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August 31, 2008

1. No one will be fired this week.

2. No one will be fired in the season.

3. AD Steve Pederson will not fire Dave Wannstedt.

The first is no shock. It may not make anyone happy, but it is nothing surprising.

The second might be more annoying. No one expects Coach Wannstedt to get fired in mid-season (or as I like to put it, “getting Zooked”). Offensive Coordinator Matt Cavanaugh, however, could potentially be relieved of his duties. Except, Wannstedt would never do that. That’s not in the coaching handbook. You just don’t fire assistants in mid-season in football. If it goes against “the book,” it’s not something Wannstedt will do.

The final probably has more doubters — and there are two exceptions. I’ll explain my reasoning first.

There’s too much blind faith in Pederson, that he will be proactive on firing Wannstedt. Frankly I don’t see it.

Yes, Pederson has been a force to get a lot done in modernizing the Pitt Athletic Department in his first go round. And he has come back and been aggressive at trying to build the enthusiasm for the football program again. That has nothing to do with changing coaches.

Pederson, like most athletic directors is loathe to fire “his guy.” Pushing out John Majors and firing Ralph Willard and Frank Solich at Nebraska was hardly being aggressive. Those were necessary. (Even the Solich firing was defensible, even if the manner wasn’t.)

Nebraska fans can point to the Callahan hiring then extension just before last year’s debacle of a season. Stubbornly backing Callahan when all evidence — aside from recruiting well — said Callahan was absolutely the wrong guy. Pederson may not have hired Wannstedt, but he’s tried to hire him a couple times and he was the one who gave him the extension last season.

Wannstedt is his guy. Add in Pederson’s solid relationship with Chancellor Nordenberg — who has a very, very friendly relationship with Wannstedt as well, and the pressure for a change is just lacking if the season is just lackluster.

So what are the exceptions? The first is if the team goes 4-8 or worse. That might be enough to force his hand. Seeing fans boo the coach and by extension the team has an effect — even if the rich donors might still be with Wanny.

5-7 or better and he gets another year. There will be bad excuses, in a year when there weren’t supposed to be anymore excuses, but excuses for it nonetheless.

The other is when it comes time to discuss a change in assistants. Wannstedt is as everyone knows, when it comes to coaches likes to hire cronies he already knows and is very loyal to them. This makes necessary changes very difficult. Another 5-7, 6-6 or even a 7-5 season should force some real changes at the offensive coordinator spot.

Matt Cavanaugh is out of excuses. As much slack as he has been cut, it’s looking bad for his future. But what happens if Wannstedt refuses to fire Cavanaugh? What if Cavanaugh declines to “pursue other opportunities”? That might force the AD’s hand to make a full change.

Otherwise, I’m not seeing things change with the people in charge.





Chas – Agree with your assessment but my sources at Pitt tell me there is great turmoil after yesterday with DW from many in high places at Pitt. Pederson lost his job supporting Callahan at Neb.(and isn’t it amazing..a great recruiter and can’t coach on game day just like DW)and I think will be a little more gun shy to keep Wanny in the face of such obvious incompetence. While is’t easy to jump on Cav, Wanny runs the program and has to take the heat.

A loss to Buffalo and someone’s head has to roll!

Pederson is watching all the good will, PR, and faith in his words draining quickly.

So many of us all summer fought the “dreaded Pitt optimism” curse but finally secumbed as the overwhelming evidence was that Pitt was fast, solid and deep at every positionl. Again, we forgot about the coaching…Ohio, 2 fake punts in a row, etc etc are and were NO accident.

A loss to Buffalo and one could make the case that the entire program is gone anyhow, so why not make a move…hey Foge is avaialbe.

Comment by dan 72 08.31.08 @ 6:37 pm

I think only giving Conridge Collins (sp?) only one rush attempt was extremely poor coaching. Haven’t seen or heard that mentioned. Kinda like a “Bus” type runner to bruise up the D. I just don’t get it.

