So Coach Dixon topped all wage earners at Pitt last year (and probably this year as well).
Dixon earned $1,296,482 in salary, $39,690 in employer contributions to benefits plans (a category that includes deferred compensation where applicable) and $13,227 in expense account and other allowances in FY 2007.
…
Dave R. Wannstedt, head football coach — $823,733 in salary, $29,396 in employer contributions to benefits plans and $18,526 in expense account and other allowances.
This was for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2007. In other words, what he got for the 2006-07 season. I wish there was more of a break down to see actual base salary plus the bonuses/incentives. The salary listed obviously includes the usual performance bonuses — making the NCAA Tournament, winning two games in the NCAA Tournament, 20+ wins, getting to the Big East Championship game, finishing in the top-25 rankings, finishing in the top quarter of the Big East.
As for Coach Wannstedt, that, um looks mostly like base salary.
I would love it if Pitt could fund more non-revenue sports or “Olympic sports” as they are called these days.
I don’t expect our baseball team to be competing with the likes of Arizona State, Miami, or FSU any time soon, but there seems to be enough talent in the Mid-Atlantic and Ohio that we could attract kids who would otherwise go to smaller southern schools like Stetson or College of Charleston.
Further, if St. John’s can win the Big East and Louisville and Michigan can get all the way to the College World Series, I think that qualifying for the NCAA tourney could be a legitimate possibility with some hard work.
To digress even further from the topic, I would love to see Pitt be able to fund a lacrosse team in the future. The club team seems pretty popular and there’s plenty of talent in PA, Maryland, and Jersey to build up a program. There was even an article in the PG last week about the WPIAL and PIAA sanctioning high school lacrosse but to its growing popularity.
What’s going on with summer football conditioning, the QB competition? Why AREN’T we getting any early recruits, are the new football assistant coaches struggling? What’s with Mike Cook and his NCAA petition for a 6th year? Why do those take so ridiculously long anyway? There can’t be tens of thousands of those. Should be pretty easy … read the case, yea or nay? Meanwhile, a kid’s future is in the balance. There’s a story there, folks…
But no, we’ve seen umpteen stories about STEELERS at the Penguins games, what someone like Deshea Townshend or Jeff Freakin’ Reed thinks about the Penguins. No offense (and no pun intended toward the Pens saying that) … but that’s as relevant as asking those same guys what they think of the Sex And The City movie. Who cares? It’s almost as if the media are afraid of pissing off the Rooneys by paying too much attention to the Penguins. Or worse, having to give Pgh fans reassurance that they can share some of their Steeler love for a little while. “It’s OK, yinzers, Mike Tomlin goes to the games, so you’re allowed to be happy.”
In those same months I’ve also read about 5 stories on Sean Lee’s knee injury , including a large puff piece today in the Tribune-Review. Hey, I hope all the best for Sean, I really do, he seems to be a great kid. But frankly if he doesn’t recover well, it’s the OTHER Lee that may have the best chance for NFL success. Not one article dared to anger their Nit readership with even a token mention his black-sheep brother in the articles.
Could be worse, I guess … we could be reading stories about our guys getting arrested. Unlike some other schools, the papers wouldn’t hide those stories back by the nudie bar ads either. Let’s keep the fingers crossed.
So what? So, let’s dance!
I couldn’t have captured that sentiment any better myself. I owe you a drink, sir.
I love the Pens and all the success they are having, but I feel that even had they already been eliminated weeks ago, all that attention would have gotten diverted to the sorry a$$ Pirates, anyway.
It seems like they could at least send some schmuck intern to do a simple Q&A with one of the new assistant coaches or something.
Hopefully they pick their game up as the summer camps start in the next couple of weeks.
I’ll be honest when I say that I never went to a Pitt game in all my years in Oakland, but I went to about 10 FSU games this season, not including this evening’s game against Bucknell. I did manage to make it to two of the Duquesne games and watched the Dukes get smoked. While I had a blast, part of that has to do with watching the #3 team in the nation agaainst solid competition in a great ballpark.