Sorry. After the last several days of keeping near/glued to a computer “just in case…” I have been in and out trying to catch up on things in the outside world.
The introductory press conference is scheduled for 3:30 pm. You can watch it for free via Pitt’s All-Access streaming video, here.
Giddyup!!
On deciding to come to PITT
“No brainer for us to come to PITT”
healing the wounds
“I will work with a passion to earn this trust”
“I said to the players today…The honor and respect that I have for dave wannstedt”
“This university this program is bigger than one person”
“I am not a finger pointer. I am a thumb pointer. I look at me”
Tino Sunseri
“My first thing when I get off the phone is to go look at tape”
“We we come in here the first thing we we will adapt what we are doing to our QB)”
“We like QB’s that can hurt em with their legs but we want a slinger”
“We adapt what we are doing to his skills and talents”
“This is Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and you run the football”
“what we bring is a no huddle offense…a run play action pass team”
Lewis, Baldwin, Hynosky
“I sure hope that I get an opportunity to talk to them”
“Baldwin would be unbelievable”
Recruiting
“I grew up on the east side of Dallas… you knew who was full of it and you knew who wasnt”
Defense – (Tulsa finished 120’s of 130 in NCAA in total defense)
“too many people look at stats”
Multipe jobs in Grahams career
“This has been my dream to be in the BCS and a place like PITT”
“I am committed to be here”
“I made a big committment to be here”
“I was at Tulsa for 3.5 year, at Rice for one, and back to Tulsa. I was moving to a different level”
“my goal is to be at a place where you can win a national championship”
“See where I am at in 4 years. (corrects himself) See where I am at in 5 years”
My observation…
He wants to win. He is a good hire and will bring high energy to PITT. However he does appear to be impatient and will jump if he doesnt believe that he can win a national championship. My bet is that he will be gone in 4 years or less as this is a stepping stone.
He didnt throw Sunseri under the bus but I just don’t see how he stays with Sunseri. he talked about speed and accuracy in a QB. Two things that Sunseri doesnt have (at least at this point). He did however say that he would adapt to the QB. If this is true then we are screwed. My guess is tha Calvin Magee will ditch Tino ASAP.
He really dodge the question regarding the fact that his defense at Tulsa was 120th out of 130 in NCAA. The questiioner ask it in the context of him bringing his defensive guys with him from Tulsa. This is going to be the achilles heal for Graham. “High Octane” offense but soft defense. He didnt have an answer and he isn’t bringing the tools to make the defense better. This is going to be a “we scored more points type situation” Why didnt he bring in Teryl Austin as DC?
he is going to devote considerable time to Hynosky, Lewis, and Baldwin. It will not work but it is worth the try. Hynoski is the most likely to stay but Lewis is too loyal to the past coaches and Baldwin will not stay unless you can prove to him that the Luck kid is transferring from Stanford to PITT today.
Optimistic? Yes. Buying my tickets for the BCS game? Not just yet!
I am hopeful, but reserving judgement.
My answer to your question is “no we don’t”.
Smiley is the one who couldn’t come down from his perch to talk with the current players and the coaches after the Wanny debacle. Smiley is also the one who allowed DW to string out his decision. Smiley is also the one who was so proud of his coach with a record ( and future WWE star).
I was strongly for Bradley; I do like the initial energy from Graham. Would love to see him keep Hyno and Dion – would speak volumes to everyone if he could.
I wish DW and all the coaches well, they have done a good job building the program but unfortunately we needed some new energy (I think).
I also would love to see an endorsment from Iron Mike.
Thanks to all putting up with my rants, SP still drives me crazy.
I hope my low points of how I felt after 72-0 (OSU) and after this year’s Miami game.
Hail to Pitt.
I listened to Coach Graham’s introductory press conference on 93.7 this afternoon and I must say that he pressed all the right buttons and he made me forget about the Pens’ disgusting loss.
I think Lewis, Hynoski and Baldwin will leave anyway but Graham certainly has a lot of enthusiasm for the job and I am excited – and I wanted Tom Bradley to get the job.
