Odd that Pitt never got around to putting a press release out on the hiring of Bernard Clark as LB coach. I know it isn’t hiring a new coordinator, but it seems standard to put something out even when a position coach is hired. Guess too distracted by signing day, hall of fame and the new schedule — non-con and Big East.
Well his hometown paper in Tampa puts out a story on Clark’s hiring by Pitt. He seems, er, energetic.
“Every now and then, I’ll put on the helmet and the shoulder pads, not to show my players that I’m better than them, but to show how I want things done,” said Clark, the well-traveled coaching veteran, one of the all-time greats at Leto High and the University of Miami. “You can’t ever say I lacked for enthusiasm.”
Now Clark is taking his passion to the University of Pittsburgh, who hired him this week as linebackers coach. Clark will work for Pitt head coach Dave Wannstedt, who was his defensive coordinator at Miami in the late 1980s.
“I can’t wait to get started,” said Clark, replacing Joe Tumpkin, who became defensive coordinator at Central Michigan University. “I’ve been to a lot of places the last few years, all over the place, really. I’m excited that it has led to this.
“You won’t find many places with the rich tradition of a place like Pittsburgh. We’ve really got something special to sell. They won 10 games last season and we’re very close to winning the Big East championship (losing in the final seconds against Cincinnati). I’m glad to be part of it.”
Clark was a big part of the famed Miami Hurricane teams of the late 80s, and was apparently featured in the recent ESPN 30 for 30 documentary, “The U.” Now required viewing for the Pitt linebackers to get a sense of their new coach. I have heard excellent things about the documentary. It is on my DVR, but I haven’t had time to sit down and watch.
Clark — obviously — expects to be recruiting in Florida.
A coupleeftovers from last week (and I still have a few more after this). Go figure, trust is a big deal in recruiting (please stifle your snickers). Pitt commit T.J. Clemmings is quoted talking about how the first impression mattered most to him — good thing Pitt was one of his first visits.
Pitt secondary coach and NJ recruiter Jeff Hafley gets nice love in the piece as it is noted that he has brought 8 players from NJ to Pitt between this year and last.
In the four seasons before that, Pittsburgh had just three commits from New Jersey.
The 30-year-old Hafley started from humble coaching beginnings at the college level, first at Albany before accepting a job as the graduate assistant on Dave Wannestedt’s staff in 2006. He slept on an inflatable mattress for two years in the coaches’ office on campus, dedicating himself to earning his spot.
His ability to connect with recruits almost immediately — especially those from North Jersey — has served Pittsburgh tremendously well.
“From the first time I met Jeff, I just knew he was a genuine guy, and that’s what I was hoping for,” Clemmings said. “What Coach Hafley didn’t do was bash other schools.
“He talked about Pittsburgh and nobody else, and that meant something to me. He really sold me on the reality.”
He was a grad assistant. He was sleeping on an air mattress in the office because he was homeless.
Hafley got a bit more attention again in a generic piece on finding overlooked diamonds-in-the-rough at Pitt, WVU and PSU.
We’re still getting good players from PA and OH, and now we’ve gotten some of the best out of NJ and VA, if we can throw FL into the mix that’d be a very good thing.
It seems that the major duty of the position coach is as much recruiting as it is teaching .. especially the young, energetic ones. Hopefully, the new WR coach (Norv’s boy) will do similar work as Hafley is doing.
Two questions that immediately come to mind:
1. Will there be an AM radio sister station? KDKA-AM would provide a nice signal boost to the broadcasts, but so far, there has been no indication that the AM station will have a direct relationship with the FM station. It would be kind of cool to be able to pick up Pitt night games over the air in far away places (similar to Pirates games in years gone by).
2. What talent will cover Pitt? I assume that Hillgrove, Groat and probably Fralic would be safe for game broadcasts, but what about things like the post-game? I’ve actually grown to like Linelli after the hoops games (he doesn’t get flustered by even the most stupid comments), but as Smizik points out, he is not likely to switch since he has a morning show on 970 now.
Smizik also mentioned that the Pirates might be interested in moving to 93.7 when their contract is up after 2011 (they have similar concerns as Pitt in regards to pre- and post-game coverage, particularly since 104.7 dropped Ellis Cannon). This of course could reintroduce the conflict that you mention; hopefully, Pitt jumping on board early gives the Panthers a competitive advantage that they did not enjoy several years ago.
Texas may be a good fit since it would provide a new, large TV market as well as real good FB recruiting area. But not sure that the Texan politicians would warm up to a UT move to the B10.
Hell, I might as well tell you all, I am the ‘source with Big Ten ties’…..
I’m very wary that Texas would want to leave the Big 12 – that is a very good and solid conference.
I just think there is a ton of rumors floating around about the B10 right now…
As for Texas, there are a lot of reasons why a move is not attractive, but it is known that they are not happy with the revenue streams in the Big 12, particularly from television. They may use this interest as leverage to force the Big 12 to address their revenue concerns. If the Big 12 does not or cannot, then their willingness to move may become more apparent.
Welcome to our world of ‘almost’. Nice to see he’s embracing the possibility of heartache with open arms.
Sorry…still bitter about that Cinci game. Clark’ll be a good addition to the fam.
HTscriptP