Fantastic!!! We in central Ohio are tremendously thrilled to have Todd Graham as our Head Coach and also welcome his wife and family. We extend greetings as well to the fine staff Coach Graham is assembling. Than you to Coach Wannstedt and his staff for their fine work. We Buckeye Panthers wish you ALL well except when you are contesting with our Panthers. You may be surprised at the number of fans and potential ticket purchasers there are in mid- Ohio. The ROAR of the Panthers will be heard in the near future. BCS–here we come ! Hail to Pitt! Rev. george Mehaffey of Columbus.

I’m buying what he’s selling. Hail to Pitt!

To Todd Graham,
Good letter and a terrific press conference! We look for good things on the field. Welcome to Pitt and welcome to the city of Pittsburgh.

Glad coach Graham was confident and strong….that during his presser he didn’t break down into tears….hail to Pitt!

Welcome coach Graham…
I am in awe…ordered new season tickets today..more to come. Never have I seen a head coach come in with this kind of splash. He reeks of sincerety and enthusiasm. I have not only put away my sword (of negativity), I have beat it into plowshares!
For you, Rev. George.

Right on Dan!! Rev. George

Q&A with Pitt coach Todd Graham, Part I
link to espn.go.com

I supported Bradley. I am not disappointed in the least.

Joe Starkey of 93.7 continues to harp on the bad Tulsa defense and continues to wonder why Graham is bringing his defensive coaches with him from Tulsa.

You win with players. All of the coaching schemes and formations will not work if you do not have the players. I think Graham will recruit better defensive players at Pitt than he did at Tulsa.

Starkey also continues to harp on Tulsa not winning Conference USA while Graham was head coach.

I am not bothered by it. Not in the least. Tulsa has to recruit against Oklahoma and Oklahoma State in a state that has a smaller population than Pennsylvania and it sure seems to me Graham did a good job at Tulsa.

Congratulations to Coach Graham and his staff and I am excited about the upcoming football season. If my just turned three year old can sit still long enough I may take him to an early season Pitt game.

I share Starkey’s skepticim. Please note that Tulsa was 111 in defense this year (one place behind Michigan.) What bothers me the most is that Graham is bringing the defensive coordinator (Patterson) with him, who just happens to be his college roommate. (it’s not nepotism but pretty damned close)

One more thing …. the CUSA champ was UCF which ranked 15th in total defense … held SMU to 7 pts in CUSA title game and Georgia to 6 in Liberty Bowl

Nothing is proven yet, of course, but I love his communication skills and presence. A good image for the University. Welcome to Coach Graham and family! May they find a true home in the great city!

I’m another Ohio (I can’t bring myself to use the word “Buckeye”) Panther who roars for Pitt.

Auburn was 60th in total defense…

Remember Bowling Green Panther that a Buckeye is :some kind of nut!!! Glad to add another :Ohioan” to the Panther roster. Rev. George

HbgF, is Auburn an aberration .. the previous 4 Natl Titles won by SEC were defense based .. in fact, the SEC over the past decade were much more known for their defense not offense.

Further, come title game time … it was the better defense that won it.

HbgFrank, the National Champion is usually ranked amongst the top in the country; Auburn this year was an anamoly. In 2009, Alabama was 2nd in total defense. In 2008 Florida was 9th. In 2007, LSU was 3rd. In 2006, Florida was 6th. In 2005, Texas was 6th.

Defense is not irrelevant.

I recommend the Bennett Q&A with Coach Graham on espn.com. This guy could sell ice to eskimos.

link to espn.go.com

Don’t drink the Kool Aid.
Recruits will see through this guy and when all is said and done, we will be worse off with him than Wanny.
No one loves Pitt more than I; no one wants to see them excel more than I do. But this hire was for show; it was to make SP appear to be the big man on campus. ‘Look what I can do.’
A very sad week for Pitt.

“Sell ice to eskimos?”
Terrell Chestnut bagged Pitt after sticking around through the Wanny debacle, the Haywood fiasco and the second coach-hunt. He only decommitted after the Rah-rah press conference. Terrell Chestnut is a smart kid. Pre-med. He saw thru the malarkey.