Comment by Ed 08.31.08 @ 6:52 pm

Oh, and Chaz, boy do I hope you’re wrong…… . I agree, but I hope you’re wrong.

Comment by Ed 08.31.08 @ 6:54 pm

Chas,
I agree with your assessment of no major moves yet….however, I wouldn’t be surprised at moves being planned, in the light of yesterday’s debacle–and unfortunately, that’s what it was. I would hope Steve is performing a Quality Control review of yesterday, starting with the predictable and ugly offensive play-calling. I’m still waiting for the deep ball in the first half to open things up, pitches to Shady on the outside, a bit of our own spread formations, Cross operating the wildcat, and most of all PLAYING TO WIN!!!

Pederson’s predicament is seeing more empty seats, less revenue, while supporting a guy (Wanny), who truly is a good ambassador for the University. Still, Pederson needs to be held accountable for putting a product on the field that people want to see, and will buy tickets, etc.

This is not the first game outcome any of us truly expected, or more importantly wanted. As a PITT alum and fan, I truly want Wanny, Cav and others to succeed; thus, all the more reason to be hurting and upset, as they never put the team in a position to put its best effort forth! The staff let the players down (yes, I know there were fumbles, and an INT–but that was not the cause of the loss…it was plainly bad coaching and no in-game adjustments as to what we were being given by BGSU). This is a teachable moment for Pederson and the football staff—get organized, put together a game plan with built-in adaptations, and let the players win the game!

Hail to PITT!
-al-

Comment by Oregon_Panther 08.31.08 @ 7:12 pm

Still upset and now more so after reading the quotes from the post game on teh University’s home page.

From Wanny—“They gave us some unusual situations which we knew they would do and we had a tough time adjusting to them.”

From their head coach—“Give a lot of credit to our defensive coordinator. He was down on the sideline dialing up new schemes and formations for our guys and I thought that was really the difference in shutting down their running game.”

One team made adjustments, and one team had a hard time making them—comes down to coaching, and during fall camp, I would think we’d have prepared for the BGSU offense and defense…..once again, I go back to the problem–our coaches didn’t put our players in a position to win!

Getting more upset re-thinking the game. I do hope for the best this year, beginning with Buffalo!

Hail to PITT!
-al-

Comment by Oregon_Panther 08.31.08 @ 7:22 pm

Oregon Panther,
I agree with your assesment.
this is why I was against this hire.
Its like hiring family, and now you have to fire them. it will be divisive. much easier to throw the nameless and faceless under the bus.
pray it was a stumble, and Wanny rights the ship, finds a way to win 8 games, and Cav leaves quietly in the off season to “pursue other interests”
Go Pitt!

Comment by Kurt 08.31.08 @ 8:20 pm

From Wanny’s pre-game press conference, quote “As for Bowling Green’s defense, they are pretty much a 4-3 defense so there won’t be much change for our offense. Our defense will certainly be tested right off the bat.” Translation – we will prepare on defence, but on offense we can just mail it in. So when BG blitzed up the middle on just about every play, well, who could expect that? The coaches shouldn’t be left off the hook when the players don’t execute. Chuck Noll taught fundamentals. Ever see Jack Ham miss a tackle? There are techniques to prevent fumbles – some teams go forever without one. Receiving is looking the ball all the way into the hands. Basic stuff. Do the Pitt coaches teach the basics? Doesn’t look that way. DW stresses long, hard practices. Are the players physically & emotionally drained, or are they just overconfident? BG game was like the WVU game in reverse – WVU mailed it in against Pitt (28 pt underdogs).

Comment by 66Goat 08.31.08 @ 8:43 pm

It just came to me in a brilliant flash of inspiration. In this state at one of the other 2 d1 schools, there is an offensive coordinator that is universally reviled throughout that school’s fan base. perceived to only have his job by being related to the head coach. said to be the first one out the door when said head coach dies/retires. but he hung 66 big ones on a rent a stiff. now before u laugh, when is the last time Pitt’s fb team scored 66? Pitt’s new oc…. drum roll please.. and yes he does run the spread…jaypa! hey 66 points would look good on the home side of heinz field score board.

