Now that the 2012 spring practices are in the books the staff has turned their full attention to ‘boots on the ground’ recruiting for the 2013 season. Some PITT fans have been lamenting a perceived late start Chryst has gotten in this area but I’ll say that is akin to an urban myth as shown below.
As of yesterday, May 2nd, Chryst has received commitments to play football for PITT from four players; TE Scott Orndoff (verballed 3/18), OL Aaron Reese (4/14), DE Shakir Soto (4/21) and OL Dan Samuelson (4/25). Note that Orndoff is the 16th ranked TE in the nation and Soto is the #2 ranked DE in PA (Rivals).
With this, Chryst has gotten more commitments before May 1st that we have had in many years, excluding prep school kids who had verballed the year before. Here are how many kids we had commit each year before June 1st:
13 – 4 PC (4 so far)
12 – 1 TG
11 – 1 DW
10 – 2 DW
09 – 0 DW
08 – 2 DW
07 – 2 DW
06 – 3 DW
05 – 3 DW
June 1st is still 30 days away and Chryst already topped the previous eight years by April 25th. He’s actually way ahead of the game when it comes to our early verbals track record especially recently. Fans point to schools like OSU and PSU and their numbers but those schools always get verbals way before us and they always will because they have whole states with kids whose life dreams have been to play football for them. PITT doesn’t have that luxury… especially after the last two seasons.
It is obvious that this staff is targeting certain positions right off the bat as that will be their emphasis in rebuilding into their model. They feel, so far at least, that they can fill those OL and TE positions with kids outside the WPIAL and I’m not only fine with that but ecstatic. They are still targeting some very good WPIAL Offensive Linemen but three out of four kids committed are players the staff was tracking previously when they were in the Wisconsin program so they have wanted them for some time. The names may be somewhat unfamiliar to PITT fans but they certainly weren’t to Chryst and Rudolph. That in itself is a good start to the recruiting season.
As of today the staff has 120 offers out to HS players according to Scout.com. I’m not going to count what other schools have but in ’12 we had 128 total offers and in 2010, DW’s last full recruiting year, we had 102. That was even after all the summer camps and the player’s senior years were completed. I’d say that Chryst has hit the ground running getting PITT’s name out to prospective recruits and his offers has been more geographically diverse that our coaches had in the past.
At last count Chryst has 20 scholarships to give out this year. With inevitable turnover due to transfers, 5th year players not being asked back and academic casualties he will probably end up with 22+ scholarships. We have given out four already so he has at least 16 and probably more to give out before the Feb 1st LOI Day.
Commitments will pick up steam in mid- May through June when the PITT summer camps start being held and the staff can get their eyes on and talk with the kids. We’ll see more verbals then as we always have at PITT.
This staff will get the players they want on the squad. Their approach is just different than DW’s, and in honesty more accelerated than we have seen in the past. That may be a function of being brand new and wanting to get their names and school floated out there as soon as possible but in any case they have been hitting it pretty hard so far.
Chris Dokish has a detailed breakdown of PITT’s specific recruiting needs for 2013 on his blog found here.
That goes a long way in recruiting… and on Game Day.
Eventually, even the the most die hard Wanny loyalists are going to let go of the past and realize how fortunate we are to have Chryst.
It’s going to put a lot of things into their proper perspective.
I haven’t worried too much, figuring he needed to get his staff together, get to know the local coaches over time, figure out his recruiting areas best served by the coaches, and realized this would take a couple years to get the foundation laid.
Even with all of that, looks like they are off to not just a good start, but a great start!
All the others waited until late June and most signed deep into the fall or after their SR season ended.
The vast majority four stars were along the same lines. We fans just need to be patient to see what actually happens.
Anyone who followed this site knows that I was anti-Graham from the 1st time I heard him talk in his opening presser … I believe I was the first to use the snake oils salesmen … and I never came around and bought into his crap.
I was extremely pleased for the Chryst hire as I see more of a Wanny style of FB but with a college mentality, and of course, I fully endorse Chryst’s ‘down-to-earthiness.’
Unlike Dokish and possibly Chas, I have no delusions of grandeur for Pitt FB and believe we will never relive the late 70s, at least on a consistent basis. I will be very content if we are competitive on an annual basis and vying for a league title even if we don’t win it most of the time. I do hope that Chryst provides what Wanny gave us, stability at head coach, only with slightly better results.