Stay tuned, folks. Sure, we will beat up on the Maine’s of the world, but when it comes to playing the big dogs of the BCS, no smoke and mirror show is going to save us.

Gas, no reason for pessimism yet. None of us has any idea how this hire will work out. Might as well think optimistically until we have reason not to. Coach Graham has a good resume and a lot of charisma.

Either way, the next couple of years will be interesting.

Re: the concern about Tulsa’s defense…Graham said most of the bad stats came from early games, as they were starting seven freshmen on defense. As the season went on, there was much improvement, particularly in scoring defense. He said that due to the nature of the offenses that Tulsa played against, they were going to give up yardage, but not points so much. Also, it seemed that much of the talent was put on the offensive side of the ball. Supposedly, recruiting at Pitt, they’ll be able to sign more defensive talent, or, at least put more talent on defense.

auggie, all I know is that with all of the great numbers that the Tulsa number put up, it was the league’s best defense that won the title

But what alarms me more is that the same def coordinator that led that great 111th ranked defense IS THE FREAKIN HEAD COACH’S COLLEGE ROOMMATE!

Gas, too much negativity. It appears that he has his team buying into him and his system. The team appears to be energized by his leadership and message. Since this isn’t a “sprint” only time will tell how well it works. He appears to be off to a great start. I’m looking forward to seeing our team next season.

Gas, sorry that your boy Bradley didn’t get hired. He never had a shot after bungling the opportunity by telling former and current players he got the job. We need to move on from the last 7 weeks and be positive.

I’m Just saying…

CNNSI.com has a story on Denard possibly wanting to leave Michigan. Yeah, I’m talking about that Denad Robinson that played QB for Michigan and ran the hell out of the ball with his 4.3 speed. This is were Calvin Magee comes in to play.

He would have to sit a year, but we have time!!!

BTW – chestnut is an ok player, not an elite player. When a kid is labeled as an athlete without one position, the chances of becoming a great player are slim.

The current Pitt player will pull us thru till the new regime gets things rolling i see a 8-9 wins this year wanny didnt leave the Cupboards bare, who did you want gas? whats all the negativity about? this hire was way above peterson i think he just got under the desk and prayed to god he would keep his job! Hopefully T.G. will be at the game on half court to make a speech, everyone was sucking on Haywoods )D***_) speech and discipline B.S. let this guy come out steal some recruits from Michigan and tulsa and the defector that Haywood caused we will be ok. 3 stars are better than no stars. Who doesnt bring their boys along for the ride as much as i hate to admit it WVUdoes recruit in western Pa pretty well which is what these current coaches did, study up on your comments before you make them and stop being babies and get behind the team. HAIL TO PITT!

Maybe I’m missing something here, but doesn’t a no-huddle offense inflate the number of plays in a game and thus both the offensive and defensive stats?

And if Chestnut walked away from one of the top Medical schools in the world he is an Idiot he had a full ride scholarship.

Hearing Chestnut back in the mix and Tulsa recruit switches to Pitt ..
link to rivals.yahoo.com

Might be a 3star but like the size.

Gas everyone is premed until they actually take classes… weak argument.

Steve Breston was an ‘athlete’ as was Pat White, as was Denard Robinson, as was Larod Stephens and Dorin Dickerson … as was Bill Belton who was the highest rated recruit in the ‘class that was’

Gas, gimme a break. There is no way we are worse off than with Wanny.

What exactly are recruits going to see through? We have a passionate, aggressive coach who wants to run a high octane offense and an aggressive defense. As a player on either side of the ball,that’s something you can appreciate.

I understand that he hasn’t won a game yet, but there is certainly no reason to believe that recruits won’t buy his pitch, that we’ll be worse off than we were with Wanny or that Graham will be unsuccessful. If you play high school football this is EXACTLY the kind of coach you would want to play for. I’m willing to predict that in 2 years he is recruiting and competing for better talent than Wanny did. Furthermore, I expect Graham to actually achieve the potential of his recruits and players, whereas Wanny consistently underachieved and disappointed.

