It seems the WWLS is taking the risk of Fox snaring the Big 11 TV contract quite seriously. From DeadSpin there is this internal ESPN memo.

Jim Delany, the Commissioner of the Big Ten Conference will be on the Bristol campus tomorrow and Thursday. It is important for us to show him and his associates that “Bristol is Big Ten Country”.

As you have noticed, we have put pennants, banners, and Big Ten flags on campus. In addition, we have had buttons made proclaiming “Bristol is Big Ten Country”. These buttons are available at the following locations:

Building 2 Lobby
Building A Lobby
Building B Lobby
Cafeteria

Please pick one up and wear it tomorrow and Thursday.

No word as to whether that applies to their news gathering division — which they are always quick to stress — is not part of their “entertainment” (such as it is) division.

From Pittsburgh Sports Report, a very interesting article about J.O. Stright, the founder and coach of the AAU team J.O.T.S. Very much worth reading in full. It raises more questions then it answers, though.

Stright stands out as a controversial figure, even in the often controversial world of college basketball recruiting. A close friend of another controversial figure, former Cincinnati and current Kansas State head coach Bob Huggins, Stright has drawn the ire of Pitt basketball, some of whom see him as the lone figure standing between Pitt basketball and greatness. Internet message boards burn with vitriolic words for Stright, cast as a Svengali for local high school basketball stars, as he is seen as leading them away from their hometown team and to his friend Bob Huggins.

“The truth is, I did that when Paul Evans was at Pitt, but I don’t do it anymore,” says Stright. “I put a kid where I think he will excel. If I think one of my kids has the best chance to excel with Huggins then I will send him there. But not every kid should be with him.”

This leads to the second reason for the reemergence of Pittsburgh basketball — a successful local college basketball team for which they could aspire to play some day. The coming of age of Pitt basketball was melding perfectly, it seemed, with what Stright was doing for the J.O.T.S. If only it were that easy.

There’s no explanation as to how Huggins and Stright started hooking up in the first place. I assume it happened while Huggins was coaching at Akron in the 80s, and probably met while on a trip to Pittsburgh to scout kids. I don’t know, though, and one national college basketball writer even e-mailed me asking if I could answer that question.

On the subject of Herb Pope, it is maddening. There is no further explanation as to what happened last summer with the Florida prep school. Just a comment that none of this is illegal or particularly uncommon. It probably isn’t, but with the NCAA starting to take a closer look at prep schools, it is a concern as to what could happen to a coach and program who gets caught up in the wrong situation.

There’s a lot more to this story than reported unfortunately.

Despite some harsh words for Pitt’s staff and how they recruit his players, Stright says he is a big Pitt basketball fan and big donor to the university. “I’m a Pitt guy,” says Stright, who has season tickets, “and I am one of their top 100 givers. What’s that tell you?”

I can confirm he is a very generous contributor to the University. That whole paragraph, though, raises eyebrows. What exactly doesn’t he like about the way Pitt is recruiting players on his AAU team?

I think most Pitt fans will write-off getting Herb Pope after this article.

“Herb called me at 11 o’clock at night,” laughs Stright, “and said ‘Huggins is at Kansas State? So that’s where we’re going?’ I laughed and told him that’s his decision but I will listen to him if he has any questions.”

Apparently Pope thinks he’s following Huggins out there. Even Terrelle Pryor becomes more of a question mark.

Although Pryor was also being courted by Arlington Country Day — he even says he was sending transfer papers to the school before changing his mind — Pryor seems less likely than Pope to turn away from Pitt. He does say that he may still leave Jeannette for a prep school eventually. As for which one, Pryor’s answer surely will make Pitt fans cringe.

“I’ll probably just go where J.O. puts me,” says the 15 year old.

And this doesn’t raise legit questions about the level of influence he has? And how correct or right that is?

For a team that has Senior leaders Tyler Palko (offense), H.B. Blades (defense) and John Simonitis (O-line). Plus the presumed leader in the defensive backfield Junior Darrelle Revis, I find myself scratching my head a bit about shoehorning the rather stock topic of team leaders needed.

