Just to get this straight.
Miami fired Randy Shannon back on November 28, following their loss to South Florida and began their coaching search.
Pitt fired Dave Wannstedt on December 7.
According to reports after the fact, Pitt zeroes in on Al Golden within a few days. Miami however, after nearly two weeks of interviews and searching finally had zeroed in on Golden and made an offer culminating in him taking the job there.
Pitt presumably moved to Dana Holgorsen as the next target. It turned out, however, that WVU’s AD had already been seeking out Holgorsen. Trying to meet and interview with the guy back in the beginning of December, and started working out a deal with Holgorsen last week. That resulted in the whole one year as OC before becoming the headcoach.
In both cases there are two things in common. The obvious is the timeline. Miami and WVU got at least a week head start on Pitt in their searches or pursuit of the coaches they wanted. So it would does make sense that they would make the moves before Pitt could.
In that respect, I hardly feel that Pitt was beaten by the schools for these candidates services. They were already well behind in the process, and had little chance.
The other factor. Money. Both programs hired coaches at a salary of roughly $2 million/year. That really does seem to be the going rate for a good young coach that has some success or is a major assistant.
I will admit that the latter is more of a concern to me than whether Pitt got those guys. (Especially since I was not particularly interested in Golden and while intrigued by Holgorsen, I hardly consider him a slam dunk as a head coach.)
The money is the thing. There’s no question that Pitt has had a history of being tight on the money they will pay a coach. Especially starting salary. (Basketball Coach Jamie Dixon didn’t start getting the bigger money until after winning at Pitt — and other programs really started pursuing him.) And I wonder if AD Pederson and Chancellor Nordenberg were/are prepared to actually commit that much right away to a new hire.
You would think they would have an idea. Turner Gill was hired last year by Kansas and had to pay him over $2 million per. But I’m just not sure. I’m a little disturbed to still be wondering that a week after firing Wannstedt.
It makes me wonder is that why Mike Haywood, the Miami (OH) head coach, is coming up with some frequency? Yet the Houston HC Kevin Sumlin hasn’t been mentioned after the initial speculation of who Pitt would be interested in pursuing. One makes $300K, and could probably be hired for $1 million to start. The other is already making $1 million in base salary, and would take $2 million to get.
It seems I’m not the only one wondering these things.
The best case scenario is if Pederson lands a great coach who happens to fit their high moral standards, but to do that they have to pay since everybody else wants those guys, too. If you want a Chris Petersen or a Bronco Mendenhall then pay for them. If you can’t pay for them then you are going to get a mediocre coach who represents the university well. Quality costs and it’s time to decide how bad you want it. If Pitt isn’t careful with this hire then it will be just be one more ride on the merry-go-round of mediocrity.
But maybe Pederson has targeted the man who he thinks is Pitt’s next Jamie Dixon. And maybe he has had him all along. Bottom line, despite cries from fans that Pederson has failed, he hasn’t yet. Maybe Pitt will come up with he money to get the perfect fit both on and off the field. But they better.
Now Dokish and I disagree about some of the potential coaching choices. I am actually interested in Haywood; and I have said from the start that Tom Bradley and Frank Cignetti should get legitimate consideration. I also want to see Kevin Sumlin’s name show up as well as a couple other. But the fact that no one is sure that Pitt is willing to make the up-front financial commitment is the greatest concern right now.
Pitt was concerned enough with the direction of the football program — and the likely plummeting ticket sales for 2011 — to end the Wannstedt era. They can’t afford to go cheap now.
1. Not a splash hire like a Leach, Pederson,DH, Bradley not even a young Stoops, Pelini, Austin that would be a name to recognize.
2. Losing more recruits!
3. Lost recruiting year only 11 left and soon to be less.
4. Pro-style Offense
5. Lack of lineman to run pro-style offense
5. Cheap hire will not pay assistants what other schools do.
6. Need time to re-build and make recruiting ties
7. Mediocrity for years
8. Bottom of Big East conf. behind TCU, WVU, Cin., S. Fla, Conn. on par with Rut., Syr.
9. 25,000 to 30,000 fans if lucky not even that for the Buff. and the other D2 teams we will have to play to get to 6 wins per year
10. Loss of millions to the athletic budget.
I am getting too old to put up with this. For those who said Pitt could not do better than DW, you were right!!
