Well, new Coach Mike Haywood is trying to work while the whole situation remains weird.
While Haywood is working hard to get off to a running start on recruiting, he has had some challenges. Pitt (7-5) is playing in the BBVA Compass Bowl against Kentucky (6-6) on Jan. 8, which means Wannstedt and his staff are still working at least through that day. Haywood and Elias, who came to Pitt with Haywood from Miami (Ohio), had to get special waivers from the NCAA to be able to begin recruiting for Pitt because of limits on the number of full-time coaches permitted on a staff.
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Haywood has not gone to the office until the evening and has worked into the early hours of the morning because he wants the players to understand it is still Wannstedt’s team until after the bowl game. He also wants to make sure the Panthers have every opportunity to end things on a positive note with a win against Kentucky.“It is really important for me and for everyone, really, to give coach Wannstedt the respect which he deserves for the job he’s done,” Haywood said. “I never had the opportunity to meet him before, but now I’ve had two chances to sit down and talk with him and I even got a chance to sit back and watch a practice.
“Coach was really open and forthcoming. I wanted to find out his perspective on things, on the program, on what we need to do in recruiting, on who the key people are around the state — all of those things, and he was really open with information and extremely helpful.”
Haywood seems to be going above and beyond to show Coach Wannstedt respect. That will go a ways towards soothing some of the likely divisions in the locker room.
In the article Coach Haywood has also said the right things about recruiting and building relationships.
LaSala has been the backbone of the program’s administrative side for nearly 15 years. Junko, a former coach, is one of the most respected names in and around the Pitt program and among WPIAL coaches, and he has assisted in introducing Haywood to them and others.
Haywood said the three, along with his assistant head coach Bill Elias, are planning to have Pitt’s coaches visit communities throughout the state to build on the relationships former coach Dave Wannstedt established in his six years.
“We’re going to have the camps and have the prospects come on campus for visits for things like basketball games and other events,” Haywood said. “But I think it is really important that we go out and meet people, let them know who we are and what we stand for. Coach Junko and coach Elias and I have already started to form a plan to have three satellite camps — offsite camps or clinics — around the state, to kids who may not be able to afford to come to Pitt for our camps and [to give] their coaches a chance to meet us, to see how we operate.
“I think it will be very productive and it is very important for people to become familiar with our coaches, with how they coach, the things they teach. I’m really looking forward to that.”
One of the best things Coach Wannstedt did do at Pitt was work very hard at building connections across the state. You can mock his speech patterns and other things about him, but he always comes across as approachable and interested in listening to what you have to say. Those qualities helped build relationships across the state with alumni and high school coaches. Coach Haywood seems eager to build on that.
Still more than a week before the Apathy Bowl and then the process putting Haywood’s staff and actions under the microscope. Where you can expect every phrased parsed and reactions to them will be typically extreme — declaring disaster at every turn or that all will be unicorns and rainbows.
Read an espn.com article about Stanford’s turnaround today, saw some of these similar strains– the team didn’t “react well” to Walt Harris’ disciplinarian approach and needed new “energy.”
Otherwise, I think Haywood will run a successful program.
Ditto, ditto, ditto.
Of course, all this speculation means very little … but it would make us feel better if they are able to put togther a decent recruiting class. Plus, the cupboard isn’t exactly bare so I, for one, am looking forward to a pretty quick upgrade.
Dave’s record 42–31
Mike’s record 10–15
So what college head football Experience is everyone refering to? If you have been a PITT fan long enough pay your respects to the dead guy in the room and move on.
Besides, if the team wins then ticket sales (and the all-important BUZZ) will follow.
Consisten winning is the only way to create sustained fan interest and better recruiting, no matter how famous the coach is prior to taking the job.
So low-profile I forgot how to spell it!
Unless he finds some quality juco O-linemen, we could have the same problem running the ball and of course throwing the ball. If you can’t run, you have to have a great QB, we don’t as of yet.(I mean maybe Myers is that guy)
I see another trip to a nowhere bowl at the most.
Only because the BigEasy is so weak. Hey the conf. did beat a 7-5 big 12 team and a team from c-usa so maybe things are looking up for the conf. Sure.
So maybe………
Come on, can everyone drop the irrational man-crush on Holgorsen already? That he agreed to that goofy setup in Morgantown doesn’t speak well of him, and is a recipe for disaster for those guys this year.
Bowling Green Panther….sure
Rolls eyes
Bingo! I’ll modify one point – PITT wants to be competitive but not at the expense of the University’s reputation.
Thus if the Pitt football team actually shows up to play in their upcoming bowl game you receive $1.05234 for every dollar you “invest.”
Anyway, Happy New Year to all.
Could you give me the mega millions winning numbers for todays jackpot since you can predict the future!
Haywood also appears to be in a less competitive conference (although one can never tell) than in 05.
While there is no doubt an adjustment time necessary to implement a new system, I expect Pitt to challenge for the BE championship …. and probably Haywood will not have the expectatio that Wanny had this year …. being rated No. 1 by te foolish media despite having 11 returning starters (least in the BE)and many question marks, while WVU has 18 returning starters and UConn had 17.