Comment by Kurt 08.31.08 @ 8:53 pm

I can’t understand what happened — two years ago the offense was strong, averaged 30 pts a game, and threw the deep ball very well…was Palko that much better than Stull, or did Cavanaugh just lose it? Our defense is evidently better than it was then, so just a few tweeks to game plan in and we should roll? Unless the coaches are masochists, my bet is they come out slinging the next few weeks and have McCoy in about eight different running formations.

Comment by Matt N. 08.31.08 @ 9:09 pm

The one long pass I saw Stull throw…I walked out of the joint right after it…he had to backpedal 10 yards and uncork it from his toes. It landed well short and nowhere near the receiver.

Now I ask you: Aren’t college quarterbacks recruited first for the distance they can toss it in sort of a flat trajectory? All the other goodies…finesse, audibles, taking some heat off the ball, etc…can be taught.

Neither Stull nor Bostick are able to throw long. Thus they limit the offense severely. This team will fail if either plays. My only hope is either Cross or Smith comes through.

Comment by steve 08.31.08 @ 10:03 pm

As a PITT alum living in Baltimore, I know all about Cavanaugh and his offensive production. Why he doesn’t open up the play calling is beyond me. He ran a conservative offensive in the pros, and he is doing it now at PITT. I want to believe, but man this game just takes the wind out of my sail.

Comment by PantherPride 08.31.08 @ 10:22 pm

Kurt- Jay Paterno is their quarterbacks coach. Galen Hall, who is actually a very good coordinator and the heir apparent to JoePa, is their offensive coordinator.

Comment by merlin 08.31.08 @ 10:31 pm

Kurt, I believe we laid a bunch of points on the Citadel a couple years ago.

See, Penn State played a 1AA team yesterday. Sure we played like ass, but if we’d have played most 1AA teams we’d have won by 40.

My sister (State Penn alum) was at my place watching the games yesterday and made a good point. She said, that unlike the nitters, we just scheduled the wrong cupcake to start our season against.

She has a point. Other BCS schools got upset by 1A, non-BCS “cupcakes” too yesterday. Michigan (who were at home) by Utah, VaTech (who were ranked) by East Carolina. But just about all of the Div 1A schools that scheduled 1AA opponents yesterday kicked the living crap out of them.

So yes, JayPa, JoePa, Bradley, and co. laid a zillion points on a team that Bowling Green would’ve beat by about 30 or 40 as well!

Comment by Jimbo Covert's my Dad 08.31.08 @ 10:38 pm

I am overly disappointed by this loss, the conservative play calling, and the like, but at the same time give BGSU some credit. They had 8 wins last year and may end up doing some damage in the polls. The top of the MAC has been solid for a while now. Pitt must right the ship and slam Buffalo.
As a recent Pitt alum in grad school in California, I am hoping this season turns around. I spent a good portion of my student loan check on a plane ticket to Pittsburgh – not the easiest/cheapest city to get to from the Bay Area – for the homecoming game/my birthday. I know I was disgusted waking up at 7 AM and paying my bar tab to watch that crap this Saturday, hopefully it was an aberration. Best of luck to BGSU for the rest of the season!

Comment by wannstache 08.31.08 @ 11:23 pm

I said the same thing as Jimbo, that Pitt started out with a team that isn’t a good “tune-up” game. They played the best team in the MAC. Sure the MAC isn’t a great conference. But Pitt isn’t a great team, so why they want to make their opener against the best team in a mid-major conference doesn’t make sense.

I am, however, opposed to seeing Pitt, or other teams, playing 1-AA schools just to get a cheap win. I am glad that Appalachian St. made playing 1-AA schools not necessarily a gimme anymore either.