Wanny – don’t go to Cleveland. Cleveland is where the sport of football goes to die.
Cam Saddler on the Fan
“we bought right into it right away”
“this is a great day at PITT”
“I am really excited. It is a great day to be a panthers”
Ray Graham
“I felt as though it came from the heart”
“we are ready to get this thing going. I am fired up!”
“what ever it takes to win we are going to do it”
“Im ready to go work out right now”
Have you been confused in all of this?
Graham “we tried to stay focused”
Sounds like the PITT players have already bought into what Graham is saying (at least Saddler and Ray Graham). Maybe Graham is more excited to know that Lewis is leaving and he is now the man. Just saying…
Clay’s career stats link to sports.espn.go.com
Hynoski’s career stats link to sports.espn.go.com
Food for thought
A lot of catches for a FB. Hynoski would be a good fit. I bet he changes his mind. Who is our backup? Mike?
Hail to Pitt!
Never really bought into some commenter’s remarks on how slimy this guy was and that he was just out for the money only really relying on what I saw on national TV versus ND and Hawaii. Didn’t like to fact he ran up the score on UH. Never heard him speak before either. He may be gone in 3-5 years but my how things change once you hear a guy speak from the heart. It’s almost like the whole Haywood hire was just a really bad dream.
I have a feeling all those pledging not to renew their season tickets next year are reconsidering that idea right now.
I think he’s gone, he’s done with his undergrad degree in April. It’s been said/evaluated that it won’t affect his draft stock much at all by staying and I think he’ll surprise everyone what round he goes in the draft. There are a number of NFL teams who could use a throw-back FB to make their offenses more effective.
Pederson took to long. Had he hired Graham to begin with, Dion and Henry may have been convinced to stay.
I think Dion may be the one Graham has a shot at retaining.
Fortunately for Pitt whatever happened, happened.
Good luck coach.
My biggest concern is that he brought old furniture to a new house. DC Keith Patterson defense at Tulsa was ranked 120th of 130 teams. Not good. Not good at all.
Been listening to Pitt Sports talk all night making the point he will have NO grace period. This is not a coach who has asked for or been given any “quarter”. He plans on winning early and a lot and I think he will.
The single mose important thing he said is “I am a teacher and a good one….my coaches are teachers”. I think high school sports have become void of the coaches being teachers. Ditto colleges. Really like this guy and prepared to support him no matter what. Just sent off a check to Pitt and my wife and I are going to buy season tickets this week. Will buy 2 more if they fire Pederson.
Been listening to Pitt Sports talk all night making the point he will have NO grace period. This is not a coach who has asked for or been given any “quarter”. He plans on winning early and a lot and I think he will.
The single mose important thing he said is “I am a teacher and a good one….my coaches are teachers”. I think high school sports have become void of the coaches being teachers. Ditto colleges. Really like this guy and prepared to support him no matter what. Just sent off a check to Pitt and my wife and I are going to buy season tickets this week. Will buy 2 more if they fire Pederson.
Thanks for the link. A VERY impressive guy. I’m not sure i get “this is how Posvar started” though?
Graham for Chancellor? jk
Hyno should reconsider, I remember a Full Back at WVU (Owen Schmitt) that was a bulldozer for Calvin McGee.
The thing I liked the most is that Coach G says he will mold the system to fit the players. That and he sounds like a maniac (in a good way)!
Pederson may have redeemed himself. Time will tell.
He’s going to have to strap a sidewinder missile to Sunseri’s ass to get that to happen….
Really have enjoyed the stories about past glories (and agonies) of Pitt football. Gives a nice perspective on things.
A report (the Fisher Report) wss completed after Dennis OConnor left and lets just say it didnt speak well of the the direction of the university.
“The panel, led by psychologist James L. Fisher, wrote that “Nearly everyone agrees that Pitt’s public relations have been miserable over the past few years. Of course, not even Svengali could put a positive spin on some of the public relations disasters that have afflicted the University recently.” The so-called “Fisher Report” called on Pitt’s administration to embark on a “carefully considered campaign to market Pitt effectively” and improve relations with potential benefactors, politicians and business persons, the local community and the news media.”