— Napoleon Bonaparte
Be careful out there tonight. It’s amateur night.
as for the future, enough with the hyperbole from both sides of the argument. no one knows what success or failure lies ahead for Coach Haywood. what we do know is Wanny had 6 years, never won an outright conference championship, never went to a bcs game, went to only 2 bowl games going 1-1, and had a less than mediocre 4-8 record against ranked opponents. he’s gone. haywood is here. get over it.
Here is my New Year resolution
1) Same as the last 10 years (this time I will make them work at least until Feb 1)
2) Forget about 2010. Time to look forward to the NEW PITT Panther football team with a NEW attitude (Unfortunately this will not begin until Jan 9th since they the OLD team and coaches play on Jan 8th. But hey who said Jan 1 was a hard date for New Year Resolutions)
3) Think BIG real BIG about PITT Basketball. FINAL FOUR BABY!!!!! The BE Tournament Championship is a gimmie. Time to jump the hurdle of the Sweet 16
4) Keeping my football season tickets (did anyone really think that I was going to give up those great seats over a little spilled milk? Those guys next to me have been eyeing my seats for years (even sat in them a few times when I was late))
5) Having FUN with PITT Athletics. Relax. Chills. We havent won a national championship in football since 1976 or a heisman since 1975. Thats 35 years folks. In my life time I have seen the following Championships – Steeler 6 Super Bowls (75,76,79,80,06,09) Pirates 2 World Series (71,79), Pens 2 Stanley Cups (91,92), PITT Football National Championship (76), Heisman (75), Pitt Basketball BE Championship 03,08(the first one felt like winning the NCAA tournament!)
Hey 11 National Championships, 1 National award, and 2 BE Basketball Championships (almost as coveated as the NCAA trophy – 2nd in line) isnt bad. So I am going into 2011 feeling pretty good about life. Maybe we are all just a little to spoiled about winning.
Time to chill and go with the flow. Less Pressure for sure. Living in Atlanta puts it all in perspective. (Championships: Falcons – none, Thrashers – none, Hawks – none, Braves – 95, Gtech football 90, Dawgs football – 80)
Here’s to watching more games like that in 2011, and on.
“In my opinion they do not care about football as much as we think. I think they really want to be competitive but more importantly have the kids just stay out of the news and trouble.”
I see it that way… Stay out of trouble and have a disciplined leader #1. If we win that is fine also but it isn’t the priority.
Are you serious? Are you 7 years old and don’t remember that he turned Pitt athletics around once already. He hired Ben Howland, a no name basketball coach from a no name school and a no name conference and looked what happened. He hired Walt Harris and look what he did for Pitt football. I know Pitt fans love to hate Harris, but he was 10 times better than Wanny and look at Pitt’s record under him, the big wins under him and the players that have gone on to the pro’s under him.
Lets get a grip and recognize Pederson’s for what he has done at Pitt.
Pederson was hired to do his job. Part of that is hiring good coaches. The man did what he was hired to do. So Howland was a great find, Dixon is a doing well. (Would love to see them actually make the final four) but the Wanny hire and this Haywood hire (Yes it is early) are absurd. I believe in Diamonds in the Rough, but this guys track record as an assistant is terrible. Hid HC experience in at a MAC Program and he has a losing record at that. SO Pederson has done some good and a lot of bad. Ask Nebraska what they think of him.
I think you are spot on with this statement. Everyone seems to feel that the Wanny firing had to do with the lack of winning on the field.
I think two things that lead me to believe that this was not the case are the following:
1> Ziese after the fact started to “hear” that discplinary/academic issues under Wanny were starting to increase.
In prior postings during the season in which Ziese would state that Wanny isn’t going anywhere it always had to do with he is doing the non-football stuff very well and Mark Nordenberg likes him and values those non-football items (going to class, academics, etc., etc.)
2> Listen again to Mike Haywood’s first press conference. The main theme or topic if you will, was discipline. It wasn’t winning a National Championship, it wasn’t implementing an effective scheme…it was discipline.
I don’t think the majority of fans felt the discipline issue was the root of the Wins/Losses.
To me that is extremely indicative of what happened with Wanny. This wasn’t primarily about football. Wanny started sliding on the non-football stuff and lost Nordy’s confidence and that in the end cooked his proverbial goose.
IMHO…
DaveD
when I heard it, I was a bit perplexed…it didn’t match up to whatI thought were the expectations of bringing a winner to Pitt football.
It just did not sync up to what I expected to hear. I remakred to my brother the other day (also a Pitt alum) that I felt the press conference was more for Nordy than for the season ticket holders/fans.
DaveD
Urban Meyer won 2 national titles at UF and there was no discipline issue even though 27 UF players were arrested in the short time he was there.
Mark Mangino was a YouTube sensation when he grabbed a player who got a celebration penalty by the facemask and yanked it while spewing the F word at least a half dozen times. That year Kansas won the Orange Bowl and Mangino was widely applauded for bringing discipline to KU. A few years laer he was outside looking in after a 6-6 season, and his methods were now deemed as outmoded.
Ah the hypocrisy … you win big, and there is no disicipline problem …it is as simple as that.
