Maybe it’s the fact that the Steelers are off to a hot start, the Pirates are cleaning house and the Pens are starting their season. Or maybe it’s that apathy towards Pitt football has already set in. I’ve been stunned that over the last two stinkers of losses that the primary ‘Burgh columnists (Starkey, Collier, Cook and Smizik) have done a grand total of one column about Pitt — a Smizik quickie on how Wannstedt needed a UVa win for his future. That’s 2 1/2 weeks and practically nothing. I mean Starkey has a side gig doing a weekly Big East report and column for ESPN.com and he couldn’t be bothered with Pitt. This has nothing to do with any pro- or anti- biases to Pitt or Wannstedt. That has everything to do with the interest in the Pitt football program right now in Pittsburgh. Which apparently could be classified as very little. This is a bad trend. Personally, I don’t think the media sets much of the agenda in sports anymore. It is increasingly a reflection of audience interest. That should be a big concern for Pitt’s Athletic Department. I mean, if there was anyone in charge.
Is the game important to Coach Wannstedt and Pitt? Does Coach Wannstedt even realize how frustrated the fans are? It’s hard to say. Like a Magic 8-Ball, it depends on how hard you shake and when to see whether he realizes how important this game is.
From an article on Sunday.
“We’ve got to get one,†Pittsburgh coach Dave Wannstedt said. “So, yeah, it’s important. You come out here and work real hard and put this much time into it. The thing that’s frustrating is that you go out and you recruit good players, and they come here.
“So, we’ve got guys who want to win and are preparing to win, but we’ve just got to find a way to make it happen on the field. There’s no other way to really put it than that.â€
Wannstedt was also asked if the Pitt administration has still expressed confidence in him and the football program, and his response was curt.
“I won’t even respond to that,†Wannstedt said.
And then yesterday.
“Sure it is,” Wannstedt said. “We need to get back on track and we need to find a way to win this game to get to .500 and we’ll go from there. Is it more important today than it was yesterday? No. Is it more important today than it was the opening game? I would say no. I don’t think you look at leadership that way. You are either a leader or you’re not.”
And I have no idea what that exactly means or the relation for the need for a win and something about leadership; other than the fact that I’ve read and re-read that several times and I want those minutes of my life back.
So, while the regular sports columnists aren’t wasting time on Pitt, the beat writers are trying to fill it in, without dancing too far over. After all, they have to deal with the coaches and players on a daily basis. It’s a delicate situation.
Pitt will play host to Navy tomorrow night in what has suddenly become one of the Panthers’ most important games in recent history.
There were plenty of questions surrounding the direction of Pitt’s program under coach Dave Wannstedt before the season started. They have turned into legitimate concerns in the wake of the way the Panthers have performed.
With a three-game losing streak, Pitt (2-3) seems to be rapidly descending to the bottom of the Big East. The Panthers appear headed for a third consecutive season without a bowl game. A home loss to the Midshipmen (3-2) on national television would further damage Pitt and Wannstedt’s reputations.
Even if it’s by simply stating the facts.
The Panthers coach enters the midway point of both his third season and his five-year contract with a 13-15 record that includes three wins over Division I-AA opponents — and without a signature victory to his credit.
The athletic director, Jeff Long, who pledged his support, left for Arkansas. Pitt chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg has kept quiet amid the search for a replacement. When asked late last week if he still had the administration’s support, Wannstedt snapped, “Yeah. I won’t even respond to that.”
When Pitt (2-3) plays host to Navy (3-2) at 8 p.m. Wednesday, it will do so before an ESPN national television audience that will cast an even greater spotlight on a program that has slipped from Big East Conference co-champion to its basement in less than three seasons.
After a 2-0 start, Pitt has lost three consecutive games. Dating to last season, Pitt has lost eight of its past 10.
Yes, Coach Wannstedt knows he’s getting extra criticism, but honestly — and I think I keep repeating this fact — he isn’t going anywhere. He’s going to be here next year. Lack of a new Athletic Director, the money Pitt is paying and high administration and booster support are the reasons. Any one, would probably be enough. All three makes it a lock.
By the way, seeing that ND is playing terrible this year and the BE as a conference is on the rise, does anyone else think this may be a good time to make a push for them to join the BE in football? I know its a long shot but who knows? They can still fill their non con with their rivals. Just a thought, I know its been discussed before.
