Which, generally, is the best thing to do. Just keep driving and don’t stop.

Well, despite the Oakland Zoo sending a contingent to Morgantown, Pitt returned some unused tickets (couldn’t make some more available to the Zoo?). In case you were unaware, WVU is 11-0 at home this season, but faces it’s toughest back-to-back home games (ever?).

But the Mountaineers’ spotless streak appears to be in jeopardy with old rival Pitt invading the Coliseum at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The No. 7-ranked Panthers (20-3, 8-1) hold first place in the conference standings. They’re 13-1 at home and 6-1 on the road this season.

And then the Mountaineers (18-4, 7-3) remain at home to host No. 5-ranked UCLA at 1 p.m. Saturday in a nationally televised tiff. Coach John Beilein thinks that this probably is one of the toughest back-to-back set of games in WVU’s hoops history.

Coach Beilein also has a birthday this week. Along with the low expectations for WVU, he got to avoid Syracuse and Louisville this year.

You can expect the popular theme for the game broadcast will be the youth of WVU versus the experience of Pitt.

Ron Cook continues his lauding of Pitt with a, slightly, confusing puff piece to Levance Fields. Comparisons to journeyman infielder Tim Foli and Peyton Manning in the same column to just further addle. I don’t know, it just feels weird to keep reading these positive Pitt stories. Where’s Smizik with some backhanded smacks  to restore the equilibrium?

I get a perverse kick out of watching regular media cover recruiting. Especially in the area of rumors. Recruiting is such a big, high traffic thing that paying attention to it has been almost forced on them at times. People go nuts for the news and it will generate plenty of attention.

So, apparently there have been rumors that have been getting a lot of buzz on the message boards that maybe LeSean McCoy might be lured to Penn State at the last minute (gee, I guess his academic qualification is no longer an issue). This, despite attempts to dispel that rumor by McCoy’s prep school coach a few days ago.

Still, the rumor won’t fade. Forcing another story on the matter.

“He’s going to Pitt,” Daphne McCoy said by telephone from her Harrisburg home. “There’s not going to be any surprises. We’re all looking forward to him going to Pitt. My husband (Ron) is very, very excited. That’s all he talks about. A lot of people in this area aren’t very happy, but we feel this was a good move for him.”

…

But Daphne McCoy said her son never considered changing his mind, despite late overtures from Penn State, among others. In fact, he unofficially visited Pitt this past weekend, staying with former Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt teammate Aaron Berry, a freshman cornerback.

“LeSean changed his mind before, but everything here seems right,” Daphne McCoy said. “He said he feels so comfortable with the players, that they welcome him and are excited about him coming.”

If we can counter a rumor with another rumor. This can be lots of fun, huh? McCoy’s father, Ron is a big Pitt fan and really hoped LeSean would choose Pitt before. It’s not worth worrying about at this point.

In more from the article.

Pitt is trying to complete its recruiting class by landing Jabaal Sheard, a 6-4, 240-pound defensive end from Hollywood Hills (Fla.) High School who will choose from Pitt, Rutgers, Arizona State and Florida International.

Both Scout.com and Rivals.com have him as a 3-star prospect. Scout ranks him as the 65th best DE. Rivals.com puts him at #60 in the state of Florida and #23 at the weakside DE position. Scouts, Inc./ESPN (Insider subs.) puts him as the #82 best DE in the country.
Regarding Wayne Jones, the project DT out of Johnstown, PA. Rivals.com has him accepting Pitt’s offer to grayshirt.

No need to worry about Mike Gansey. No worries about Joe Herber. None about J.D. Collins either. No need to worry about Pittsnoggle; he calls the Pete his new home.

Above: Pittsnoggle in all of his West Virginian (and now Pittburgh Xplosion [current record of 2-26. Woo!]) glory. Photo courtesy of myself.

And yet, after graduating all of their key players last year as well as their twin sisters/girlfriends, the Mountaineers can still beat us. The fashion they’ll try to do it with will be the same too.

West Virginia coach John Beilein still has his team shooting 3-pointers at a breakneck pace, and his new-look Mountaineers are one of the surprise teams in the Big East through the first half of the season.

“It’s funny,” Pitt junior Keith Benjamin said. “You see the exact same plays, but it’s not Pittsnogle out there making 3s. He used to kill us. Now, it’s someone else. They have more athletes, better jumpers and the same number of shooters.”