Evedrything will work out fine for this recruiting class – the coaches are hitting the recruitting trails already. We have a CB/Safety from New Orleans visiting soon (Cortez Johnson) – he’s 6’2″ 190 lb and runs a 4.5 and 3 star. It looked like he had committed to Southern Miss but is visiting soon.

Also, Desimon Green, a 6’5″ DE from Clairton, PA apparantly contacted our new coaches and expressed interest in Pitt. Michigan had been recruiting him and Pitt had previously – he’s a 3 star.

Darius Patton is a 3 star, 4.43 speed WR from Poland OH who is now looking at Pitt – he had been looking at Michigan and Tony Gibson is recruiting him.

So the first full day on the job and we have a good speedy WR, a tall DE, and a good-sized S all looking at us! It will all work out my friends! Hail to Pitt!

This “Gas” guy also does this crap on Bob Smizik’s blog. Either he is messing with people, he’s a friend of Tom Bradley’s, or he is a giant dickhead. Don’t waste your time arguing with him.

Mike, not being sold on Graham doesn’t mean Gas is a “dickhead”. There are reasons to be skeptical of Graham. I’m cautiously optimistic, but we’ll see.

Okay – let’s lay off the group think. There’s just about as much reason to be skeptical of this guy as to be enthusiastic. The hype is good – Wannstedt had plenty of hype when he was hired and many of the same people who were jumping up and down then are doing the same thing now. I’m supporting the hire and the team. I don’t support Pederson who is laughing his ass off at the fact he just got a pass with this hire. He has no clue why he is disliked. “Seeing is believing” is the best way to go with Graham. Believe me, I live in Texas and Graham has been a non-entity for the past three years. Now Western PA wants to crown him king. Give me a freakin’ break.

GAS may or may not be a dickhead, but I’m curious what Pakistani cave he’s been squatting in the past 6 years.

I quote: “when it comes to playing the big dogs of the BCS, no smoke and mirror show is going to save us.”

Save us? Really? From what? Getting less votes in the post-season AP poll than Eastern Washington??

Wannstadt couldn’t beat Bowling Green or Navy, let alone a single one of the “big dogs of the BCS.”

Graham’s “smoke and mirrors” led Tulsa to #24 in the country this year when it mattered – after the season was over. Pitt has 4 of the country’s top 40 players (allegedly), yet didn’t get a single vote in this years closing polls, yet both Tulsa and Miami (OH) were ranked or had votes. Which means quite simply that both Graham’s team and Haywood’s team were better than Pitt with 50% of the talent.

Some skepticism of Graham is OK. But you should be embarrassed to clammer for more Wannstadt.

Theweenis, Wannstedt’s team did beat Navy convincingly the most recent time they played. And Navy is a solid program (my second favorite; I’ve worked with a lot of former Navy football players).

A #24 doesn’t mean a whole lot; it’s just coaches or journalists arbitrarily voting for teams that, for the most part, they haven’t seen, and haven’t played each other.

I’m not a Graham basher, I think he could do well and hope he does, but I’m not sure why there is so much Wannstedt hatred on this message board.

Wbb – Rankings are interesting and fun to play with…

WVU was 3rd nationally in total defense – no BCS game. PITT was 8th in total defense – no BCS game. UCONN? 58th and a BCS game.

PITT was rather horrid in offensive rankings… 45th in Rushing; 67th in scoring; 72nd in Total Offense and 73rd in Passing – yet PITT fans were clamoring for Frank Cignetti as the next PITT HC.

We can play this game all day.

Regarding Chestnut – the pay boards were reporting he was pretty much gone since Jan 1… it certainly wasn’t because of Graham’s hire.

If you follow what is happening with recruiting… and you may need a subscription to do so because that is the only place I’ve seen actually covering it in detail, you realize that this hire has gotten some of the big defectors looking right back at PITT. It’s impact is way more positive than negative.

I’ve no idea how we’ll do in the future but isn’t it nice to actually get excited about something rather then view the next season with a sense of foreboding as we have all done lately?

