Some simple reality. Even before the rumors of Tom Bradley have started heating up, the next coach at Pitt will not be Rich Rodriguez or Mike Leach. Period. If you are/were holding out hope (Leach) or stressing at the possibility (Rodriguez), you shouldn’t.
Dennis Dodd’s laughable argument in favor of DickRod is the same thing that everyone who backs Leach says. He wins. He plays exciting offense. They’ll bring sizzle and reinvigorate the fanbase. Uh-huh. That’s fine if being the head coach at a program was just coaching (and recruiting). If this was the NFL.
It’s more than that. It is about selling the program. Being the face of the program. It is about dealing with boosters, trustees, and the people above you. It’s about being willing to work with others. And most of all, it is about trust.
Both Leach and Rodriguez lack that trust. Every coach has to have arrogance. It is natural. The issue is how you manage it. Both Leach and Rodriguez have shown that they see themselves as bigger than the programs. More damaging to their chances with Pitt — they are willing to make demands and complaints in the media.
While at WVU, Rodriguez pushed hard for a lot of upgrades of the facilities, recruiting budget, and for his assistants’ salaries. These were necessary for WVU to compete, but Rodriguez also made his complaints known in the press. He didn’t just push behind the scenes he made sure the public knew his complaints. He made it a battle of him against the athletic department. His on-the-field success and popularity gave him the edge. But even then, it still took a rich booster or two that Rodriguez had on his side to get the money and promises to make things happen.
Leach did similar things, but in a way it was worse. He did it with his own contract. He wanted raises, he made sure everyone knew it. He made no secret of pursuing/interviewing for plenty of other jobs.
In both places, they had plenty of public support behind them because they won. It created more conflict and reached a point where athletic departments
Rodriguez never pulled the public stuff at Michigan. But that was because that job was bigger than him. More germane, he never put himself in a position (i.e., winning) to do anything like that.
If there is one thing that has been very obvious about Chancellor Nordenberg at Pitt is that he does not like it when things get out in the media. It is about trust and working quietly behind the scenes. Dave Wannstedt was willing to do that. Coach Jamie Dixon does that.
It is a trust issue. It is okay to disagree. To fight over things. But the one big rule appears to be not to air out the dirty laundry. Whether directly or by obvious proxies.
If you are Chancellor Nordenberg or whoever is AD after Pederson is fired, you just can’t trust a Leach or Rodriguez not to make any disagreement a battle and PR mess. Nordenberg, especially, believes in a united public front for Pitt (in Parcellian coaching terms, One Voice). Showing that departments, public faces of the University work together and have good relationships. Having disputes and public airings, is just not in the cards.
Especially since you know both Leach and Rodriguez have battled over money and expenditures in the past. Pitt just can’t/won’t overspend.
There are plenty of other issues and baggage with both that hurt them with Pitt. The trust and money, though, are the biggest.
Gramham or KC Keeler make the most sense for Pitt and their budget concerns.
Both have better resumes then Haywood which is why his hiring made no sense in the first place and makes SP look all the worse for not paying attention to red flags that were out there about Haywood.
Once Haywood’s history becomes public, and it will if there is a trial, it will make Steve look even worse. Yes Steve P can look worse then he does now.
Frankly the Bradley hire screams of caving into pressure.
Despite what the post says, Pitt’s wish list should be:
1. Leach, 2. Graham 3. Johnny Majors III (I KID!).
Outside of Graham and Leach, there aren’t any exciting hires. Bradley will be a slight upgrade over Wanny and with the improvements of WVU, The Ville, and Cuse plus adding TCU, that means more middle of the road finishes for Pitt.
At this point, I am hoping that Bradley comes in and stabilizes this program. Even if he doesn’t pan out- at this point, as long as we can get someone to get in here and keep the talent coming in, Pitt will be just fine in the long run. And he may turn out to be an excellent head coach who finally does elevate the program.
I would love to hear the new coach in the booth at the Compass Bowl inject passion and excitement to a very demoralized fan base, donors, recruits.
As opposed to hearing how this program is in tatters for the next 3 hours and how they dumped on a Head Coach who was a “Pitt” man.
DaveD
See my comment above yours. My thoughts are they need to do it before. I state for the obvious reasons but the new staff needs to be assembled an in place yesterday to recover/salvage some of the recruiting class that was lost because of this fiasco.
DaveD
I agree 100%, sooner the better so as to salvage anything from this years class. Like to hear something by Friday at the latest.
If Pitt does the dumb thing again we will see Mark Myers transfer out immediately.
Pitt would be left with Tino’s 5ft 11″ body, a weak arm and no accuracy. Pitt could very well drop to the bottom of The Big East making us the very worst program anywhere. Myers would never stay because Daddy Sal is not going to sit little Tino down!!
The list put forth by espn as re’d above by Dan35 is fairly good except for Sunseri. Please – NO!
I agree with druc — you can’t have it both ways. RichRod and Leach went public because they felt they needed resources to compete and be a winning program. I’m sure Wannstedt would love to have the money that other schools throw at football, but he kept it private as you say. Also, note how Jamie Dixon has extorted money from the administration in order to avoid embarrassment of having the school’s best hoops coach jump to the numerous Pac-10 schools that came knocking and offered more money.