Their offense has kept pace when everyone believed it would drop off, but Pitt’s defense is very good as always. When push comes to shove, which team will get knocked off their normal scheme.

The defense is better than last year while using the same odd zone as always.

They are yielding five fewer points per contest and are among the top scoring defenses in the Big East (58.2 points per game).

Dixon is going to be a nice guy to everyone, even our Morgantown “buddies”.

“They’re new kind of like Aaron [Gray] and Levon [Kendall],” Dixon said. “They were in the system and they were good players. They were just waiting their turn. I think that’s the case with these guys. They’re comfortable with the system and are putting up the numbers. It’s a similar situation. It’s not surprising that they’re doing a good job.”

I’m not ready to say anyone on the Mountaineers can be compared to Gray, or at least yet. They could make some sort of run in the Big East or NCAA tournament and that would be enough to open my eyes a little more towards them. Of course, beating us tomorrow would also make me look a little deeper at who they have down there.

We are less than 48 hours from Wednesday, National Letter of Intent Day. Chas averaged the class rankings from Scout.com, Rivals.com, and Scouts, Inc./ESPN.com and came up with this ranking of the Big East teams:

1. Pitt
2. West Virginia
3. Rutgers
4. Louisville
5. Syracuse
6. South Florida
7. UConn
8. Cinci

Along with that was this small breakdown of Pitt’s ranking.

Pitt: Ranked #10 by Scout.com, #23 by Rivals.com and #28 by ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc. They’ve had the best recruiting class in the conference last year as well. They’ve yet to do anything with it.

As we knew coming in and have seen from the verbal commitments over the past few months, Dave Wannstedt knows what he’s doing when he goes into the homes and school of these player’s. We can only hope he starts finding out the right way to make the players work on the field as well.

Maybe sometime soon we’ll be ahead of Georgia Tech, WVU, and Nebraska on the field instead of just in recruiting polls.

The four teams directly behind us in the Big East standings (Marquette, Georgetown, WVU, and Louisville) are going to be gunning for us in the next few weeks in order to knock us off from the top of the standings.

If Pitt is going to win the Big East Conference regular-season championship for the second time in four seasons, the Panthers are going to have to travel the most difficult road of any other team in the conference.

No. 7 Pitt breezed through the first half of the conference schedule, with the only hiccup coming at home against Marquette. The Panthers have seven Big East games remaining, including five games against the four teams directly behind them in the Big East standings.

Every team we will play during the rest of the regular season (and don’t forget that non-con game against Washington) has a record of better than .500 and the team knows they are going to always be set up playing the top teams twice. Because of TV deals and Pitt’s great record over the past few years, we’re always going to be playing great teams and the Big East, even in a down year, is still an above average conference.

“It’s a fair trade,” Dixon said. “I really believe that. Our conference is built on television. One thing I like about our conference is we admit it. We’re very free to admit that. I think that’s why our conference has been the best conference over the years. Without question, the exposure has been great for our team, our program but most importantly our school.”

By the way, this is Rivalry Week for the WWL and the Pitt-West Virginia match up fits in nicely to that. With WVU graduating their entire team last year and a somewhat down year for them, ESPN has the game slotted on ESPN FullCourt which means FSN Pittsburgh for people in the ‘Burgh.

Boy, I hope there’s a time limit on jinxes, as Joe Starkey writes on how LeSean McCoy needs to come up Aces for Pitt (last week, Starkey wrote a piece on how Sam Young needs to be big on offense for Pitt to do well and Young promptly did not score against ‘Nova). The part that should really matter in the story was what the head coach at Milford Academy had to say about Coach Wannstedt.

“I felt like I knew him my whole life,” said Chaplick, who met Wannstedt last year during the recruitment of McCoy, who has verbally committed. “When I came to Pitt for the first time, he personally gave me the tour. You could just see in his face the pride he has in that school — and it wasn’t because he’s getting paid to coach. It’s in his heart.”

Any rumors of Penn State still trying to get McCoy were shot down by Chaplick, as well.

It also is clear that Pitt has officially joined the conga line of schools offering Terrelle Pryor in both football and basketball.

Jeannette football coach Ray Reitz used the word “crazy” to describe the past few weeks at the school as big-time college coaches are showing up to express their interest in heavily recruited junior quarterback-defensive back Terrelle Pryor.

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt was in a school office with Reitz Friday while Notre Dame assistant Ron Powlus waited outside.

