As far as bowling, that doesn’t seem to be something to watch closely. That would require external assistance and some weirdness at this point. Instead, it’s time to look to the South Side facility for puffs of smoke to tell us what Coach Dave Wannstedt figures out this week.

That’s probably a good thing because Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt will need an extended offseason to come up to some solutions to some of the Panthers’ biggest problems.

Wannstedt’s first item of business will be to decide whether changes are needed on his staff, and that means defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads will be on the hot seat for at least a few weeks. Wannstedt said he will spend this week in the office evaluating the entire program, including his staff, before hitting the road to recruit.

Rhoads is the guy who has drawn the most criticism because the Panthers’ defense has struggled for four seasons. Many times it seemed as if it was overmatched by teams, such as Connecticut, with marginal talent. The Panthers gave up 139 points and 1,621 yards in their final three games.

Against the Huskies — a game Pitt needed to win — the Panthers had a 31-17 lead in the fourth quarter but allowed Connecticut to drive 98 yards to pull to within seven and then 77 yards to tie the score as time expired. Connecticut then won, 46-45, in two overtimes.

One of the things Wannstedt said after that game and many other losses for that matter, is that the Panthers were close to making some plays but just couldn’t get it done. Pitt’s defense often looked a half step too slow and the defensive line showed its youth and inexperience more often than not coming down the stretch.

The problem was and is that the team showed no improvement on defense over the entire course of the season. If anything the defense regressed during the season. Fundamentals such as tackling form, rather than hitting or arm tackling, pursuit angles, staying in the lanes, and so on. Again, something that has been seen from the defense for the last 4 years.

The question is, will Wannstedt hang all the blame on the players or at least consider whether the coaching and schemes are doing anything to help the players make the plays and improve their fundamentals?

While Wannstedt gave defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads a public vote of confidence last Tuesday, Wannstedt also said he would evaluate his staff at the end of the season.

After Pitt allowed an average of 405.3 yards and 46.3 points in its final three regular-season games — losses to Connecticut, West Virginia and Louisville — its defensive coaches could be in trouble.

Wannstedt hired defensive line coach Greg Gattuso, but Rhoads (secondary), Charlie Partridge (special teams) and Curtis Bray (linebackers) are Harris holdovers.

Wannstedt, however, consistently defended Pitt’s coaching and its schemes all season. He hinted that it’s going to take player improvement in every phase for a turnaround.

“Right now, we are not good enough, and obviously, as we do every year, we’ll take a good look at things,” Wannstedt said. “We’ve got to recruit like we’ve never recruited. We’ve got to have as tough an offseason as we’ve ever hard. We’ve got to bring these young kids along at a fast pace.”

And that’s another issue. The development of the kids. Plenty of redshirts burned, but it seemed too many were wasted. Dickerson, Collier, Fields, Porter, Chappel and Berry to name just a few. Supposed impact players that didn’t get much time.

Leaving the fans to wonder. If the players out there were that bad, but the new kids with supposedly better raw talent still weren’t ready 9 or 10 games into the season, then what does that say about the teaching and coaching?

To the shock of no one, AD Jeff Long supports whatever Coach Wannstedt does. Gee, really? Considering Wannstedt was Long’s biggest hire, and fair or not, will be the primary way in which Long’s performance as AD will be judged. Yeah, I’d say he’d be fairly supportive of Dave Wannstedt.