Given all that, Pitt should have beat BG. But they tend to not play well on opening day. This particular opening day, they didn’t play or coach well.

Comment by The Prowler 08.31.08 @ 11:27 pm

In the words of the great Roberto Duran: No Mas! No more punts from our own 34 and 35 yard line. No more wide receiver screens. No more 5 yard passes on 3rd and 8. No more runs up the middle on 1st and 10. No more refusing to let our QB roll out. No more refusing to throw the ball to the middle of the field. No more refusing to thow the ball even medium deep (20-30 yds) unless we are losing by more than 10 with less than five minutes to play. No more losing to MAC teams that don’t have half of the talent that we do. NO MORE CAVANAUGH!!! If DW will not fire Cavanaugh, then Pederson must fire DW. For the record, our defense played a respectable game. BG averaged slightly more than 2 yards per carry (64 total yards), and had 190 yards passing on 42 attempts. I don’t know why people see an “NFL” offense when they watch us play, because I see a High School offense. A boring, predictable, unacceptable offense. NO MAS!!!!

Comment by HbgFrank 08.31.08 @ 11:54 pm

Cavanaugh is the symptom. Wannstedt is the disease. He must not be allowed to continue to be unjustly enriched through his hale fellow, well met, yinzer BS persona. He’s not a Pitt Guy, he’s a con man and we’re the suckers.

Comment by Dead, Jail, or Pitt Football 09.01.08 @ 1:06 am

Chas,

From SI online (their blog version of what you do..just not done as well as You:

link to fannation.com

HAIL to PITT!
-al-

Comment by Oregon_Panther 09.01.08 @ 1:19 am

Layman’s definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

Will Pederson join the insanity or do the RIGHT thing?

Comment by Gas 09.01.08 @ 9:15 am

Merlin & Jimbo Covert is my Dad,
jaypa calls half the plays (i think running, and hall calls the passing) those southern teams have a lot of athletes, remember furman? If we have 3 top 25 recruiting classes and all summer to prepare for our 1st game, this should have been a cupcake. up by 2 tds up and sown the field at will, and we take our foot of the accelerator? I remember watching an nfl game with my mom years ago, when the sportscastor said “the team with the most points usually wins”
the whole idea of football is to score. We make fun of st penn all the time, but they took care of business and we did not. If we scheduled the wrong cupcake, that is our fault. If they were that good, then why were we not ready to throw the play book at them? I hate these middle of the road teams you are supposed to beat. the fans and players can’t get up for them, you get no credit for beating them, and if you lose you lose all creditability. play nebraska or miami fl. if you look at my previous posts, i am on record for 1 big 10 1 miami/neb./texas am and 1 acc/ND fans come to those and if you lose, well it was a good team and not as hard to take.

Comment by Kurt 09.01.08 @ 10:24 am

First let me start off by saying that I’m a Buffalo alum. I have no particular animosity or devotion to the Pitt program or fans. They’ve really been a non-factor as far as my college football fandom is concerned (pro football is quite a bit different, though).

As a Bulls fan it is amazing not only to watch them finally win but to even have what was a ranked opponent of a well established program seriously concerned about what they can do to them on the field. Admittedly, Buffalo has not done well with better caliber opponents in the past however Gill has not yet had the opportunity to get his system fully in place with recruits of his own choosing. That is not true this year. He’s finally got the tools, particularly on offense to give people pause. Now UTEP certainly has defensive problems but you still have to admire the Bulls for the way they put the screws to them in the second half. Last year they would have let an opponent like that stay in the game. This year they went for the jugular.

My advice to the Pitt fans is to watch your defense. If Buffalo can exploit the Panthers defensive gaps, the Bulls can win this game. In order for you guys to win you have to play solid, consistent defense and not overpursue as the Miners tried to do. Buffalo can be soft in the defensive backfield. Make the Bulls pay early and you limit what the very flexible Buffalo offense can do to you.

Good luck the rest of the season…except against us of course.