Ohio State coach Jim Tressel came to Jeannette earlier in the week. Michigan coach Lloyd Carr and Wisconsin coach Bret Bielama also have stopped by in recent weeks, as well as numerous assistant coaches.

The dead period of contact between players and recruits is now underway. No contact until signing day.

Rivals.com has their final ranking of the top-40 players in Pennsylvania. They have no 5-star players in Pennsylvania. According to their list (which does not include McCoy), Pitt has 9; Penn State 7; Virginia 3; WVU, UNC, Syracuse, UConn, Rutgers and Akron each with 2.

For the rankings, Pitt is #10 according to Scout.com, #23 from Rivals.com and #28 with ESPN.com/Scouts, Inc.

It wouldn’t be right not to note Ruben Brown being at the Superbowl. Granted it might not have happened if he hadn’t gotten a little pissed at his offfensive coordinator in Buffalo in 2003.

Another would be to say he nearly killed Kevin Gilbride, the team’s pass-happy offensive coordinator for whom Brown had developed a distaste for as the team spiraled to another losing season and Gilbride refused to emphasize the run the way a team that was turning the ball over far too often to win probably should have. At a team meeting following another defeat, Brown finally snapped, coming over a table at Gilbride after he began to upbraid Brown for a lack of leadership. The 300-pound Brown’s path was blocked by several teammates and he soon left the building, never to return. Brown understood he would be seeking employment elsewhere that winter.

With apologies to my step-father-in-law (and Buffalo native), when hasn’t leaving Buffalo been a good move for a pro player (or anyone else)?

Brown will be the oldest player on the field for the game, but still expects to keep playing after this year. Of course, Brown would never have become an offensive lineman if he had had his way at Pitt.

It all goes back to Aug. 14, 1991, when Brown was a redshirt freshman at Pitt playing on the defensive line. He was a star, one of the most highly recruited players in the nation, a Parade All-American. But Pitt had future pros, Keith Hamilton and Sean Gilbert, on the defensive line and needed help on offense. Five days into preseason camp at Johnstown, coach Paul Hackett finally agreed to the pleas of offensive line coach Bill Meyers and switched Brown to offensive tackle.

“I was very disappointed,” Brown recalled this week. “But I was behind two outstanding defensive linemen. I was upset, but there was a good reason for it, and I was fortunate. I wanted to get on the field, and I knew I had a good chance to start.”

Brown excelled at his new position. He started for four years, was an All-American and was a first-round pick of the Buffalo Bills, the 14th player selected.

A Pitt player on the O-line often means success in the superbowl.

Let’s see, Pitt comes in at #8 on ESPN.com. In the voting this week for ESPN.com Pitt ranged from #3 (Fran Fraschilla) to #16 (Doug Gottlieb). Mostly Pitt was in the 6-9 range.
Luke Winn for SI.com moved Pitt to #9 and focused on the Gray puff piece from the Allentown paper. Seth Davis has Pitt as a #2 seed for the NCAA.

Jay Bilas writes about various teams that could get to the Final Four beyond Wisconsin, UCLA, UNC and Florida. He leads with Pitt (Insider subs.)

Why? You have heard the Panthers talked about in this rarefied air before, but Pitt has always seemed to sputter earlier in the NCAA Tournament than we expected. This Pitt team is different. No Pitt team in the past six years has scored with the ease of this team, and no Pitt team has had the quality depth on the perimeter. This Pitt team guards well like most Pitt teams have, but Pitt ’07 is one of the most efficient offensive teams in the nation — and a very good 3-point shooting team with multiple threats. The ball is not dominated by any one guard, and the Panthers are an outstanding passing team whose big men pass it almost as well as their guards. Most good shooting teams are good passing teams, and this team’s shooting opportunities are set up by very good passing and unselfishness.Why Not? Pitt does not shoot free throws well at all as a team, and down the stretch in tough games, the free-throw issues could make the difference.

Most Indispensable Player: Aaron Gray. The big man is a walking double-double who plays angles well and is an outstanding post passer who commands double-teams and opens things up on the perimeter.

Other teams he lists are Kansas, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas A&M and Marquette (“Why Not? The Golden Eagles are not consistent shooters, and in a tournament setting, the percentages suggest that will catch up with them. This is an outstanding offensive rebounding team, but in a one-game scenario, Marquette is held hostage by how it shoots the ball more than any other team on this list.”). Air Force and Notre Dame (???) are listed as “dark horses.”