Good thing they have my $2K per year to save my basketball tickets otherwise there is no way. I can’t wait for the spin: up an coming coach, actually our first choice etc., etc., etc. We need Donald Trump (DH hair by the way) to say SP, YOUR FIRED!!!! Pitt fans deserve better!
Big East standings
TCU 11-1 BCS Bowl game
WVU 11-1 Bowl game
Cin 10-2 Bowl game
UCONN 9-3 Bowl game
Rutgers 8-4 Bowl game
Louis 8-4 Bowl game
Syracus 7-5 Bowl game
USF 7-5 Bowl game
Temple 7-5 Bowl game
The winner of the MC at 6-6 P I T T
How do you justify that???
4 lesser programs said Haywood wasnt good enough… but Steve the genius and his executive search firm know better??
I am so sick of this fucking football program and its incompetence
I’m going into hibernation for the winter. I honestly don’t know how to take this hire. I wish the guy well, and certainly want him to win for us…but if Stevie boy thinks this search process was a good “first step” to improving our National Image and getting the lunatic fringe back….he’s effin kidding himself.
I guess this was the first time I really swallowed the pill that the top brass is very much content with being a basketball school. Or, we are simply not a good gig for anyone of merit (which is really sad). I don’t know….
Pitt being Pitt.
Ugh.
Please, you guys would be ecstatic if Paterno was your coach. At least you’d have a fan base. The bunch on this board needs to learn a bit about loyalty.
its not disloyal to think your AD is a moron and the pro set offense nobody coach you hired is a disaster… especially when its true
anybody have a commit update? Losing Belton do WVU would be so poetic… unreal
Also, I see a lot of posts from names who NEVER post that are suddenly experts on how this “search” was conducted.
One of the things that has been questioned by many but never really explained by anyone was the use of a search firm. First, this is not your Snelling & Snelling type of search firm. It’s likely an executive search firm that specializes in coaching searches. The reason those are used by high profile organizations is more about SECRECY and SPIN CONTROL than it is about identifying the right candidate. The executive search firm is generally used to reach out to a target list of already-employed candidates to gauge interest without either their current employer or the media finding out about it. This saves face for both the candidates and the hiring organization.
With that in mind, we’ll never know how many current coaches were actually contacted about the Pitt job. Guys like Peterson, Sumlin, Mendenhal, etc. may have been queried but had no interest. Again, we’ll never know, because that’s how the search firm earns its money in this case.
All the fans on this board that complain about the 1/2 empty stadium – maybe Pitt would not be forced to make a conservative, cheap approach to coaching if you all came out to the games regardless. PSU seems to have no issue with that, they have a dedicated alumni base and pride. That is something I don’t readily see in many Pitt alum. All you ever hear from our alum it seems are excuses – the opponent stinks, the coach sucks, there are no places to park, waaaa waaa waaa. If you would SUPPORT your school through THICK and THIN then maybe the administration would take its alumni base more seriously, which I do concede the administration needs to do a MUCH better job of.
It starts with you – those of us that have given the university our heart, soul, and student loan payments for many years to come.
Lets all stop pretending that Pitt is some great football program that had their pick of any coach. Nobody here has any insider knowledge as to whom may have been contacted.
By the way, lets take a look at the credentials of the two coaches coaching for the national title this year:
Chip Kelly: Prior to being hired at Oregon
DC 1 year at Johns Hopkins
Position Coach: 4 years at New Hampshire
OC 1 year at New Hampshire
No head coaching experience or any experience in a BCS conference.
Gene Chizik: Prior to being hired at Auburn
1992-1997: Position coach at Stephen F Austin (by the way I have never heard of this school???)
1998-2001: DC at Central Florida
2002-2004: DC at Auburn
2005-2006: co DC at Texas
2007-2008: head coach at Iowa State
Not exactly stellar resumes…..
