open with the Louisville loss.

A few articles with that theme today.

The Big East Conference is now officially a free-for-all.

And, believe it or not, the 1-3 Pitt Panthers still have a chance for their second consecutive Bowl Championship Series berth. Because, after then-No. 9 Louisville’s shocking 45-14 upset loss to South Florida, there is no clear-cut favorite to win the Big East title.

Certainly, West Virginia is the frontrunner at 4-0 with a victory over Syracuse. But if Louisville, the only team that could actually be considered a power in the watered-down league before the year began, can lose to South Florida, anything can happen.

So the Panthers must hope that anything probably will.

“It’s a whole new season,” said Pitt cornerback Darrelle Revis. “We’re going out to win the Big East. We’re going out to go back to the BCS.”

It is understandable that the feeling among the teams and players should be “Why not us?”

With Louisville, the odds-on favorite to win the Big East title in its first year in the conference, embarrassingly upset last week by South Florida, a projected also-ran, there is new optimism around the league that the championship, indeed, is up for grabs.

Pittsburgh and Rutgers, both of whom have underachieved so far this season, are two of the teams that share in that optimism. They’ll be meeting in the weekend’s only conference game at 8 p.m. today on national television (ESPN2) as each tries put a leg up in the race and prove that it can be a contender.

Surprisingly, the game isn’t a sellout. It is expected to be over 35,000 fans at the game. Rutgers joint holds about 42,500. That’s still enough of an expected crowd for the local paper to warn about traffic problems. Especially with the parking lots opening around 4 for tailgating.

Then there is this story from the Rutgers school paper ruminating on the football team ever finding a rivalry game.

But what about when you think of the words “rivalry,” “Rutgers” and “college football”?

Drawing a blank? Me too.

As we count down to tonight’s Big East season opener, we loyal sons and daughters of Rutgers are left pondering what conference foe will develop into our annual football rival.

Which school can we circle on our pocket schedules? On which weekend can we begin tailgating at even more obscene hours of the morning? And which mascot doll can we hang in effigy from the top of our RVs and torch on the grill with our kielbasa in a show of school pride?

Neither basketball team is at a loss for rivals. Coach Stringer has the pick of the litter with Connecticut, Notre Dame, Boston College, et al. Coach Waters, likewise, with Connecticut, Syracuse, Seton Hall, and so on.

But for a program without a winning season in the last 12 years?

It is anyone’s guess whom Greg Schiano would choose.

He could take a big stride toward clearing up that picture tonight with a home victory over a former mentor and colleague – Dave Wannstedt’s Pittsburgh Panthers.

Um… No thanks. We’ll pass.

I’m sure the players and coaches are taking Rutgers seriously. I am concerned about this game, because I am sure of nothing at this point.

The media, however, is having a hard time generating serious energy about this.

The Scarlet Knights have not had a winning season in more than a decade, have not won at least eight games in a season since 1979 and have not finished with more than two Big East Conference wins since 1992. And Rutgers has never been to a bowl game outside of its home state of New Jersey — and even then, it only managed to qualify for the Garden State Bowl once in the four years the bowl existed.

The past six seasons, Rutgers has won a total of four Big East games and has gone winless in the conference three times. In fact, Rutgers somehow managed to finish behind Temple in the Big East standings four times in the past six seasons — yet it was the Owls who got kicked out of the conference for, in large part, football incompetence.

Despite all of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the refrain from those who follow or support the Rutgers program, or the opponent that is preparing to play the Scarlet Knights, annually goes something like this: “Rutgers is getting better, this is indeed the Scarlet Knights’ year to turn it around.”

Although Rutgers rarely shows much improvement, every season opens with Rutgers and its opponents talking about a new improved Scarlet Knights.

Tonight Pitt (1-3) plays at Rutgers (2-1) in the Big East opener for both teams. Naturally, it is the Panthers turn to tell the world what an underrated powerhouse the Scarlet Knight are.

Rutgers is expected to finish somewhere in the middle of the pack in the Big East this year. This has as much to do with expectations of some new teams being worse than them, than Rutgers being that much better.

Now that Temple has been kicked out of the Big East, Rutgers is the reigning doormat of the conference.

Sure, Cincinnati and South Florida likely will battle the Scarlet Knights for that title, although USF raised its stock with a win against Louisville last week, but Rutgers has a lot of work to do to erase its sorry history.

But when Pittsburgh faces the Scarlet Knights tonight in Piscataway, N.J., the Panthers believe they won’t face the same team they pummeled last year.

“They’re not the old Rutgers,” Pitt defensive end Chris McKillop said. “Rutgers has made huge strides in making their program a lot better. In the past, Rutgers wasn’t as good, but in the present and future I think they’re doing a lot to build their program.”

The Panthers should be too much for Rutgers to handle on offense, while the Scarlet Knights have just a few offensive weapons. Quarterback Ryan Hart has 30 career starts and has completed 60 percent of his passes this season for 719 yards and five touchdowns. He has not been picked off. Hart was 31-for-57 for 351 yards against Pitt last year.

Pitt’s offense may be a little deeper at positions like RB, TE and WR; but the Rutgers starters at those spots are close to equal if not a little better. And they seem to have a good offensive line. A line that opens space for FB Brian Leonard to barrel through, but has protected their QB very well. Allowing only 3 sacks in 3 games.

Still, there are things that make you start to think, yes Pitt will still win this game because their coach could very well be that dumb.

And then there is, of course, another more recent trend the Scarlet Knights need to stem tonight, one they should accept a bit more culpability for. Of the 14 wins Schiano has at Rutgers, only one has come after his team has had an off-week.

In fact, in going 1-7 following bye weeks, the Scarlet Knights have suffered some of their most disturbing defeats when they’re in the position they are today. Schiano said he studies procedure every year and every year he polls new staff members for their experiences. But neither led to any wholesale preparation changes this year. Quite frankly, he said, he thinks his team has played well coming out of byes.

“We don’t necessarily win them, but relative to what we had been playing, we played good football,” he said. “I don’t think we come out of byes and are just horrible.”

To repeat: Rutgers is 1-7 after a bye under Coach Schiano, and he doesn’t see much of a problem. He’s still seeing “moral victories” in that the team didn’t really play badly, they just lose.

Honestly, the attitude from Schiano makes me feel better about Pitt’s chances than anything else.