The problem with being a long-term cynic of sports in general, it’s that you never know when a story is true or just revisionism. Now let’s talk strength and conditioning. When Coach Wannstedt took over, the stories we heard was about how the team would get faster. Not just from recruits, but strength and conditioning would emphasize speed and slimming down. Stories were written about slimming down. How conditioning had picked up. Remember the bonding over the winter workouts?

Now, I like Buddy Morris. He’s colorful, but more importantly he gets results and has strong loyalty to the school and players love him. Having said all of that, my cynical side reared it’s ugly head at this story.

The former Pitt sprinter is a self-described “fanatic on the technical application of movement.” He speaks as passionately about the metaphysics of strength and speed training. Video coordinator Chad Bogard taped early sprint and weight-lifting workouts so Morris could correct players’ flaws.

Morris also is enlisting the help of Pitt’s resources within the UPMC Sports Medicine Center, from director of human performance Bob Robertson to sports nutritionist Leslie Bonci, to teach the Panthers about lifestyle habits.

“This is the single-most important thing they do, train their bodies,” Morris said. “They play with their body. They need to take care of them.”

Morris seeks perfection, which starts with uniformity. The players must wear matching gold tops, blue shorts and black shoes to workouts. The exceptions are those who don’t meet Morris’ standards and are subjected to wearing pink shirts that read, “I work out at Curves,” a women’s fitness center.

The Panthers were given freedom under Kent, but they now adhere to Morris’ strict regimen. Morris has separated the players in groups of two dozen or less, with workouts scheduled according to their classes, so he can give them personal attention and prevent malingering.

“It’s definitely a shock to me,” redshirt junior linebacker Scott McKillop said. “You have two different personalities. Coach Kent was more of a laid-back person; Buddy is more in your face. He’s basically breaking us down and starting us from scratch.”

I guess, we’ll have to wait and see the results on the field.

UPDATE: The article is wonderfully optimistic, and says all the right things, I know. I’m just feeling cynical about that sort of puffery. Coming into this past season there was all talk about how players were in better condition — LaRod Stephens-Howling or slimmed down (Shane Brooks).

When Kent was hired, it was with much acclaim that Pitt got the guy who helped build and condition L-Ville — and in fact he was a S&C coach who emphasized low body fat.

This might be amusing, following the beginning of the Wannstedt era, this from a Zeise Q&A.

Yes, Mike Kent and his assistant Darren Honeycutt were retained, which may have been the best news of all to come out of the coaching change. I thought these two did a tremendous job last year with the team and now that they’ve had a year to put their offseason workout and their weight training and conditioning program in place, the team’s level of strength and overall fitness should take off. There is no doubt that Kent is one of the best in the business at what he does and Honeycutt should be ready to take over his own program some day.

Things change. I think this change of S&C coach is more important for being a guy Wannstedt wanted more and may be more supportive of and get behind. I don’t think Mike Kent and his regimen was the reason for Pitt’s performance the past couple years.

A few weeks ago I noted what seemed to be just instinctive dislike of Gray at Slam magazine. Probably because Slam is a lot more concerned with the flash and style for an NBA thing. At least someone there may be dimly aware of the situation.

I’m sorry Aaron Gray. You’re not pedestrian, as we’ve previously stated. You’re slightly better than pedestrian. Extra-pedestrian, if you will. You’re rebounding at an unhealthy clip (10.2 rpg) and Pitt enjoys all the space you take up. And six-for-seven from the field the other night to seal off Villanova? Impressive.

So I don’t know why I (we) bash you so. We actually kind of like what you do. So here’s a nice stamped grievance for you.

Plus, isn’t this the mark of a good tourney team? A couple of good scorers, Graves and Cook, a scoring point guard, Levance Fields (and Undeclared’s unofficial mancrush on his crossover) and a low-post guy who can hold fort. Hell, Kaman at Western Michigan and Olowokandi at Pacific did it by themselves.

History shows this whole concept will work, so we’ll stop bashing you. At least momentarily.

Gee, thanks. Something worth noting — and actually reflecting the lack of big men for several years in the college game — both Olowkandi and Kaman were top-5 picks. Gray will likely be somewhere in the teens to the mid-20s.

Here’s something to consider. Half way through the Big East schedule, who is the best Center — in conference only. It’s a pretty good argument that Aaron Gray is second to Herbert Hill of Providence. This may strike some as heresay, but I’m essentially in agreement — insofar as Hill is more of the Foward/Center player. Hill was actually my pick as mid-season Big East player of the year.
Seth Davis had this observation this week.

