As I stated yesterday, the new ACC contract will not stop those who want to believe they can raid the ACC (read: Big 12). Specifically for Florida State. This piece details the budget problems for FSU. Interesting that the supposedly loyal and rabid fans of FSU are struggling to make a commitment to pay for home games this year.

On the revenue side there is optimism that an aggressive marketing campaign will help boost football ticket sales and booster contributions. While that sounds good on the surface, with five home games against Savannah State, Murray State, Wake Forest, Duke and Boston College it will be a minor miracle if FSU is able to match last year’s ticket sales. And it’s unlikely that the home schedule will be much better in 2013.

Complaints about being able to get people to come to games when it is a pathetic home schedule? Pitt will definitely fit right into the ACC.

The piece sets a lot of issues for FSU and their budget. Especially the capital improvements needed to their stadium and arena. Interestingly, the piece does not seem to take the idea of shifting conferences seriously. Instead it believes that FSU will more likely try to use the possible flirtations to shift to unbalanced revenue sharing in the ACC media contract.

While Pitt is not yet in the ACC, and I can’t claim to have a good sense of the real politics of the conference, my impulse is that this will not work for FSU. That the conference won’t buy the threat. They will bitch and moan and then deal with it.

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My plan to start the week was going to be a post on the ridiculousness of the “FSU and Clemson are going to bolt for the Big 12” rumors. Breaking down some of the origins. Pointing out how much of it was message board generated — and not even from FSU or Clemson sites. Noting that Oklahoma bloggers were dismissing it (and mocking a Hoopie to boot). Noting how most in ACC country weren’t buying it. The whole premise being based on TV money and football culture. The biggest problem, though, with the whole premise is that this is not a decision made by an AD or the athletic department as a whole. It is one made by the college president and board of trustees. It is a decision about the entire university, not where they play football. And the fact is, the ACC is a more prestigious and academically. That seems somewhat silly, I know, since so much of expansiopocolypse is all about the money. Yet there is one factor to consider.

All moves have an academic mobility component as well. The moves out of the Big 12 by Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri and Texas A&M had them going to conferences with higher overall academic ratings for the member schools. Same for WVU, Syracuse and Pitt out of the Big East. Same for the C-USA and MWC coming into the Big East. There is a factor of moving up in all things, not just athletic standards. A move from the ACC to the Big 12 is downward.

It would have been a much longer post. More links and a lot more coherence, but that was the planned gist. Then the Big East expelled Marinatto and the focus kind of shifted for a couple days. No big deal. Figured this could keep until today. Afterall, this was just a BS rumor.

Then, yesterday afternoon happened.

The Atlantic Coast Conference announced a long-term TV deal with ESPN Wednesday through the 2027 season that will mean a lucrative annual payout for Pitt once the Panthers leave the Big East.

The deal is worth $3.6 billion over 15 years according to The Associated Press which will equal some $17.1 million a season for member schools.

Yeah, this does a bit of a number on the whole Big 12 raiding the ACC thing.

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Look, I’m not saying there aren’t a lot of issues that are unique to the Big East among the major conferences. The size, very diverse membership (large urban public universities, small Catholic private universities in urban areas, large private universities, public land grant univerities) and foremost the split of football and basketball schools. So, yeah, being the Big East Commissioner comes with a particularly unique set of headaches.

That said, ex-Big East Commissioner John Marinatto is not the victim.

While you’re at it, blame him for high gas prices, unemployment and even the torn ACLs recently suffered by Derrick Rose and Mariano Rivera. It’s all Marinatto’s fault. Everything that has gone wrong in the world since he took over as the Big East’s commissioner on July 1, 2009 can be directly linked back to Marinatto.

On Monday, Marinatto resigned as the Big East’s commissioner. I don’t have the exact figures, but I’d guess about 99 percent of the college sports fans on Twitter wondered why Marinatto hadn’t been fired months earlier. And that’s sad. Because Marinatto is not solely to blame for the Big East losing four schools since he became commissioner. The league’s presidents are the ones that bumbled and stumbled so that their league became more of a punch line than a BCS conference. The same Big East presidents that make up the league’s board of directors that asked Marinatto to resign on Sunday.

After Marinatto replaced Mike Tranghese, he was doomed. It was only a matter of time. He was set up to fail by the league’s presidents because they handcuffed his ability to make any relevant changes.

“He was the human pin cushion,” a league source said. “Nobody in the world could have made this work. Look at the things he was dealt.”

He wanted the job, and was not strong enough or good enough to handle it. He thought he could pull it off because the strength of the basketball schools backing him would always put him with nearly 50% of the votes on anything. Then he was shocked. Shocked, I tell you, to learn that his cluelessness and inability to actually build consensuses on anything led them to throw him out of the lobster-bake.