Comment by Calvert 09.01.08 @ 4:01 pm

[…] of the conventional wisdom from Gorman that Pederson would be proactive on coaching changes, but I already made that counterpoint. And sure enough, Pederson is giving the always valuable “vote of confidence” in […]


Guys, I’m going to broach a subject that has almost nothing to do with this thread (BE football conference expansion), but since this is the most recent thread, I thought I’d throw it out there and see what people are thinking.

I used to be a fan of the Big East as is. I enjoyed the underdog status, and didn’t think expansion was a good thing unless, say, ND was interested since they’re already a basketball member. I’m starting to think otherwise though.

I’m growing quite bored with these out of conference games against teams that we don’t really care about (and I hate it 10 times more obviously when we LOSE to them). Chances are, deep down, these games against teams that are not really on the national stage traditionally don’t really intrest the players either. That’s no excuse for what happened on Saturday, but I bet it doesn’t help in the preparation when friends and family are saying that “oh, you guys should crush BG. Where’s their campus again?” At least, that’s what I find MYSELF thinking irregardless of the fact that BG is a possible Top 25 team this year.

I feel that it’s time to bring in 2 teams at all costs. Army and Navy are the two obvious candidates, but I hear that they want to stay independant. Heck, maybe even try to steal Marshall. Those three teams honestly don’t intrest me too much normally, but a conference game against new rivals might be different. I never used to care about Louisville either… .
Anyways, about the service academies wish to stay independant, I find it verrrrrry hard to believe that they wouldn’t join a BCS conference. If they insist on joining the hoops conference too, then so be it I guess. If not, all the better. We kept Temple all those years while their hoops team stayed out of the BE.

The scheduling difficulties would be less, and the number of mostly boring non-conference games would be drastically reduced. To me, a non-conference game against Navy is boring at best. But a conference game against Navy becomes WAY more interesting. Who knows, maybe joining the conference will improve Army and Navy’s recruiting like it did with Rutgers and UConn. I do fear playing the option games that the academies bring, but what the heck, we’re (Pitt and the BE) ALREADY are probably going to schedule Navy a lot from now on anyway. Let’s make it mean something.

To me, there are way too many boring games against the likes of UAB, Kent, Middle Tennessee, Citadel, Ohio and Central Florida. Our schedulers do their best, but there’s only so much you can do when you must schedule 5 non-con games. There just aren’t enough Notre Dames and Iowas to go around I feel.

Give it to me straight, people (I know you will). Are there any rock-solid reasons why the BE shouldn’t expand???

Again, sorry this has nothing to do with this thread.

Comment by Ed 09.01.08 @ 9:08 pm

Or while we’re at it, maybe we should consider recruiting Bowling Green into the BE. Do they have a big stadium? 🙂

Comment by Ed 09.01.08 @ 9:11 pm

Expand???? are you serious??? as constructed the BE (football) conference is viewed a slightly better than the MAC/ WAC or Conference USA – a game againt Navy or Army excites you if it’s a conference game???

currenty living in Chicago after spending a few years in Alabama and Florida each, perception of Big East football is it has three football schools, WVU, Pitt and Syracuse (and Syracuse has fallen of the map) forget UConn, Rutgers, Louisville and Cincy – nationally they offer nothing for football

South Florida is interesting, however they will alays be #3 in Florida – after Florida, FSU and Miamia

as a Pitt alum,, what Pederson needs to do is allow the Big 10 to gain its 12 team, gain a football championship and make a %^&* load of $$$

how to do this – go to Big 10 and state up front we (Pitt) would not take any of the bowl or championship money for X number of years upon admittance to Big 10. Joining Big 10 puts Pitt in a legitimate football conference, keeps hoops status in a good basketball league and helps academically “prestige” of Pitt being a Big 10 school. Take a look at US News and WR annual college rankings – 7/8 Big 10 schools traditionally in top 15 national public universities

Comment by Phil 09.01.08 @ 10:45 pm

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