Pitt’s Ronald Ramon still has too many quiet games for my taste, but the Panthers are so good in so many other areas that when Ramon is aggressive and making shots, they’re nearly impossible to beat.

Davis just wants the guards from Pitt to be more aggressive, it would seem. A couple weeks ago he was pumping for Levance Fields to be more aggressive (Krauser-like) to help Pitt’s chances.

Yep, it’s a slow day week. If you need some Friday fun, here it is. The first 10 seconds or so of the video link below show Sun Ming Ming, a 7′ 9″ player in the USBL, against former Pitt Panther and current USBL player Mark McCarroll. McCarroll sort of attempts to post him up but ends up getting a jump ball called. Uhhh, very entertaining stuff…I guess.
Sun Ming Ming: A Very, Very Tall Man…Mark McCarroll: Not So Much

By the way, Toree Morris also plays for the Brooklyn Kings.

I nearly forgot, in the Zeise Q&A the issue of the script helmets Palko and Blades wore was addressed — sort of.

Q: What is your take on the script Pitt helmets worn by Palko and Blades at the Senior Bowl? Is this a sign of things to come?

ZEISE: I had no less than 25 inquiries about this very subject which means some of you need to get a grip on this script thing. The helmets worn by Blades and Palko were worn because the two kids decided they wanted to wear them. It was not an athletic department decision, it has no significance for the future of the uniforms. It was not appreciated by certain members of the athletic department, who felt the kids should have been made to wear Pitt’s current logo on a national stage. So in short, according to people within the athletic department, there is no chance that Pitt will go back to the script next year or in the near future. The current logo — the one that was on the helmets last year — will remain in place. So please put an end to this script silliness. It isn’t going to happen.

Only 25? Not sure I’m buying the explanation. Especially since there is still no addressing where they came from. As has been noted by others, the script and the lettering was not some decal over the regular helmet. Are they saying — however obliquely that the players had or had access to alternate helmets? There’s just something that isn’t adding up correctly.

I’m still trying to make the judgment as to whether the Big East made the right call on releasing the schedules this week. Or should they have waited until after NLI Day on Wednesday. I realize some schools are now taking orders and send out renewals immediately. Still, for Pitt, at least it might have been a little better to wait until after signing day when there would be a more tangible sense of optimism to let the fans know what the schedule is.

Instead, it’s a bit of spin from AD Jeff Long.

“We understand that and we know that where we are in terms of televised appearances is reflective of how our season went and what expectations are of our team. At the same time, there are going to be other windows to negotiate to get certain games on television and so we anticipate things will change. Certainly the fact that we were picked to play West Virginia on championship Saturday speaks volumes about how we are perceived nationally.”

That unless Pitt is playing a team that has national recognition and achievement at the moment, there is little interest in Pitt outside of the fanbase?

On the positive side, they still haven’t raised ticket prices and seem genuinely desirous of getting as many bodies in the stands as possible.

Pitt is offering two new ticket promotions this season: “First and 10,” which provides fans the chance to buy one season ticket at full price and get a second for $10; and “7 in ’07,” which allows groups of four or more to reserve season tickets for a $77 deposit as part of a payment plan through August that allows for a minimum savings of $289.

Current season-ticket holders who renew online will receive a $10 discount. Single-game tickets, if available, won’t go on sale until August.

The WPIAL is happy about the way Pitt’s schedule looks. West Virginia high schools may not be so thrilled.

Arch rival Pitt has been moved back to the final game of the regular season.

The 100th edition of the Backyard Brawl will be played Dec. 1 in Morgantown.

It’s the latest date ever for a WVU-Pitt game and also conflicts with the Super Six high school football championships in Wheeling that weekend.

Amusing to note that the MAC had to redo two season openers with WVU and Pitt. Pitt was supposed to face Bowling Green, but they needed to be swapped out because they were overbooked. That’s why Pitt will face Eastern Michigan. Bowling Green will now be on the schedule in 2008.

WVU was supposed to start with Ball State, but they too were overbooked so the Mountaineers get Western Michigan.

Paul Zeise has another Q&A. My, linebacking seems bleak.

Q: Is there any reason to have hope given the Panthers’ situation at both defensive end and linebacker?

