I just have been plain lax on the football side. What with the minimalist drama of this offseason. No one leaving early for the pros. No arrests. Recruiting at this point is pure maintenance, not some late snag.
There is some coaching stuff. I’ll start with the newest. Pitt needs a linebacker coach.
Central Michigan filled the defensive coordinator position on Monday, by hiring Joe Tumpkin to fill the defensive coordinator position at CMU.
Tumpkin spent the last two seasons as the linebackers coach for the University of Pittsburgh. He held the same position for three years at Southern Methodist before taking the position at Pitt.
Congrats to Tumpkin on a big opportunity. While very low profile at Pitt, he has done a very good job with the linebackers. Considering the importance in Wannstedt’s defense of the LBs, Tumpkin gets high marks for developing the LBs this past season.
Losing Tumpkin was somewhat expected. Albeit, becuase, everyone assumed that DC Bennett was gone to somewhere in Texas and he would bring Tumpkin with him.
Bennett at this point, still appears to be staying for another year. He hasn’t landed the gigs closer to Texas, so it appears Pitt has him for another year. I’ll defer to Coach Wannstedt on this one, but it seems that maybe it might have been better to let Bennett go.
Bennett clearly — and understandibly — wants to be closer to his family back in Texas. At some point there are going to be questions of whether he is too distracted or how effective he can be with one foot seemingly perpetually out the door.
In a move where the timing could have been better, graduate assistant Scott Turner was promoted to WR Coach. So on the same weekend that dad, Norv, gets bounced once more in the NFL Playoffs, the son is promoted to a full gig by the close friend in charge.
I don’t have really strong feelings one way or another on this one. If he can do the job and develop the WRs (and probably more importantly) show he can recruit then it’s a good move.
I shed no tears for the departure of Bryan Bossard — who wasn’t bad, but certainly did not seem like an impact position coach. Add in his less than outstanding recruiting ability and well, buh-bye.
There are some position changes and minor transfers (Shariff Harris heading to somewhere in 1-AA). The interesting one is redshirt freshman Kolby Gray going from QB to Safety.
Gray hurt his shoulder early. He was a dual-threat, athletic QB. I think everyone is aware of the likelihood he was going to get out there in that capacity. As a safety, it makes sense. I remember Tyler Palko was actually recruited by some schools (like Ohio State) with the idea of moving him to safety. It is not the most unusual conversion in football with a particularly strong and athletic QB. Eric Crouch, the Nebraska QB and 2001 Heisman and Davey O’Brien winner was converted to WR and safety in the NFL.
(Pitt finished the 2009 season ranked #1 in sacks and #9 in tackles for a loss. Like the NFL franchise they share a stadium with, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the defense is the face of Pitt’s program, and the scheme they employ is all about risk: relentless blitzing, none of that “bend don’t break” stuff that was the calling card of CMU’s defense under Butch Jones.
The man that Tumpkin works under at Pitt, defensive coordinator Phil Bennett, is a self described “sack junkie.” I have heard a few interviews with Bennett on the local radio here. In those interviews I could tell Bennett takes his cues from Steeler’s defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, known for using more than 4 pass rushers on every play — a big gamble — to harass opposing QB’s. Bennett does the same thing at Pitt.)
What blitzing?, much less relentless blitzing.