I agree with NavyPanter that Gas’ skepticism doesn’t deserve a name. I do like the initial energy of the new coach and I was a very strong Bradley supporter.

His energy is very helpful after the recent mess.

I hope things do change, unfortunately I was not able to stay in my seat during the Miami and WVU games this year for all the wrong reasons. It realy did look like Baldwin gave up on many plays – just thinking about Pitt players giving up and not playing their guts out is tough. Memories of 48-14 came flooding back but that is another old story…

The players are young men, I think right now they need a solid motivator to lead them into thinking they can achieve much more than they have. I have no ill-will towards DW; if I saw him on the street today I would like to introduce him to my boys and I would thank him for his service to Pitt.

Hail…

I am willing to engage in any cogent discussion about Graham. However, the facts of the case are these:
His defense is atrocious.
As far as I know, he has never beaten a team in the top 25.
And he came here simply for the coin.

While I understand the optimism regarding his press conference, I sincerely believe that that will NOT translate into wins or recruits.

Time will tell.

NavyPanther

I watched every single Navy/Pitt game this year. I attended the Navy Notre Dame game in New York after watching the Pitt Notre Dame game. Navy would have beat Pitt by 2-3 touchdowns. Whereas Pitt’s offense was inept against a weak Notre Dame front 4, Navy scored at will. This included a stretch of 4 touchdowns in 5 drives before they called the dogs off. It really exposed, to me at least, how bad Tino and Pitt’s offense truly was. This all despite the fact that there were 3 NFL ready players for him to use. Navy’s defense also got significantly more backfield pressure. This isnt just scoreboard math. One team was well coached, played disciplined football, had a quarterback that was an exceptional player and onfield leader, etc etc. The other lost to every good team they played

Back to Graham…

couple of visits coming up… a 6’5″ receiver
link to pittsburgh.scout.com

GAS is entitled to his opinion, and he is not a “dickhead” unless he is bald and has a hole in the top of his head, then he my at least look like a dickhead. In any case his negativity is the “glass half empty” balance to the swooning for Graham being done by many since Tuesday’s press conference. I like the hire a lot better than the Haywood one and this guy seems to be an up and comer. He did a lot with minimal talent. Take a look at the recruiting sites out there and tell me how many 3 and 4 star recruits are committed to Tulsa this year. Now considering what players are on Pitt’s roster right now, all this guy has to do is make it extremely clear that talent and effort gets you on the starting roster and all of a sudden we have a brand new football team with plenty of new names. It might be young and inexperienced but when you change your entire O & D schemes what does experience really bring to the table anyhow? Now if Graham can pull a rabbit out of his hat and put together a recruiting class with a few surprise recruits, especially if they’re from far away areas not previously recruited (can you spell Oklahoma?), then as Dickhead, I mean GAS has said “we’ll see”! I’m in the “glass half full” optomistic side of this bunch and I feel Graham WILL recruit well here at Pitt better than at Tulsa, but so far he is all talk until he puts something together that’s tangible. A good start would be a recruiting class including some kids with SPEED that Graham has stated is essential to run his schemes successfully. “We’ll see”!

Wbb – good list of athletes that have become good players but there is a much longer list of athletes that struggled. Chestnut is an OK player and it is tough for a guy to move around to find a position.

And BTW – Larod did not do much when he was here that I can recall. Cam Saddler – he is ok and may be better in Graham’s system.

On recruiting: How many 3 or 4 or even 5 start athletes attend the Naval Academy or the Air Force Academy? Good disciplined coaching wins games. Pitt has an excellent coach in Todd Graham; I’m confident Pitt players will respond to his tutelage and play with discipline and conviction for 60 minutes. Pitt is going to win a lot of football games under his tenure. I don’t care if Pitt’s football team will have the weakest defense or offense in the NCAA as long as they end up one point better that their opposition.

Given the state of Pitt’s football program and the Big East, we should thank SP for hiring the best available coach for its football program – admittedly he had a do over.

I got the email from Todd yesterday and was quite touched that he though enough to introduce himself “personally.” I’m giving Todd and his coaching staff two thumbs up and am confident he will elevate Pitt’s football program and the Big East conference to BCS winning heights. Hail to Pitt!