It’s also a time when at least a few players have to step up and take charge of their team.

“We need leadership,” Pitt cornerback Darrelle Revis said. “Last year, we had leadership, but it probably wasn’t enough. This year, we’re locked in on that.”

In the offseason, while the sting of last season’s 5-6 finish was still sharp, coach Dave Wannstedt and his assistants began approaching selected players about taking on increased leadership roles. Quarterback Tyler Palko and linebacker H.B. Blades, who will be seniors this fall, were singled out.
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At midseason, Palko and Blades openly questioned whether everyone’s work ethic was where it needed to be. After that, Pitt won four of its final six games.

“I want to encourage guys in a positive way, not to be a negative leader,” Blades said. “People are going to make mistakes. But encouraging them in a positive way is something I learned from last year — don’t get down on each other. Go out and have fun.”

Wannstedt believes, whatever Palko and Blades say in the locker room, it will have even bigger impact this year than in previous years.

Something about it just strikes me as standard stuff. Leadership wasn’t the issue last year. Palko and especially Blades led by example and their words last year. Palko didn’t complain about a new offense and Blades didn’t fuss at a change in position. Both were right to question the team effort last year and didn’t single anyone out.

What the team needed and needs is talent, to play better and for the coaches to prepare them better. I’m not worried about the leadership from the players.

A very fawning Q&A between Paul Zeise and Tyler Palko (“Your work ethic has become legendary, from the time you put in, to how much film you watch.”). Of course, the intro does disclose that Zeise has essentially been following Palko since the kid was in high school and he was covering the HS beat.

Q. Do you think your teammates are as ready to get started as you are?

Palko: They’d better be. These guys are adults so they know what we need to do. And if that season doesn’t leave a sour taste in your mouth and push you to want to get back after it, you are in the wrong business. From watching our conditioning and whatnot, it seems like the guys are excited and ready to work.

Q. You lost your top receiver (Greg Lee left school early to enter the NFL draft). How difficult will he be to replace and can you guys overcome his loss?

Palko: We have no choice. We have to overcome it. We’d love to have Greg back and we wish the best for him, but he’s no longer a part of our team so we have to play with what we have. And I think we have some good young players at receiver and a lot of potentially great ones coming in, so we’ll be fine.

Q. Speaking of great young ones, how excited are you to play on the same team with fellow West Allegheny graduate Dorin Dickerson?

Palko: I can’t wait. Obviously I am very familiar with Dorin because he played at my high school and I’ve followed his career. He is a great talent, but I told him he’d better be ready to work when he gets here. All of the expectations mean nothing, he needs to come here to play football and be the best player he can be.

Speaking of Greg Lee, he’s trying to get drafted, so it is up to him to explain how his numbers fell last year without discussing the plethora of drops.

“When I heard we were getting him (Cavanaugh) I looked up the stats from his last season in Baltimore and his number one receiver only had 544 yards the entire season. I looked at that and knew it was more of a run based offense and there was a possibility he would implement that offense here,” Lee said.

Lee was right. The Panthers threw 70 less times for 712 less yards than the season before. Inevitably, Lee’s numbers suffered a drop off.

“It was kind of frustrating at the beginning. I was planning on having a better year than my sophomore season and at the beginning of the year we really weren’t throwing the ball that much. We weren’t winning any games; we lost our first three games,” he said.

Despite the Panthers’ commitment to the run, Lee had a solid junior season with 49 catches, 962 yards and 7 touchdowns. Lee still made his patented big plays and averaged 19.6 yards per catch, up from 19.1 in 2004. After the 2005 season, Lee made a decision to take his big-play ability to the big stage and declared eligible for the 2006 NFL draft.

Obviously, no one is exactly thrilled to read Lee trying to explain his drop-off in production by blaming the whole offense and offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh. Especially for Pitt fans who can visualize just about every dropped pass (especially the ones in the endzone) that he’s had over the past year plus.

