Disappointing and frustrating.

Only 3 more contributions since last week. That means only 15 people have made contributions. The amount raised has been $335. The goal, based on the expected costs, is $1200.

Those of you who have donated, let me say thank you, once again. I really appreciate the support and that you think enough of the site and what I’m doing to help me try to do more.

I’m not sure what to make of the rest. The site has been averaging well over 700 individual visits a day. I didn’t think it unreasonable to hope that maybe 10% would make a contribution.

Perhaps this is representative that a large majority of the daily visitors don’t place a high value on the site, or thinks it’s fine the way it is. I happen to disagree with the latter. Not just from the perspective of the hassles I’ve faced lately with blogger, but with what more I’d like to do.

In the past 12 months I’ve had offers from 3 different organizations to move to another site to do Pitt blogging. To this point, I’ve turned down the opportunities for different reasons. For the most part, though, the reasons can be summarized to these key points:

• Insufficient financial reward;
• Reduced independence — who and what I can link to and what I can say about certain things;
• Reduced public access.

So why haven’t I mentioned this? I don’t want to make it seem like a threat. And that is, afterall, what it probably appears to many of you to be by posting this. “Donate or else.”

Nothing will happen for a while. Nothing may happen at all. I am committed to moving to a new site, regardless. The result, though, might mean big gaps in posting when I travel, and not doing as much.

I just thought there would be more support.

You probably read the Sunday feature piece on Kicker David Abdul. The series of events good — birth of his son — quickly changed to bad — apartment fire leaving him without a place to live and most of his possessions — to tragic — watching his roommate and friend fall to his death while they were drunkenly crawling around a church crawl space — to frustrating — a horrible on the field season that led to his benching — to life threatening — car accident that left his kicking leg broken in three places. All of this within a 12 month period. Hopefully he can complete the comeback.

There’s this story on Pitt players making use of the digital video technology to improve their game.

“We break down each game play by play,” Bogard said. “There might be 70 plays of offense and 80 plays of defense and 30 plays in a game for special teams, so there’s anywhere from 180-200 plays per game. And each play gets broken down by sideline or end zone shots.”

During Pitt’s practice sessions, Bogard noted that four cameras shoot footage at the two UPMC fields. The offense and defense get two cameras each, on the sidelines and in the end zones.

The software allows coaches to spotlight a player and even zoom in on a certain area like an offensive lineman’s footwork or a kicker’s plant foot.

“It helps a lot with our footwork, because you don’t realize what you’re doing wrong all the time,” McGlynn said. “The coaches can tell you, but it’s easier when you get in the meeting room and see it on the screen.”

This has been very common in pro sports, and has been seeping into the college level for a couple of years. The usage has picked up in part because of widespread adoption of instant replay with digital technology. Schools already have to buy the equipment and software for instant replay, they can easily adopt it for other purposes.

Finally, Paul Zeise’s Q&A from this weekend. Questions about the lines, the running game and returning punts are discussed.

Q: What returning players do you think are ready to have a breakout season?

Zeise: I will be shocked if linebacker Clint Session doesn’t have a huge year. He looks and is playing like a completely different player out there so far. It appears as if his “light” went on and he understands this is it — his final season. He is playing under control while making big plays. I think C.J. Davis has clearly become this team’s best offensive lineman so I’d expect a big year from him. I would also look for wide receiver Oderick Turner to be a big part of whatever is going on. He is getting better every day from what I can tell. One other name to keep in the back of your mind is Mick Williams. He hasn’t always stayed healthy, but right now he is the best option at defensive tackle. He’s explosive and makes things happen behind the line of scrimmage when he gets in there.

Session playing in control is the biggest thing. He’s got the aggression and speed, but in 2004 his biggest problem was he would overpursue and completely miss the play by being out of position.

It really looks like Associate Head Coach Barry Rohrssen won’t be getting the Seton Hall job. It looks like he’s been passed on the wish list by Ohio University Head Coach Tim O’Shea.

As expected, Seton Hall athletic director Joe Quinlan met with Tim O’Shea of Ohio University at the Final Four in Indianapolis yesterday for the second time, according to a person familiar with the school’s search for a new men’s basketball coach.

O’Shea was a former BC assistant, who has strong ties in the Big East. He is not, however, a guy from or with ties to the NY/NJ area. That would mean the school would still have to find an assistant with strong recruiting ties.

