Hmmm, not quite as an effective turn of phrase as the Bible’s “Jesus wept.” but it will do.
Paul Chryst held his first post-hire formal press conference yesterday with the local media types. It was pretty informative in some ways but, and I think we can expect this as long as Chryst is HC, there was nothing earth shattering divulged.
Some of his conversation was about issues that all PITT fans are interested in and some were insights into his personal approach into how he’ll conduct his business. Here are some of the key points he talked about.
In a refrain that we heard in his initial press conference he again attempted to quell the PITT fan’s post-Graham fears by reiterating that his approach to fielding his systems will be markedly different than his predecessor’s. The P-G reported him saying “You never want the system to be the thing that prevents you from playing well,” Chryst said in a meeting with the media on Tuesday. “If you want to learn it, you can learn it absolutely in a fairly short time. I believe that, and I do believe that we can teach it.” Meaning in essence that he’ll adapt to player’s strengths.
Chryst also said that many of the concepts he uses carry over between systems, but there will be new terminology for the players to master. “You are learning a new foreign language,” he said. “That’s our job, to teach it. It’s also our job to make sure we aren’t doing too much and that guys know what they’re doing.”
This last part we’ve heard before at this time last year and IMO was one of the reasons we faltered on offense as it was too much too soon for the players. Let’s hope that Chryst’s philosophy in this matter is realistic and more simplified than Graham’s was.
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