Didn’t need the morning coffee to wake me up this morning. The “defense” of Paul Rhoads pretty much got me going. You want my defense of Rhoads? As a DC, he’s a hell of a secondary coach.
Very nice of Coach Wannstedt to try and take the blame for the defense and absolve Rhoads of his screw-ups and bad teaching and coaching.
Pitt has been shredded for 1,122 yards and 91 points in consecutive losses to Connecticut and West Virginia. Many of the problems that have dogged the Panthers for the past four years — missed tackles, bad angles, poor execution, failure to get key stops — have returned, renewing calls to fire defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads.
One person who hasn’t jumped on the bandwagon is the only person whose vote counts — head coach Dave Wannstedt. Rhoads declined comment yesterday, but Wannstedt came to his embattled defensive coordinator’s defense, saying the criticism of Rhoads has not been fair.
Three things. First, when did the calls to fire Rhoads stop?
Second, the problems pointed out are the primary reason I want Rhoads gone. It’s been something that has driven me crazy about the defense for years — poor fundamentals. The very thing coaching is supposed to be about. You can be creative and run all the schemes you want. It still comes down to players doing the basics — wrapping up, tackling, not hitting or arm tackling. Yes, the players deserve some of the blame. They have to execute, but when it’s been the same s**t and different people over four years it’s more than just “getting the right personnel.”
Third, this is so typical of Rhoads. When things are going well he’s happy to talk to the media and chat up things going right. Let everyone talk up his potential for the future and be at the forefront.Since the defense has engaged in its death spiral or even just the MSU game — no comment. And somehow he is allowed to slide on this. No willingness to face the criticisms. When Harris or Wannstedt refused to actually take responsibility, they at least acknowledged it directly to take the criticisms of “not my fault.” Rhoads won’t even do that much. Go back over the past years, and notice the pattern of Rhoads not on the record about the problems unless absolutely forced to by the head coach. Harris essentially brought him out to talk after the Temple game in 2004. That was about it.
Of course Coach Wannstedt doesn’t think the problem is in the coaching.
“We’re coaching these guys as hard as we can coach them,” Wannstedt said. “Paul does a great job. All our defensive coaches are very good coaches. We’ve just got to keep developing these players. I think for the most part, we’ve done that.
“The last couple weeks, we’ve had some missed tackles and had some extenuating circumstances. I think you have to look at each game and understand what we’re trying to do and not just at the end of the day say, ‘Well, they gave up 300 yards rushing when a quarterback scrambled for 150. The defense stinks. It’s a bad scheme.’ That’s not true. People may want to think that. And that’s fine. Go ahead, think it. I don’t care. That’s not the case.”
Alumni and fans have called for the dismissal of Rhoads after the Panthers’ defense allowed an average of 303 rushing yards and 459.75 yards total offense in losses to Rutgers, South Florida, Connecticut and West Virginia.
The mishaps were magnified when Pitt allowed UConn and WVU to run for 317 and 437 yards, respectively, and score a combined 91 points in the past two games.
“…Some missed tackles and had some extenuating circumstances.”??? WTF!!!??? 1212. Do you know what that is? That is the rushing yards surrendered in this 4 game skid. That is not effing “some missed tackles and some extenuating circumstances!” That is pathetic and lousy run defense.The only reason Rutgers and South Florida didn’t score more points was because USF had a ridiculous number of turnovers and Rutgers kept settling for FGs (and even missing a chip shot). UConn hasn’t scored more than 21 points in a game before or after Pitt. Against Pitt, they got 31 just in the regulation time.
The defensive collapse follows a 2005 season in which the Panthers ranked 94th out of 119 teams in the nation against the run (185.18) but 31st in total defense (338.0). Now, Pitt ranks 105th (183.0) in run defense and 72nd in total defense (350.73) entering Saturday’s game against Louisville, which boasts the nation’s No. 3 offense.
Let’s not forget 2003’s defensive collapse. Remember. The year Pitt was going to make the jump. The year Pitt lost to Toledo. How about the fact that including this year, 3 of the last 4 years the Pitt run defense has allowed 4+ yards/carry (and that one year where it didn’t crack 4 it was close at 3.8). Isn’t that something of an effing trend that points somewhere in the vicinity of what the DC is doing.
And that brings us to Joe Starkey’s column in defense of Rhoads. I generally like Starkey’s stuff but this one doesn’t even come close. I’m going to have to break this one down.
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