Not only have we not developed any fan traditions, but if I am not mistaken, J. Long killed the only one that we did have. P-E-N-N-S-T SUCKS is gone. (down here in Atlanta) I hear that the band doesn’t even play that part of the song anymore.
This used to be the best part about going to games for me. That, smuggling a bottle of rum into the stadium and leaving with a win.
As an alumni I don’t even relate to this team anymore.
PENNST SUCKS. is fucking dumb, unless you’re playing PSU. When us morons are chanting it at other schools, we are defining our program in relation to another university, not our achievements or our tradition. I wish we could get back to chanting VICTORY, unless that happens to be the weekend that we’re playing PSU, then go with the school specific one. Stop making our school seem like a DIAA reject, whining about the big program in the area because we’re a bunch of turds. Its embarassing and a disgrace. I’m glad its gone. No other school I know of in the nation embarasses itself like that. Good riddance.
I would never doubt the sheer business genius that is the operations going on over at PNC Park. They have managed to operate a baseball team, divert all attention from the baseball team and still bring people in.
The last game I attended this year was the Phillies game the night the Povertyneck Hillbillies were playing a post-game concert. The place was packed, the Pirates got their asses kicked in the first inning and the booing or other means of voicing displeasure were at an absolute minimum. I couldn’t believe it.
100% Grade A certified Apathy has set in over at Federal Street. It’s like the Pirates fanbase has been beaten stupid for so long now they don’t even care that the team is getting beaten anymore. The game has become secondary…maybe even tertiary.
I just hope the same sort of thing doesn’t happen with this program. I hope this administration understands that this is a college program and it needs to be marketed like one. They new AD needs to do something to bring back the college atmosphere that used to exist to some point at these games. As sad as it is to say, right now the opportunity to go watch Shady McCoy isn’t enough to get a lot of people interested because of the way the team as a whole is playing.
But maybe this is a sad testament to the legacy of an administration that doesn’t seem to give much of a damn – starting with Jeff Long.
This is very much a program without any sort identity. Change the colors, Jeff. Change the jerseys and change the logo once every couple of years, Jeff. And in the process, completely ignore the elephant in the room – namely, generating, maintaining and – God forbid – actually BUILDING interest in the program.
The one time they made a change for the better that EVERYONE seemed to love – the throwbacks worn during the YSU game, where even the players were clammoring for a switch back to the old blue and gold – the administration decided against actively using it. Why? Well, why give the fanbase what it wants – some shred of an identity – when we can have more crap like this…
link to shoppittpanthers.com
Nice to see the Long administration aced that Marketing 101 class taught by Profs. Nutting and McClatchy.
What about the rest of the tradition (and I’m not talking about 1976 and 1982 and Dorsett and Marino)?
There is no other major sport in America where fan involvement, interaction and the atmosphere it creates is more prevalent than college football. It creates the environment that brings recruits and thus helps bolster the program. I had friends who went to ND, Michigan and PSU for college in part because they wanted to be there for gamedays.
So what sets Pitt apart? There’s no Rocky Top. There’s no Howard’s Rock. There’s no dotting the “I”. You know how it’s great to be a Florida Gator? There’s no cheering about how great it is to be a Pitt Panther. There’s no Big House, no Swamp, no Death Valley. There’s no stepping off at the Golden Dome. There’s no pregame walk to the stadium anymore. There’s no school-specific cheer on the run-up to kickoff. No Roll Tide. No Pig Sooey. No Sea of Red. No Boomer Sooner. No Tomahawk Chop. No 12th Man. And even as much as I hate it, there’s no Zombie Nation.
Does the fact that they share the football market with an iconic pro team or the lack of a campus stadium have anything to do with this? I’m not so sure.
I understand tradition is something that takes time to build. I understand the program has more immediate concerns like a coaching staff that can’t get out of its own way. And I understand that the best way to get fans interested is to win, but let’s be realistic here…that isn’t going to happen year in and year out under the best of circumstances.
Tradition also needs to start somewhere and this is one of only a few Big East schools that can lay claim to any sort of long-standing football history. Until this administration stops marketing this team like a friggin’ Arena League team and starts taking steps to create more of a college identity, the fanbase will continue to be casually interested and that’s it.