If you haven’t gotten the e-mail. Here’s the message from new football head coach Todd Graham. It appears to be nearly verbatim from his opening press conference, but still good stuff.
I’m re-posting it below the fold.
It is an honor and privilege to be your football coach at the University of Pittsburgh!
As I write this, I am not even 24 hours into my new job. But I wanted to reach out to you – the driving spirit behind the Panthers – to introduce myself and express my excitement in joining this outstanding university.
As I entered our practice facility yesterday, I was immediately struck by the awesome tradition that is Pitt football. It is a tradition of commitment and honor — and championships. Before I was a football coach I was a football fan, so it was a powerful moment for me to stand in front of the glass-encased lockers of John Majors and Mike Ditka, two men I’ve long admired for how they played and how they coached.
As Pitt’s new head coach, I am very aware of Pitt’s tremendous legacy. It is my promise that we will honor Pitt’s great tradition and work to build upon it. I believe there isn’t a football program in the country that has more potential for future greatness than the University of Pittsburgh.
I wanted to share with you our goals for Pitt football. They are, in order:
1) Produce men of character and integrity. If we don’t achieve this goal, then we can never reach our other aspirations.
2) Graduate every single one of our players. I want every young man who comes under our watch to earn their degree from this prestigious university.
3) Win the Big East Championship. It is our goal to bring home the Big East title on an annual basis.
4) Win a BCS Bowl. When competing on college football’s biggest stage we want to shine.
5) Win the national championship. We know this to be the standard for Pitt and Pittsburgh!
Nothing great is accomplished in this life without teamwork. Our players and coaches need you – the Pitt Family – to help us achieve our lofty goals. I know you share our championship vision and we look forward to working with you to make those championship moments, on and off the field, a reality.
Tuesday’s press conference was an incredibly memorable moment for my family and me. But as soon as it was done, I immediately went to the film room to begin analyzing top recruiting prospects for this class. The quest for greatness begins today.
Again, I’m honored to be your head coach. Thank you for your support and “Hail to Pitt!”
Sincerely,
Todd Graham
Head Football Coach
University of Pittsburgh
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.
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.
link to espn.go.com
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.
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
I’m another Ohio (I can’t bring myself to use the word “Buckeye”) Panther who roars for Pitt.
Further, come title game time … it was the better defense that won it.
Defense is not irrelevant.
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.
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.
Either way, the next couple of years will be interesting.
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!
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!!!
link to rivals.yahoo.com
Might be a 3star but like the size.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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?
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…
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.
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
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.
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!
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.
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 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!
Just curious
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.
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.
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?
link to pittsburgh.scout.com
i like our chances with Brandon Jackson and Delvon simmons
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.
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…
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.
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.