About TG’s salary: The last 5 BCS winners came from the SEC. Alabama’s sports budget exceeded $100,000,000 last year and many of the other SEC teams were also in that bracket. SEC coaches are well paid. Todd is being compensated on par with top-tier football schools; we should expect excellence from him and his staff. There are no guarantees in life but we should have expectations of excellence. Until he fails, (and Blog cynics can say ‘I told you so’), let’s get behind our team. Maybe we should adopt Texas A&M’s, 12 Man shtick, … ?

Graham may or may not be the coach we all want and take us to a national title. I much rather enjoy reading discussions of optimism, gaining recruits, and how he is presenting himself over the debacle that has been the last season & the coaching mess.

The big thing that Graham said that really stands out to me is that he emphasizes personal accountability. Lack of such accountability is one thing that drove many of us Pitt fans nuts with DW, and alone will be a welcome change.

Saddler is exactly the type of player who should thrive in this system. He will be getting the ball running across the field in stride and away from defenders giving him the chance to make a lot of plays. He should be thrilled.

Excellent point Reed. WVU 3rd in defense, Pitt 8th??? Where were they as teams?? The fella above put a great stat up, Auburn 60th in total defense, and all you get back is, “ah, um, ah, well, that’s an abberation, or an anomaly”. No, that’s a fact, they were #60 in defense, and won the national championship. Do you need a good defense, of course, who doesn’t know that, “ah, um, ah, they needed there defense in the end”, really, no kidding??? Every team does.

As far as “beating up the Maines” of the world, wow, that’s actually fantastic news, because we sure couldn’t beat up the New Hampshires, Florida Internationals and Ohio’s of the world with Wanny!!!!

I was as big a skeptic of this guy as anyone however I feel much better after listening to him and hearing what he has to say. Now granted, he could just be one hell of a salesman but I think you can see he speaks with passion and excitement which makes me think he is a pretty straight forward that believes in himself.

I think he has put together a nice staff and the guy is obviously ready to hit the ground running.

At the end of the day, I think Pitt is much better off than they were with Wanny and certainly better without Haywood. Wanny consistently undeachieved and I was completely fed up with the “play not to lose” mentality.

I am still a little skeptical but as Coach Graham said I will “wait and see”. Good Luck!

By the way, I saw Steve Pederson last night at the Georgetown game. He was milling around the pitt bench all night. I noticed he went into the locker room before the game and during half time…is that common for an AD??? Shouldnt he be sitting in a box somewhere letting JD do his thing without lurking???

Just curious

DeVanzo or anyone else who may know:

On the PantherDigest link you provided above, it says that Quinton Alston’s interest level is “none.” Is this the kid who signed with Rutgers or is there any word of Graham wanting to reach back out to him?

I don’t have an insider account to any of these websites but I am really interested to see Graham’s approach as he emphasized national recruiting. With the assistants he brought in, we may have some shots at some of the UM recruits and to salvage some PA guys as well.

JAM – According to Scout.com, Quinton Alston committed to Iowa.

Being a good salesman is big plus. He’s got to sell a lot of 18 year old players on the program. He obviously can coach, evidenced by his success at Tulsa. If he can get players at Tulsa, he should have no problem getting them to come to Pitt. Pitt has a much greater recognition nationally. We have a big time basketball program with a team currently ranked No. 5, which keeps in news on ESPN. What better recruiting tool is there, than taking a prospect to a Big East game at the Pete. Also having a training facility along side the Steelers certainly doesn’t hurt either. He has a lot to sell here and from what I saw at his press conference, he’s good at doing it.

@Dan, BS, we beat 2 out of 3 of those powerhouses last time we played them. Wanny’s downfall was playing the big boys soft. Give me wins against Miami, Va Tech, Utah and WVA over the next couple of years and I’ll be just fine with playing a lesser opponent close every once in a while.

Oh ok, thanks. Jakeem Grant (small, speedy wr I believe) may be looking to follow Graham to Pitt too.

