Yep. Smart and necessary move by Coach Wannstedt after the hiring of new DC Phil Bennett. Greg Gattuso gets his own promotion.

Pitt football coach Dave Wannstedt announced today that defensive line coach Greg Gattuso has been given the additional title of assistant head coach.

Gattuso, 45, has spent three seasons on Wannstedt’s staff after 12 years as head coach at Duquesne University. Gattuso was a finalist for Pitt’s defensive coordinator opening, but Wannstedt hired former Southern Methodist coach Phil Bennett.

“From a staff standpoint, Greg Gattuso will be my assistant head coach,” Wannstedt said. “He’s done a great job recruiting in the area, and I think he can bring a lot more to the table.”

Yep.

I’m a bit out of it today. Or a bit more than usual. Kids getting sick in the past week, and now it’s my turn. So, as I turn to my secret stash of black market pre-change in the composition Ny-Quill, I’m going to do the link stuff on the quick and lazy.

Yeah, Pitt lost in the final minutes to UConn in case you forgot.

UConn Coach Calhoun saw this game as old-time Big East basketball.

The Huskies’ fifth consecutive victory was a blue-collar effort that reminded Calhoun of the Big East in the 1980s.

“If you look at the tape,” Calhoun said, “it would be in black-and-white.”

That was a big theme in the Connecticut coverage. That and A.J. Price’s play.

“Every time we felt like we were about to go up on them, he (Price) would make a big play for them, whether it was a pass, or a shot, or a three,” said Pittsburgh forward Sam Young (18 points). “He played his butt off today and my hat’s off to him.”

Price has played well the entire season, but has absolutely sparkled during UConn’s five-game winning streak, particularly since guards Jerome Dyson and Doug Wiggins were suspended three games ago. Wiggins returned Saturday, Dyson will be out until the end of February.

Not only does Price lead the Huskies in scoring (14.6) and assists (6.0), but against ranked opponents, he is averaging 19.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 5.8 assists per game. The Huskies, who should be in the Top 25 themselves come Monday afternoon, are 3-3 against ranked teams.

DeJuan Blair can’t wait for Levance Fields to get back.

“We played tough. We played a good game,” he said. “We just ended up with a loss. We fought hard. They just came at the end and did an excellent job of executing plays and going to the hoop and finding shots.

“But I did good. My team did good. We just got the loss. We just have to bounce back, and we’re going to be good once Levance Fields comes back. We’re going to be good.”

“Once Levance comes back, we should be way, way better. With our guards at their right spots, we will be a much better team.”

Blair, especially, benefits from Fields being there. Fields is still the best passer and the guy who penetrates and dishes cleanly. That’s needed for Blair at this point. He is still a freshman and isn’t going to be as good with his position and really being open for passes — or the other guards aren’t good enough at passing to make it to him.
Missing Fields was a story today. There’s some frustration by the team.

Young reiterated that the up-and-down play in the first month of league play is unacceptable no matter the circumstances.

“No, we’re not OK,” Young said. “I’m not saying it couldn’t be worse, but we’re not going to settle. I know we know we can do better than this. We are waiting for Levance to get back. But I’m not going to say we’re OK.”

Blair isn’t thrilled either.

“No, I’m not OK with (being 5-4),” Blair said. “Heck no, because we keep bouncing back and forth. We win, lose, win, lose. I don’t like that. You know me. Where I came from, I was a winner. I try my hardest to fight … so I’m trying to get a winning streak going on. Getting a couple game-winning streaks going. That will put our confidence up, and once Levance comes back, we will just be way, way better.”

The good news, is there is no finger pointing.  The frustration makes sense. Everyone feels it.

The papers are reporting the hiring of former Southern Methodist head coach Phil Bennett to fill the defensive coordinator position that was vacated Paul Rhoads. Bennett and Dave Wannstedt have known each other for years but the hiring comes as a bit of a surprise. It seemed the leading candidate had to be Greg Gattuso.

The past experience (Post-Gazette):

Bennett was the head coach of the Mustangs from 2001 until this past season, when he was fired after a 1-11 season. Prior to that he was the defensive coordinator for three seasons at Kansas State and had stops as an assistant at Oklahoma (secondary, 1999), TCU (defensive coordinator, 1998) and Texas A&M (defensive coordinator, 1996-98).

He was fired from SMU and they (somehow) managed to upgrade to ex-Hawaii coach June Jones.

Wannstedt says:

“In Phil Bennett we are getting an immensely knowledgeable and talented coach. Phil is not only going to be a major asset for us defensively, but his tremendous experience will benefit our entire program.”

A friend who lives in Dallas and has seen a fair share of SMU games tells me his schemes are aggressive and utilize the blitz very well. That should fit well with what it seems Wannstedt wants to do with the defense — which I believe is everything we saw starting with the Cincinnati game and culminating with the great performance against WVU. That is, different blitzing packages and schemes and less of the “read and react” garbage. If DW and Bennett mesh well together, Bennett could end up be a very good addition to the staff.

Mr. Bennett, at this point the shoes you are filling are not very big. I find it hard for you to do much worse than Rhoads did. Again, thanks to Auburn for taking him.