1. Staying at least 5 years and building a program that is honorable and winning
2. Putting a competitive team on the field for every game
3. Recruiting from strength, not hype!
4. Eliminating the trademarks of bad coaching from Pitt’s FB Program i.e.sideline chaos eliminated during games, snapping a FG ball into the holder’s helmut, making extra point tries a routine success, managing a game like we know what we are doing,
making special teams special again for the right reasons, wise use of time out’s, etc etc and you can all add on your favorties.
I would love for him to be a Don Nehlen at WVU whom I believe gave him his 1st coaching job.
Jamie provides stability in BB but a BB coach in the BE or ACC can be deemed as a destination job.
Not having to call a time out, on the very first offensive series of a game which happened several times under Wanny and Walt, not sure about Fraud, I don’t recall it, but easily could have.
It’s been a Pitt tradition for the last 15 years, and one that gets my ire up more than just about anything else.
It’s not a college kids thing either, I (and I’m sure most of you) watch a lot of college football, and allthough I’m sure it has happened a few times other places, it is not something that occurs very often.
Quite bizarre actually. Practice and prep and gameplan all week……take opening kickoff, and sometime in that first series, toal chaos reigns down, qb not sure of play, players not lining up correctly, confusion on the field, confusion on the sideline……………and then it comes………..a timeout on the 3rd play of the game.
Maybe I should feel lucky to have witnessed these events.
Chryst is intriguing to me, but I loved having a Pitt man, who despite the disdain from many Pitt fans, is a well regarded person in the world of football.
When Majors showed up in 1972, Pitt football was a frickin joke. Four years later we are National Champions with a new legacy for Pitt Football carried into the next decade. NOW HOW THE HELL DID THAT HAPPEN?
Anything can transpire IF we get the right people on board with a common vision and the will to make it happen. What better place to bring home a college national championship than Pittsburgh? This place is the nation’s iconic city when you talk professional football, and Pittsburghers know and love their football. The University of Pittsburgh has a storied and great football tradition so there is no reason to feel that we can’t compete on the national stage for the top prize, with the right people in place. This city will embrace Pitt’s football team, if it is a winner.
You only have to win baby win!
It will be interesting to see the geographical make up of this team over the next few years. Considering the coaching flux and the resulting draw of players from parts of the country not usually harvested by Pitt recruiters, plus the move of Pitt to the ACC which will increase Pitt’s exposure to southern kids who might not have otherwise considered Pitt as a team they would be interested in playing for, and this team’s players may come from far and wide by 2014, this can only help cast a wider net for future Pitt recruiting, which is obviously a good thing!
We start winning some football games and Mark May may even start dusting off some of his old Pitt football stories during ESPN Gameday to help make Pitt relevant again on the national arena. Lets wait around for a few years and to see what Chryst can do with the likes of Rushel Shell, etc. as we move into the ACC. Anything can happen.
Back in the day, I was on the scene as a Pitt student to watch the “Major Change in Pitt Football” blossom and I have to tell you it was simply a magical experience. Of course I’m still waiting around to see those glory days of Pitt football return, but all we have to do is win baby win! The rest will take care of itself. Hopefully those days will make another appearance before I’m dead and gone. HAIL TO PITT.
2) Back then, college FB was big business and no elaborate TV contracts, etc … now the environment is there for only the elite to be consistently good. (Pitt, at best, can pull a Cincy 2010 season every once in a while
Yes, there was a series of off-the-field issues in his last year … but that was the only year
LOL
However, I think you may be overlooking one thing.
Take away one very special player… and there is no average of nine wins a season… and no upset in Morgantown… and no contract extension.
Purely on paper, the Wanny legacy looks a lot better than it actually was.
I think Majors had the luxury of handing out 50 or so scholarships his first year because their was no limit on how much allowed per year like now. Majors did an incredible job but the rules were different then. I don’t have a crystal ball but to build a solid program it will take years of solid recruiting, and fan support must improve because Pitt will get its share of good players but who wants to play in front of a stadium that is maybe 3/4’s full.
Pitt is at a disadvantage when it comes to game day fan support and other schools constantly use this to their advantage.
I have been going to games since 1964 and have seen the high points and many low points of Pitt football.
To become elite again is going to be difficult but not impossible.