Seton Hall is now hedging on whether it will even get Bobby Gonzalez from Manhattan. It appears other job offers may be coming his way.

Thought of as a front-runner for the Seton Hall job created by Louis Orr’s firing, Gonzalez, 42, a source said, may be in the running for the N.C. State position, vacated yesterday by Herb Sendek, who left for Arizona State. Gonzalez, the source said, was quite impressive in his Wednesday interview with Quinlan.

An interesting point about how ASU handled the start of its coaching search.

Here’s what happens when a rookie athletic director goes about trying to hire a basketball coach: Jamie Dixon gets a raise. Arizona State’s Lisa Love put about $900,000 on the table–a figure Pitt easily could digest–and missed a chance to land Dixon. If Love wanted to hire a coach who had a better job than the one she was offering, she needed to make the money tough to reject, possibly $1.2 million or $1.3 million. Pitt might have choked on that figure, and Dixon might have been forced to say yes to the Sun Devils. If Love didn’t figure he was worth that, or that her school couldn’t afford it, she should not have pursued him.

Considering she is now reportedly paying that much for Herb Sendek, I guess they could afford it. And he’s probably right. At that amount, I think Pitt would have been in a questionable area about whether to match or come close, and if it would be worth it.

Ah well, the important thing was that it worked out for Pitt.

Last year, Chevon Troutman foolishly passed on attending the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament (PIT) for College Seniors hoping to be drafted. Instead he counted on getting an invite to the more prestigious Chicago pre-draft Camp that invites underclassmen as well. He didn’t get the invite. Didn’t get drafted, and is now playing overseas. By comparison, Cinci’s undersized power forward, Jason Maxiell played at the PIT, did very well, got an invite to Chicago and was drafted by the Pistons despite being only about 6’6″.

Carl Krauser isn’t making that mistake. He’s going to the PIT that begins on Wednesday.

This year, Krauser hopes to make an impression at Portsmouth and again be invited to the ensuing showcase camp, whose site has been moved to Orlando, Fla., from Chicago and will be held June 6-10.

Krauser, in Indianapolis for the Final Four, led Pitt this season in scoring (15.0 ppg.) and assists (4.8 apg.) for a second consecutive year and finished his career as the school’s ninth-leading scorer with 1,642 points.

On Friday night, he scored three points for a college all-star team in an 87-83 victory over the Harlem Globetrotters as part of Final Four festivities before 10,921 spectators at Canseco Fieldhouse.

No word on whether Junior Aaron Gray will (presumably) attend the Chicago camp and see where he stands in the NBA draft.

Offensive Coordinator Matt Cavanaugh took more than his fair share of abuse from Ravens fans over the years. So, at least everyone knows he has a thick skin. After his first season at Pitt, many were at least thinking, if not whispering, similar things. It’s hard when Cavanaugh was the QB to lead the last Pitt team to a National Championship. Pitt fans want him to succeed, but given the rather large overlap of Pitt and Steeler fans, there is a strong familiarity with what the Ravens’ offense was like — and the fear of that. Still, unlike far too many OC’s who catch grief, Cavanaugh at least admits he needs to do better.

“I take credit or blame for a couple of the losses,” Cavanaugh said. “I thought I called some poor games offensively, and I didn’t give our players a chance to execute some plays. … So, I’ve got a lot of improvement to make. It’s not just the players.”

But that doesn’t mean Cavanaugh and the Panthers didn’t learn from the experience.

“I learned a lot the year we won the Super Bowl in Baltimore (with the Ravens),” Cavanaugh said. “I made mistakes, but I’m also not usually someone who dwells on the great things that happen, either. I can be critical of myself and the people around me, and I want to improve all the time.”

He’s bothered by wasting the redshirts of QB Bill Stull and FB Conredge Collins. I’m not sure there was much choice for either of those. While neither did much, it matters to start playing the freshmen these days. Stull was and still is the back-up QB. He needed to get even a toe dipped in to start understanding just what being on the field at Div. 1-A was like. Give him the reasons and information to really know what he needs to do to progress.

I think what Cavanaugh needs to do a much better job of doing is recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of the players he has, and as he says, “give our players a chance to execute some plays.” If anything drove me completely nuts last season, it was the inability or unwillingness to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of the players. To use them in the best way within the system. You don’t necessarily have to change the system you want to run, but you do have to run the plays that work well with the players’ abilities.

One of those players is Senior WR Joe DelSardo.