It won’t make much of a difference for many pro teams who can review films and study him. Still it was somewhat of a savvy sales job to pro football fans who probably didn’t see him too much. They hear Matt Cavanaugh, offense and Ravens and it comes off as a pretty credible explanation.

Well there was his Football Q&A from last week.

Q: I am reading between the lines that you don’t have high expectations for this team. How long will Pittsburgh fans tolerate seasons of less than .500 football?

Zeise: Pitt fans shouldn’t expect a less than .500 team or accept one. But the reality is, this team doesn’t have the linemen yet to really compete at the level it wants to be at. You can’t win when you have freshmen and sophomores up and down both sides of the line of scrimmage. A lot of this is not this coaching staff’s problem, there was no depth when Wannstedt was hired. He is right now trying to clean up the previous coach’s mess in terms of talent in more ways than most Walt Harris apologists care to acknowledge. Ask yourself how many big-time teams have three freshmen starting on the defensive line. Pitt could very well be the first one I’ve heard of.

Yes and no to this.

No argument that the lines were a complete mess. Last I checked, however, the defensive coaching staff remained completely in tact from Harris to Wannstedt. So some responsibility goes to them since they helped recruit the kids, but there is never any mention of that.

The other issue was seeing the offense take a step back in every facet last year. You can talk and build towards a different offensive philosophy, but you still need to use the talent that is there. Even with all the skill, impact players coming in the fall, it is still up to the coaches to use them and put them in a position to have an impact.

Zeise also does an online chat where he gets downright curmudgeon-ny regarding college basketball. Boy does he hate good defensive basketball.

JCastellano_Loves_Latta: After watching the young talent that such teams like UNC, Duke, Ohio St, LSU and others you had mentioned. Do you think the recruits Pitt has landed over the past few years have been hyped up too much, or even overrated?

Paul Zeise: I don’t think they have been over hyper or over rated, they are what they are. I don’t recall anybody referring to Pitt’s recruiting class as one of the best in the land. They are good, hard-nosed kids that work hard and do what they are supposed to do as far as go to class and keep their nose clean. I don’t know of anybody in their right mind that thinks they have NBA talent, like the other teams we have mentioned. In fact, that’s one of the things Pitt needs to do in order to get to the next level _ begin to produce legitimate NBA players on a regular basis. Chris Taft is a marginal NBA player. Aaron Gray is a NBA prospect – a marginal one at that _ because he’s 7-feet tall. I’m talking about first round picks.

JCastellano_Loves_Latta: Back to Pitt, how do you think they will do next season?

Paul Zeise: I think if you look at the Big East _ they have a chance to do well. UConn is going to lose most of those guys. Syracuse wasn’t very good this year and they are losing the only dude who could put it in the hoop for them. Villanova has Curtis Sumpter returning, but they lose pretty much everyone else. West Virginia loses everyone except Frank Young. Marquette should be strong, Louisville should be strong. Cincinnati is probably in transition _ I really think the BIg East is going to be there for the taking and Pitt should be viewed as one of the favorites to win it all.

Marquette, Louisville, Georgetown and Pitt should be in some list at the top of the Big East come pre-season.

In terms of reports and rumors, it would appear that Associate Head Coach Barry Rohrssen interviewed yesterday for the Seton Hall job, and is the co-leader to get the gig.

Bobby Gonzalez is keeping quiet about his travel itinerary after gaining a reputation, fair or not, as a self-promoter in seasons past. Even though he interviewed with Temple yesterday and has Seton Hall up next, the Manhattan coach is cultivating his discretion this time.

With Louis Orr out as coach of Seton Hall, the Big East program has begun interviewing candidates, among them Pittsburgh assistant Barry Rohrssen, who met with officials yesterday, and Gonzalez, who will interview today or tomorrow.

As for the other candidates named for the job, Iona athletic director Pat Lyons said that Seton Hall had not called to ask permission to speak to Jeff Ruland.
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Temple is a high-profile assignment, but Seton Hall would be a more logical step for Gonzalez. His main competition, Rohrssen, has a well-deserved reputation for snagging New York players like Carl Krauser and Mount Vernon’s Keith Benjamin.

