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.
This team has a long way to go and needs a lot of help, why would a recruit want to come here? To play as a freshman…ah….no. How about to play in a packed stadium…..um….nope. The mustard color uniforms…..painful.
Anyway, Iowa State looks to be out for Paul Rhoads. Gene Chizik, Texas’s DC seems to be the new head coach.
Good call, JD is a very good possibility, I think the AD at UC came from Akron and I think he hired JD for the Akron job. Also do not discount UC’s defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi. The next head coach at UC should be one of those guys.
Did Rhoads get an interview at ISU?
Rhoa_s is as good as gone.
If this thing doesn’t get turned around soon, there won’t be these prize recruits coming to Pitt. Harris didn’t leave a lot on the table for DW but there is/was some talent (Palko, Blades, Revis). Call a spade a spade, DW has NOT been impressive with what he has done in 2 years, that will get you the critics!
Also, South Florida did figure out some things wiht their staff, didn’t see them give up 500 yards on the ground. Pitt couldn’t beat WVU but to giove into WVU strengths and let them run for 400-500 yards, BAD NEWS!
It was the USF and UConn losses that killed me. How we got dominated by a USF team that got dominated by a Cincinatti team that WE dominated is still beyond me.
Granted, the quality of competition for this team went up in the second half of the season… but it just seems to me like some of the players were just half-assing it out there that second half.
I know we beat up on some bad teams in the first half, but I didn’t think the dropoff in play, especially on both lines, would be so severe when the competition was turned up a notch. It just seems like some guys weren’t trying as hard these last 5 games.
Anyone else think Schiano is heading to Miami? On another note it was nice to see wvu go down at home to south florida. Seems like everyone except Pitt is capable of upsets.