1. Wanny was let go due to the off field incidents. Especially since they came one after the other in the matter of a week or so. Things should have been buttoned down after the first incident. We were even told that they would be. Then a redshirt has a serious criminal charge.
2. Perderson had no idea who he wanted to hire other than he had to be someone whom projected a good image. Strict and energetic. Evidence…Al Golden interview.
3. Pederson saw an oppurtunity to force WVU’s hand. Evidence.. Stewart had no idea of the plans. Oliver Lucks plan was to wait till after the season and hire Holgronson. What other HC jobs was Holgorson being considered for? None.. The Pgh media and blogs jumped all over the idea that he was what we needed. So did I.
4. Pederson wants his imprint on this program.. Period. What other way does an AD have to proove his worth. After all even though Callahan was a failure. The Offensive system now at Nebraska is vastly different than before his arrival. Callahan was the transition to modern offense. The kind that is playing in the BCS championship this year. Oregon and Auburn… both schools with relatively new HC’s
5. Nothing to be ashamed of with a Notre Dame degree.. must be intelligent. CEO type as described by others in his management of the team.
6. Confidence: something that DW lacked. the word was, going into the Connecticut game, that the team felt the pressure of being at the top of the conference and knew that it was their to lose. DW admitted it himself. Haywood had his team extremelly confident going into a Championship game. Their players almost all knew that they could win that game.
In closing: I probably would have made the same selection. Time will tell if he is right for the job. But by all indications he should be.
Hail to PITT.
Now lets focus on the staff!
thats pretty loyal in my eyes
1. Kelly was an offensive guru… just like WVU’s hire… NOT HARD TO FIGURE OUT WHERE COLLEGE FB IS GOING!!! (see quote below)
2. Chizik paid for the best pro athletes… its Auburn hell get 5 4 stars every year no matter what… and he doesnt have the ability to coach them over the top, so he paid up for Newton etc… i dont find the auburn job relevant to this argument
we should have hired a SYSTEM coach like Dana or Chip Kelly!!!!
Kelly was promoted to offensive coordinator at New Hampshire (1999–2006). The Wildcats’ offenses averaged better than 400 yards of total offense in seven of his eight seasons and more than 30 points per game in his final four seasons.
In 2004, the school broke 29 offensive school records; compiling 5,446 yards of total offense and scoring 40 or more points in seven games. Their best offensive output was in 2005 when the Wildcats finished second nationally in total offense (493.5 ypg), third in scoring (41.7 ppg) and fifth in passing (300.1 ypg). They completed the season with an 11–2 record. Kelly was named the College Assistant Coach of the Year by the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston and selected as “one of college football’s hottest coaches” by American Football Monthly.
then what happened haha
1.) Kelly was an offensive guru at NEW HAMPSHIRE!
He spent 15 years there. If he was such an obvious genius why did it take so long to get a shot at coaching in a BCS conference?
2.) Coaching 4 and 5 start recruits guarantees nothing. Notre Dame gets 4 and 5 star recruits every year too. They havent won a title in over two decades. OK, maybe Auburn is involved in some shady recruiting….You dont think Alabama, LSU, and half of the others are involved in the same sh!t?. The fact is Chizik had a tremendous season in the toughest conference ever. And he did it under a ton of pressure from people that never wanted him hired in the first place. His resume doesnt exactly scream “sure thing” as a head coach.
All I am saying is many successful coaches have come from small programs and have done quite well. Haywood deserves a chance.
As for a system coach, the system is only as good as the players and coaches running it. Every system is designed to work, it only fails when coaches fail to teach it and players fail to execute it.
Quite frankly, Haywood hasn’t coached one game yet so who knows exactly what system he plans to implement or what coordinators he plans to hire.
DW ran a pro offense and had it not been for stupid mistakes we should have played in two BCS games. You CAN win with a pro offense.
And, many have said the move by Weis was more of him being fearful of being fired than any failure on Haywood’s part. Like Wanny, Weis was a control freak who couldn’t get out of his own way. That makes a good coordinator and a lousy head coach as you know. From what I’ve read of Haywood, he’s a CEO-type who leaves the minutia to his assistants.
