I am concerned that Pitt is slacking off on its ‘stache quotient in the coaching staff. The departure of Tumpkin meant Pitt lost a fine pencil-thin stache. Hiring Scott Turner didn’t change things. Now Pitt went and hired another stache-less guy.

2010 will be [Bernard] Clark’s 13th season coaching college football. He most recently served as the defensive coordinator for Hampton University in 2009. Prior to last season, he was a defensive assistant Florida International in 2007 and 2008.

2006 saw Clark coach the defensive line at South Florida, and he spent 2004 and 2005 as the defensive coordinator at FIU. He got his start in college coaching in 1998 when he coached the defensive ends at James Madison for two years, after which he coached linebackers and special teams are Liberty from 2000-03.

Clark’s connection to Pitt comes through his college playing career, as he was as standout linebacker – nicknamed “Tiger” – for the University of Miami in the late 1980’s. In the 1987 national championship game, Clark started at middle linebacker in place of a suspended player and went on to earn Orange Bowl MVP honors for his performance.

It’s not a Pitt connection so much as a Wannstedt connection. That fits Coach Wannstedt’s general approach to go with guys he knows and trusts.

The official line in recruiting this year has been that Pitt didn’t demphasize Florida, they were just focusing on other areas. Since Pitt was the only Big East school without a Florida recruit finding a guy with Florida ties made sense.

“To be a part of a program so rich in tradition as that, it’s huge,” said Clark, 43, a Leto graduate who coached at USF for the 2006 season. “It’s a great opportunity for me.”

Clark is reunited with Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt, who was defensive coordinator at Miami when he played linebacker there in the late 1980s. Since his year at USF, Clark spent two seasons as defensive line coach at Florida International before going to Hampton last summer.

Clark doesn’t know his exact recruiting territory yet, but he’ll use his state ties to help recruit Florida for the Panthers, especially the Tampa and Miami areas.

We’ll just pencil him in for recruiting most of Florida.

I’m still concerned about the lack of staches in the last two hires.