Last season, however, DelSardo made just three starts. His stats fell dramatically: 15 catches, 156 yards, zero TDs.

“At first, obviously, it gets to you. But you’ve got to get past that and be mentally strong,” he said. “I kind of looked at it as another challenge. It motivated me to work harder, get back on the field and regain that position.”
…
DelSardo knows he faces an uphill battle to gain coach Dave Wannstedt’s trust to be on the field in clutch situations. But DelSardo never gave a thought to forgoing his senior year of eligibility.

“It was too great of an opportunity to pass up,” he said. “You can’t let one setback affect everything that you’ve worked for. It’s one more challenge, one more obstacle to defeat.”

DelSardo is a reasonably sure handed receiver, willing to sacrifice the body and take a hit, who is smart but not that fast. He was used horribly last season, not at all to those strengths. Rather than putting him somewhere in the middle of the field or on a slant-in — where he could use his body to shield a defender from the ball — he was being sent down the sideline to either stop and turn for the ball or button-hook. Given his lack of speed, it wasn’t too difficult for a corner (or even a safety) to stay close and then break on the ball.

Apparently, another Conredge Collins story was needed to write about playing fullback.

“In high school, I didn’t do too much blocking,” Collins said. “It’s hard, taking on that inside shoulder from a linebacker. It’s hard to take on a block when he hits you in the middle of your chest.”

There has been a marked improvement in his blocking skills this spring. But the veteran linebackers still see a bull’s-eye on Collins’ chest when they tear into the backfield during practice.

“I got caught by Derron (Thomas), Clint (Session), H.B. (Blades),” Collins said, shaking his head and laughing. “I got caught by all of ’em a couple times. They get on me a little bit, like, ‘I got you today.’ But I tell them, I’ll be here every day. It’s a learning experience.”
…
Cavanaugh plans on getting Collins more involved by using him in some one-back sets. Collins also has good hands, which means he could expect to see a few passes come his way.

With tight end John Pelusi recovering from knee surgery, there are only two tight ends in spring practice. That’s given Collins a chance to go in motion more often and catch a few more balls than he would have otherwise.

“Basically, right now, I’m just blocking and catching the ball out of the backfield,” he said, with a shrug. “I’m doing all right.”

Of course, for Collins or anyone in Pitt’s backfield to have any success, the O-line needs to be better.

Pitt’s offensive line is still a work in progress, but coaches and players are optimistic that the unit will be one of the team’s strengths by the time the season begins.

“We have some guys with experience and we got better from the beginning of the season to the end last year, so we want to pick it up where we left off,” Pitt offensive line coach Paul Dunn said. “We’ve really tried to emphasize to the players that we don’t want to go back to the beginning, like where we were in the spring last year. The kids are working hard and that’s always a plus.

“We are still very young on the left side of the line, but we have a chance to plug some holes there and I think by the time it is all said and done, we are going to have a good group. I’m excited about what I’ve seen.”

Chris Vangas who was giving Joe Villani a battle for the starting Center position strained the MCL in his knee. He’s out for at least a week, probably the rest of spring drills, if Pitt is smart and cautious.

The players believe they are getting better.

Fifth-year senior Joe Villani returns at center, but he was a first-year starter last fall. Senior John Simonitis is a four-year starter at right guard, and he provides stability to that side with redshirt junior tackle Mike McGlynn.

“We’re doing a lot better, John and me, and we’ve been working harder on our twist games on the line,” McGlynn said. “Hopefully, it turns into some big plays and no dumb mistakes. But we’re working hard and getting better all the time, so I think we’ll be pretty good when the season starts.”

The left side has sophomores C.J. Davis at guard and John Bachman at tackle. Davis recorded starts in the final six games, while Bachman did not debut until Game 6 and was the main backup to senior Charles Spencer.

“I feel a lot more comfortable with the offense this year, and everybody’s coming together around me,” Simonitis said. “So, I expect us to be better this season. When you get new guys in there, it’s tough to make all the calls. But me and Mike have played together for three years now.

“It’s helped us a lot. And we’re on the same page, pretty much, on every play. … I think we’ll have a good line no matter what, but John Bachman is a young guy with a lot of potential. I think he’s doing all right, but he’s working hard. He’ll do well, and we’ll be all right as an O-line.”

I don’t think we’ll have a clue about the O-line until the actual games begin. The good news, with Pitt’s schedule it is likely we’ll know quickly.