Simply put, Pitt is cheap. And (as I’ve said before), what is the point of firing a decent coach (8 or 9 wins a year) who is a good face of the program and works for a hometown discount (near bottom of conference in salary), if the administration has absolutely no interest in competing with the tier of schools with whom Pitt aspires to join? Pitt stumbled into Jamie Dixon and a winning program because he was cheap. The school has no interest in paying the money for a great football coach. And if the fans, judging by the comments here, demand BCS bowls every year, then we are all going to be disappointed until we get our own Phil Knight. The fact that we are struggling to find anyone interested in the position should be a reality check for us that our present expectations are too high.
Of course not.
So if Bradley is hired, rest assured that Pederson didn’t make the call. He wants a Jamie Dixon clone and he needs a splash to save face. Bradley is neither of the those things. Expect Pederson to be gone in a month if Bradley’s the coach.
Just like how it would’ve been wise to have interviewed Bradley the first time around to placate a small but loud group of supporters (rumored to be the case) within the Pitt network (and out of it — the Rooneys).
DaveD
If I am reading your post correctly and you think the Bradley interview is just face painting, who do you think are the serious candidates?
At this point it most likely will be Bradley, since he has probably the best reputation, at least in WPA (where 99% of Pitt supporters are anyway), can recruit in the ever-dwindling important WPIAL, and is a local boy. Will he be the best coach? Of what is still around and likely for Pitt to obtain & pay for, probably. A renewed series with PSU (with all the ticket sales, merch, etc) would sure help pay back all the money they are wasting paying 2 coaches already….
Sunshine and rainbows will follow…
No that wasn’t what I was suggesting. I am not in the know to even suggest that Sunseri is window dressing, but I do know that not all interviews are created equal and I was using that as an example.
I think Bradley is a serious contender now, but if he would’ve gotten an interview the first go around with Pedey…it would’ve just been ceremonial.
I just realize that the boosters do carry weight in these things…and if there is a loud contingent screaming for Sunseri, then they at the least need to feed the beast.
that is all I am suggesting…
DaveD
I am firmly against Sal as our head coach.
Agreed, interview Sal to make the alum and donors all warm and fuzzy, but hire Bradley or Cryst (if he isn’t already at Texas). If they want Cryst, they have to act now, as I said, he is on Texas’s short list for the open OC position there.
Agreed. Which is why Leach and RichRod are the wrong choices.
But this is also why Pitt is mediocre. Pitt overplays this at the expense of being a prominent, exciting program. Then they whine about the way the community ignores them. We’re not talking about hiring Satan here. We’re talking about Pitt backing off just a bit in order to change the program and put asses in the seats.
Surely there’s a coach whose a bit of both. One that Pitt could actually get. Graham seems likely. Sumlin probably would have been. Malzhan, but they probably can’t pay him. Holgorsen, who didn’t seem to be a Leach or RichRod to begin with, and who could have been made painfully aware of what Pitt expects from the get-go.
Tom Bradley seems like a great guy, decent DC, but average. Without knowing more about him, he sounds a bit like Foge. Maybe Bradley will be OK, if he brings in the right coordinators and doesn’t stifle them, like Wanny did.
But at this point Pitt is in danger of pulling the covers over their head and going the safe route. That’s exactly what we’ve been doing ever since Majors left. The first time.
If you want to be a power, sometimes you gotta take a chance. Like 3rd down at Utah, Pitt doesn’t want to take the chance. I guess, when there’s virtually no monetary difference to Pitt between the Beef O’Compass Bowl and the Orange Bowl, and when half the D-1 teams get a nice payday for going 6-6, why bother?
“Big Ben’s big secret gets out, but who is she?”
Wow, for a minute there…
Yes, my heartbeat is returning to normal now.
Good bye Myers!
You’re friends are talking up a girl who’s a 6. After a drink or two, she’s ready to go home with you. You hold off in hopes of finding a 7 or an 8. While it’s past closing time and you’re waiting for your tab, you spot a one night stand from 20 years ago- who’s a solid 3.
I hope Nordy isn’t in to ugly chicks.
And Chris, you’re probably correct in saying Myers is history…unless Sal makes it a point right away that all positions are open.
What Sal has going for him in that regard is guess who didn’t end up at Alaabama?
Just wish we had some sports reporters and commentators that knew what the hell they were talking about. The only two that rate are Zeise and Cooke…..you go to TV and none of those guys know college football…the worst being Jory Rand and Rich Walsh….John Meyer shows alot of promise….
PPD, great analogy…a true story to follow….
I had just finished a sales meeting in NYC at the Athletic Club and was partying hard with fellow reps when in comes Joe Namath.He says hello to each one of us (about 5) and proceeds to buy many women, many drinks. I counted a 2-8’s, 3-6’s and a 4. An hour later he is going out the door with the 4 and we all stood in amazement as she was the last one left at the bar and he was taking a 4 home with him…Joe f’n Namath. Joe walked out the door, turned around and came back to us and said….”guys, it’s 3O Clock in the morning and Miss America ain’t comin in!”
Pitt fans…it’s 3 O’clock in the morning, and Miss America ain’t comin in.Hire Bradley please!!
LMAO>>..that was a classic
The Beef O’Compass Bowl
In times like these all laughs are extremely gratifying.
Beautifully put.
Comment by ECH 01.05.11 @ 1:48 pm<<
So it's OK to come on here and state that "not all of Bradley's dealings with women have been above board?"
And you're "fairly certain" PSU has the ability to sweep such indiscretions under the rug.
But "as far as you're aware" he hasn't done anything to the extent that Haywood did.
WOW! Way to assassinate someone's character with unsubstantiated bullsh*t on this board. ECH, you're a horrible person. At least I'm fairly certain. I mean as far as I'm aware.