“Navy would have beat Pitt by 2-3 touchdowns.”

DeVanzo, I try to take you seriously, but you make it so difficult for me. In 2007, DW lost to Navy in double OT. He kicked their ass in 2008 & 2009, but you say it is a given that Navy would have won in 2010 by 2 or 3 TD’s due to superior coaching by Navy. Ah…yah…sure.

Todd Graham’s email to alumni was far better than Mike Haywood’s…..although I’m still waiting on his to arrive in my inbox.

Todd Graham deserves a chance. Lets judge him from what he does at Pitt. As for all the posters mentioning about how Defense wins National Championships. While I dont disagree with this, lets win the Big East first before talking about a National Championship.

The steelers should have their asses kissed, do you have any idea how much tax revenue and business that franchise brings to the city???

Big Guy,

despite what you think… the 2008-2009 pitt teams are not allowed to play pitt’s 2010 season
pitt sucked in 2010 and relied on beating 3 non conference crap teams to be over 500
navy was better than pitt in 2010… see: notre dame 2010 schedule

back to recruiting…
link to pittsburgh.scout.com
looks like he is still visiting pitt though?

Graham interview part ii:

link to espn.go.com

McKeesport coach impressed with Graham…
link to pittsburgh.scout.com

i like our chances with Brandon Jackson and Delvon simmons

link to pittsburgh.scout.com

Comparing Navy football with BCS National Championships maybe a stretch but given Navy’s talent pool, you have to give them credit for there level of play considering they expect their athletes to not only attend class but make passing grades and stand tall. Given Pitt’s potential to attract good athletes, they should be expected to beat Navy every year. Give Navy credit for being a very competitive football program even though they lose quality coaches to other non-military programs more than most college football programs. I’m an old Panther alum and vividly remember Pitt losing to a very good (Roger Stauback) Navy team that not only cost Pitt a national championship but a bowl game. Hail to Pitt!

Yeah coach Ditka, I do. Very little. It has been shown that professional sports teams do virtually nothing to improve he economy of the city in which they reside. They simply shift spending, meaning instead of going to a ball game a person goes to the movies. Insisting that they improve the economy is a fallacy.

I am not sure what taxes they pay anyhow as they don’t own the stadium. It was custom built for them by the taxpayers. The same ones that can’t afford to enter the place.

Carrie “the drunk” Collins says, watch Penn St. outisde the lines. You won’t know if you’re watching football or a season of “Lockup”!!!!!

What do you call a team that loses to Pitt, but, absolutely owns Penn St. IOWA!!!!!!

“I still can’t figure out what that Haywood guy did wrong?

Comment by James Harrison 01.13.11 @ 11:21 am”

James: 1) He lost his job as head coach at a very fine division 1 university by beating on a women; 2) his actions may land him in jail; 3) through his stupidity, he cost his coaching staff their job. Need any more…

wow, I see where this Blog has just turned into a real blather. I guess it’s time for a rest…

More Nittany Nitwit & Hillbilly trolls today. Move on trolls.

Now more on Graham, he’s been a winner everywhere he’s been, not just Tulsa. He was a winner at Texas High schools, turned perennial loser Rice into a winner in one year and their first Bowl game in like 40 years.

Guess what that shows dipsticks, he can immediately win with players he inherits.

We’re going to have a real exciting team under Graham and for all of you who complained, whined and pleaded for SP to fire DW because his offense was too vanilla, not aggressive enough, playing not to lose and too boring, you should be tickled pink about TG.

For the trolls, just get out and don’t come back. Or better yet buy some depends for JoePa or a pacifier for Holgorson, whatever the situation demands.

Good news from the Compass Bowl:

The BBVA Compass Bowl went up 38 percent and posted its highest rating ever. The Pitt-Kentucky game was the only game on at the time and served as a lead-in to the NFL playoffs on Saturday.

while Pitt doesn’t travel well, they usually get decent TV ratings

[…] drinking game rules in place. Drink when he hits the talking points from his press conference and message to Pitt fans. Kill whatever bottle from which you are consuming if he is almost verbatim from the […]