ZEISE: There is always hope — every one starts the season 0-0. I think you are correct, linebacker to me — not quarterback — is the biggest issue for this team. The Panthers need to do some serious reloading here and unless there are some athlete/running back types in this recruiting class headed for linebacker I’m not sure I see much help. You’d hope Tommie Campbell can take the next step as a player but the other positions are way up in the air. I think defensive end is going to be OK. It won’t obviously be like the Florida Gators defensive end situation, but it will be pretty good. I think between Doug Fulmer, Joe Clermond, Greg Romeus, Chris McKillop and, perhaps, a guy like Tommie Duhart, the position will be in good shape.

Don’t worry, Paul Rhoads will handle it. Ah, there’s a reason why the door in my home office has a well worn dent the size of my head.

Now as for the subject of getting season tickets this year. I’m renewing, as much to be able to gather with my friends as much as anything else. It’s really the only chance we get during a year to coordinate and meet at the same time given where we live, our schedules and family responsibilities.

I also understand why other don’t want to renew whether it’s the retention of Paul Rhoads — and the dedication to excuse making. Or if it’s simply not wanting to hear the excuses. The last two years it has been all Walt Harris’ fault for not leaving the cupboard well stocked. This year it will be youth.

2008 will be the end of excuses. No one will accept them at that point. Pitt’s football department from the AD to the coaches to the interns. They are putting everything to that year, so they better be right. My sense is 2007 is kind of a “hold on, until next year” sales job.

The Pitt schedule was released today. Specifically, the actual dates of the games were released.

The opponents — home and away were known for some time. So, I’m not particularly taken aback at the fact that the home schedule is weak and will not be one that excites walk-up ticket sales unless Pitt gets out to 5-0 start — it might take an 8-0 run.

It is interesting and a sign of how Pitt has definitely fallen from the interest of the media as they are presently slated with all Saturday games. Given the Big East football’s place on ESPN — for Wednesday, Friday and even Sunday night games — this is mildly disappointing. Not unexpected, unfortunately. Pitt has done little to justify marquee status.

Pitt may win the offseason recruiting rankings in the conference, but their performance hardy matches. They’re turning into the Washington Redskins it seems.

It will be interesting to see how many of the Pitt games even make it to televised — gameplan status. It is likely the road games will all be that way, but not many of the homegames look like they could make it.

Cameron Heyward, the son of the late Pitt great Craig “Ironhead” Heyward chose Ohio State over Georgia and LSU. It’s probably wrong of me to feel a twinge of bitterness about this. Pitt was crossed off his list a couple months ago. It’s just that, it seemed then, that the reasons were because of a desire to stay closer to his home after the passing of his father. Not, surely not because Pitt was deemed unworthy and the implosion in the second half of the year. Then to read this.

The choice of the Buckeyes was a big hit with his grandmother, who lives 2 1/2 hours away in Pittsburgh. Heyward’s mother, Charlotte Heyward-Blackwell, was raised in Pittsburgh and is a graduate of Pitt, where she first met Craig Heyward.

“It’s a little far away,” Heyward-Blackwell said, “but I think it’s the next chapter in his life and it’s a really good fit.”

It’s not personal rejection. It’s not personal rejection.

I’m also trying to figure out how he’s learned from his mistakes and not simply failed upward.

Ligashesky, who had an uneven run as Pitt’s tight ends coach and special teams coordinator from 2000-03, returned this week to that same practice complex after being hired as the Steelers’ special teams coach. He replaced Kevin Spencer, who took the same job with the Arizona Cardinals.

The 44-year-old Ligashesky is vocal, animated and expressive on the practice field, a man who often seems as wrapped up in the action as his very players. That apparently impressed new Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, a hands-on motivator himself, even though Ligashesky was recently fired by the St. Louis Rams after two seasons.

“He’s a good coach with a bright future,” Cardinals coach Scott Linehan said of Ligashesky. “But we need to make some improvements on special teams. Sometimes change is good for both parties.”

The Rams special teams sucked this past year. There was no sorrow in letting him go and apparently the Rams were interviewing replacements before he was actually fired.

The swinging-gate crap with the extra point against Texas A&M was brought up again. Fascinating:

Pitt had two other assistant coaches who worked with special teams players at the time, Bryan Deal and defensive coordinator Paul Rhoads, but Ligashesky was in charge of the units.

And yet, Deal is the only one coaching high school football these days.

In a bit of self-promotion, AOL wanted some posts explaining why certain schools could lay claim to having great impact/being vital to Superbowl memories. So, going with the underdog, I made the case for Pitt.