Mark Nordenberg has been very very good for PITT and has made it a top flight university on every level academically. His vision rivals that of Wesley Posvar whom took PITT from a fully private institution strugglying for survival to a regional and national state affiliated institution. Mark Nordenberg made PITT internationally renown in many area.
Coach Graham reminds of me of a high octane Jackie Sherril, even sounds a little like him. Now we just have to get him into the yellow blazer and tie.
Did someone(s) suggest Graham will have a tough time recruiting…..yeah right….LMAO
Hail to Pitt !
I believe that the take charge/positive attitude of Graham will take hold and that our future will be very bright. The Big East is going to become a strong Conference again with TCU, an aggressive
WVU and up and coming South Florida and Syracuse.
Pitt can very well become the team to give TCU a run for their money!!
Least known for care and feeding of Pitt athletics.
There is a good, level-headed assessment of his press conference at Cardiac Hill:
Second – Yay, we have a coach. Now what do we have? With the lofty ideas Graham is tossing around I doubt that Wanny’s pro-style with decent athletes is enough to pull it off. The true test of for Graham Cracker is maintaining for a couple seasons until he can get some recruits. Beat WVU every year and you can stay forever.
HTP
I am not sold at all after the press conference and what is going to happen. I still predict 8-4 at best next year and 8-4 the following 2 years at best. I hope I’m wrong and I know a lot of you will be on me for my post.
I think the ship will be righted in another 4-5 years with a different coach…. I looked at his resume and those of his coaches. I still think the offense will be better, and the “d” worse. You can’t win every game 45-41…. It doesn’t work in the game of college football no matter how hard you try. It will be an exciting brand of football to the extent that the offense will score a lot of points, but frustration will set in when there giving up 5-6 touchdowns a game.
Yes, I am a huge Pitt fan and want to be optimistic, but I just can’t get over the feeling of this not being the right move.
I’ve been extremely worried about the defense issues all along, but after hearing him describe a 3-4, I feel much better. I think our outside pass rushers are athletic enough to thrive at OLB. Maybe he can bring in Silverback for some tips
HAIL TO PITT!!!!
The Cardiac Hill recap misinterpreted some things and relied on the same tired tropes people repeated over and over and over in defense of Bradley.
Snake oil salesman? The guy gets results, his players love him, and he cares. What more do you want? If he moves on to a bigger job, that means he improved our program in his time here, and it means we accomplished something to be proud of.
One point about “low” ranked defenses: in offenses like Grahams’, the defense can be on the field a lot. So measuring how good defenses in terms of yards allowed per game or points allowed per game isn’t accurate in my view. I think more accurate stats are yards per play or points per possession. The Patriots are viewed this year as susceptible to the pass, but isn’t that because their opponents are always playing catch up? (Not that I’m comfortable defending them in any way) Stats may not lie, but often it is the job of many to spin them in a way that ultimately is misleading and shortsided.
My longwinded point is this: give the guy some time and a realistic chance to put Pitt in a position to succeed for the long haul.
I just hope the f#$%er can recruit outside of Oklahoma and Texas, because it’s going to be awfully tough to get those guys from going to TCU as well as Texas, Texas Tech, Ok St, etc.
He absolutely has to win big in 2011–with one caveat. If he is able to fulfill his two promises on recruiting (1. bring in as good or better a class on Feb. 1 as was expected prior to the firings; 2. Bring in a second outstanding(top 25-type) class in 2012.). He will still have a chance going forward to win big. If he doesn’t fulfill those recruiting objectives on top of not winning big in 2011 he will have increasingly less and less overall talent to work with going forward through the 2012 and 2013 seasons and things will begin to snowball badly as the on-field results will inhibit recruiting and start a downward spiral for the program.
Bottom line, we better hope he wins big immediately and/or recruits well out of the gate because otherwise he can never succeed in matching, much less exceeding, the modestly (but inadequately) successful results of the last two Pitt head coach’s.