RichRod lost to a 28 pt underdog just one game away from a national title
Pete Carroll at USC lost to 28 pt underdog Stanford
JoePa lost at home to Toledo 23-9
it amazes me what a short memory some of you have. Wanny was criticized for punting from the 38 yd line vs Bowling Green … something Fraud did 3 times last year … Fraud also took many ill-concewived time-outs early in games
There are issues with every coach … I believe Wanny’s legacy was worse that it actually was
Wanny brought stability but also mediocrity. Do we need another Pitt guy to give us stability? Jamie isn’t a Pitt guy but Pitt’s B-ball program is stable and near elite status. Do we need Sean Miller back?
I think stability is overall a good thing in a program but you need to be careful about becoming complacent and not adapting to inevitable change.
State Penn was a very stable program which helped bring about success and establish the Nitters as an elite program. But, they haven’t won anything for a very long time. Moreover, having a coach entrenched for a long period of time doesn’t always produce the best results in the end.
New blood is a good thing when a program begins to stagnate. And, when crimes are covered up to protect ones legacy.
Frank Beamer had some pretty bad seasons early in his career but has been the model of consistency (with a few bad losses recently) since the late 90s
Until this past Novemebr, I believe those are the 2 coaches at the same program the longest
You point out a couple of big games being lost by a few points.
Not saying there weren’t any, but what BIG games did Wanny ever win by close margins?
Body of work. 6 years, 42 wins. Avg 7 W’s p/yr.
We can say he averaged 9 wins his last three years. If doing so, you have to put in there, that he had 7 w’s his last year.
Otherwise, someone without any knowledge, could take that 9 wins as meaning he was trending upwards on his way to 11 or 12 wins, when in fact his worst year of the three was his latest.
However, that did not preclude me from criticizing his game day decisions often, and is well documented on Chas’ archives.
Punting at your own 38 is absurd, don’t care who the coach is, and however many times Fraud did it, I was on here saying WTF???
If Fraud took early time outs, that is absurd! I mentioned above, I didn’t recall any, but he easily could have.
I was probably too pissed about the punts from the 38 to notice!!! LOL
Actually, if he took a time out in the first couple of possesions, I’m sure I posted about it, I wouldn’t let that go unscathed.
I feel like Michael Corleone. “Is it true you have stock in Las Vegas casinos” ……”yes”………….”and I also have stock in IBM and IT&T”
LOL!!!!!!
Put up some valid big times wins this season Paul Chryst and get the ball rolling in the right direction to start with. Living in Virginia, I would love to see us knock off VA Tech at home. Nice way to show our appreciation for Our invite into the ACC.
Just win baby win and the rest of the equation takes care of itself. If you want an elite program, then you have to think, act and play like an elite program. Pitt can do it as well as anybody. HTP!
As far as recruiting goes, I support the method. Get the kids in small groups where you can get to know them. That works with kids because they want the one on one attention most of all and when combined with an opportunity to play and improve, the sky is the limit. Unlike many here, I do believe they can become a powerhouse again.
The main problem is fan support and that is problematic and needs to be studied more for the proper solution. Pitt needs to acquire more land and build buildings and have green space like CMU areas. Would love a 50,000 on site stadium. Make it small and loud.
In other words … unless you win every game, you are going to be criticized .. don’t care who the coach is!!!
Mark Cuban went to the Univ of Indiana
And, Stern’s wife attended and graduated from Pitt. Call Howard as well. He’s loaded.
SPEND MONEY !!
And that would have to include at some point an on campus Stadium. Because much like the Pete, that would be making a large investment on the future of PITT football. Without the Pete, Pitt basketball the last 10 years, DOESN’T HAPPEN !
Moreover, where is Pitt going to find the money?
Reed – we need a discussion on this because it won’t go away.
Aaron Reese said in an interview that Chryst spent an hour on the phone with him before Reese decided to verbal. That is with someone who the staff had their eye on before they came to PITT.
He isn’t hard sell and he isn’t threatening which the recruits parents have to love. Because, believe it or not, when you please the parents and grandparents you are 90% of the way there.
Recruits used to say Paterno would do an in-home visit and say maybe two or three sentences to the player himself, speaking to the mother & father the rest of the time. Paterno’s recruiting over the years worked well because he sold the university and the student/athlete experience to the parents.
I think Chryst is much the same way.