Benjamin’s high school coach, Bob Cimmino, said Rohrssen is great with the kids and steeped in New York knowledge.

“He’s a people person,” Cimmino said. “He has a way of getting to know you very quickly, and he takes a keen interest in the background of the players.”

But he has not been a head coach of a high-profile program. Gonzalez, on the other hand, has proved himself to be a good recruiter and adept at pulling the best out of the players with whom he has to work.

The story is very positive towards Gonzalez, though it does a good job of pointing out why Gonzalez isn’t the slam dunk others assume he should be. One reason why Seton Hall may not be as hot for Gonzalez as you would think they should be, is his reputation for wanting to move further up the coaching ladder. That he was so eager to bolt Manhattan in the past for jobs that it turned ADs off to him. Seton Hall doesn’t want to be perceived as a stepping stone gig. I can sympathize a little.

There are, of course several others, listed as possibilities for Seton Hall.

Monmouth coach Dave Calloway is also expected to be contacted. Quinlan will gauge Larranaga’s interest after George Mason is finished playing in the Final Four. Larranaga, a Bronx native, has orchestrated one of the most improbable runs through the NCAA Tournament.

While Iona coach Jeff Ruland remains a possibility, he is considered a long shot at this point.

Florida Atlantic University Coach Matt Doherty is also a name being bandied about.

Still, the reports keep indicating that it is Gonzalez or Rohrssen.

With Pecora out of the mix, Seton Hall athletic director Joe Quinlan is focusing his attention on Manhattan coach Bobby Gonzalez and Pittsburgh assistant Barry Rohrssen, according to three people familiar with Seton Hall’s coaching search.

Rohrssen is also a possibility at Fairfield.

Rohrssen, regarded as one of the nation’s top New York City recruiters, also is a candidate at Fairfield along with former St. John’s coach Fran Fraschilla, who is said to be interviewing with the MAAC school today.

Fraschilla – who worked the NIT for ESPN last night at the Garden and has been outward in his affection for his current position – would neither confirm nor deny the rumor.

“I have had conversations with [athletic director] Gene Doris,” he told The Post, “and I think Fairfield is an excellent university.”

There is some surprise that Rohrssen would be as strong a possibility as Gonzalez.

Gonzalez, who guided the Jaspers to a pair of NCAA tournaments, including an upset of Florida in 2004, and two NIT appearances, should have a leg up.

Rohrssen, who has funneled New York high school talent to Pittsburgh for years, is known as a strong recruiter, something Gonzalez can match. But Gonzalez has seven years of head coaching experience, something Rohrssen does not.

Seton Hall has no recruits signed for next season, so the new coach will have to play catchup in a big way on the recruiting trails.

Coach Dixon was, naturally, positive about the possibility of Rohrssen moving to a new job.

“I want guys who want to be head coaches,” Dixon said. “To be a good head coach you have to be a good assistant first. I want our guys looking at head coaching jobs and preparing to be head coaches because that makes them good assistant coaches.”

Former Pitt Coach Ben Howland reminisced a little about Jamie Dixon as he glowingly spoke about him.

If not for the job at UCLA — in Los Angeles, near both men’s roots — Howland said he likely would have stayed at Pitt and would have hoped that Dixon would have remained on his staff as his top assistant.

“Jamie is an incredible coach,” said Howland, who leads the Bruins against LSU in the national semifinals Saturday. “He represents the community and the university with the type of values you expect.”
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Before deciding to remain at Pitt, where he conceded he always figured to be, Dixon was being courted by Arizona State and Missouri to fill their coaching vacancies.

“I was getting calls from a lot of big schools about Jamie,” Howland said. “He could have gotten more money, but with him, it’s not about that.

“I’m so happy and excited for the University of Pittsburgh and for Jamie. It’s a perfect match.”

Just before news finally started leaking that Dixon was going to stay at Pitt,stories had started surfacing that Howland was telling people that Dixon would be staying at Pitt.