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Yesterday was an eventful off-season day for the Panthers.  We had one verified recruit commitment in Jaymar Parrish, a big FB from local Gateway HS along with one unconfirmed rumor about former Rutgers QB Tom Savage transferring to PITT after a short lay-over in Arizona.

First let’s look at the recruitment.  So far Paul Chryst has recruited five players, four of them on offense.  He’s gotten two big OL, a TE and a powerful FB in Parrish.

“They’re going to line him up as a traditional fullback because they’re a pro-style offense team,” said Gateway coach Terry Smith.  ”He’s an extremely physical blocker and just a tough, hard-nosed kid who is really athletic.”

Now, think back to what Chryst said he was going to put out on the field offensively and what he built so well at Wisconsin; a highly productive running game with big, strong players up the middle.  That is exactly what he’s recruited so far at PITT.

Jaymar Parrish has not been ranked yet but look at Scout’s FB prospects for 2013. Parrish is on the list but the telling thing is that only three FBs are awarded any stars at all by Scout.com at this point nationally.  Rivals.com has five FBs total with all being three star kids.

At Wisconsin Chryst loved this type of FB and used them pretty regularly.  Last year they had Bradie Ewing, a 6’0/245 FB who ended being drafted in the 5th round by the Atlanta Falcons.  Ewing had only seven rushing attempts for 33 yards but also caught 28 passes for 328 yards (11.7 ypc) in his two years of play with the Badgers. He was also the #1 rated FB going into the draft.

Just for fun compare that with what Henry Hynoski did at PITT over the course of his career where he had 37 carries for 134 yards and 40 receptions for 283 (7.1 ypc).  Of course Hyno didn’t have three 1000 yards rushers on his team one year either.

This is the FB model Chryst wants to replicate when he gets his kids on the field over the next few years and is what we were used to seeing at PITT under DW.  Whisky hasn’t rushed their FBs much but used them mostly as a lead blocker and receiver out of the backfield.  Parrish, at 6’2” and 235 lbs and having been a TE who caught 22 passes for 524 yards and four touchdowns, is well equipped with size and good hands to be that pass receiving FB Chryst has had and wants now.

As an example of Parrish’s blocking ability, last season when Gateway played Bishop McDevitt he went up against #1 nationally ranked five star DE Noah Spence and blocked him effectively enough call it a draw.  When the rankings come out he will probably be at least a three star recruit.

Tom Savage’s rumored transfer is an interesting issue.  According to his Twitter feed he alludes to playing for PITT (good luck finding it, I can’t read more than three or four Tweets before getting dizzy).  Here is what Chris Dokish had to say about Savage:

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Well, in the wake of Marinatto’s early Monday resignation, there is already a flood of stories, opinions and speculation. Yes, it doesn’t seem as much of a concern for Pitt with the future looming with the ACC. Yet it really matters for a lot of reasons.

The obvious is that Pitt is still in the Big East for this year, so conference issues still impact. Plus, the fact that Pitt and Cuse technically could be held in the conference beyond this season means it is important to know some of the details of what went down and who will be the new conference chief. Since that relates to the negotiation of the exit.

So, how did this suddenly happen?

A source said Marinatto’s exit had been building for weeks. The source said the basketball members in the Big East were upset that they had no say in the expansion process.

This should not be a surprise that the basketball side of the Big East led the coup.

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That state being of chaos.

Heck of a way to start the week:

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One of our regular and more prolific posters, dhuffdaddy,  wrote this in a comment while in one of his more lucid moments the other day:

“Eight in the box with run blitzes will expose Tino and will lead to 5-6 sacks per game. The passing game needs to set up the running game except if you are alabama, lsu, etc. We are not elite linemen or runners and have no threats at receiver to actually hurt opponents for putting 8 in a box. PC has his work cut out for him and I expect him to do well.”

The idea of a defense stacking the box with Sunseri is, and has been, a common complaint of PITT fans looking back on 2010 and forward to 2011.  But what really happens when Sunseri is at QB and what impact does this have on our offense now and in the past?

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that our QB play contributed to the dramatically putrid sack numbers last season.  But some blame has to be shared and it can be in different ways.  A lot of the problem in not getting the passes off in time was based on the overall confusion that the PITT offensive players had with Graham’s offense.  This is a somewhat hidden issue but one that greatly contributes. We heard both Shanahan and Saddler stating that the staff basically said ‘run out to a zone and get open‘.

It also had to do with the fact that our OL was like a sieve on passing plays. What looked like ‘too long‘ sometimes was magnified because of that.  In an ESPN article their beat writer sums it up correctly:

“Pitt was bad in pass protection, though mostly because of strange blocking schemes that none of the players fully endorsed. Sunseri held on to the ball way too long, too. Let’s face it — neither Sunseri nor his offensive linemen ever fully grasped the timing concept that is the heart of the Graham offense. “

Add the WR confusion to that and you get 62 sacks and a pissed off fanbase.

However, this problem wasn’t as prevalent during the 2010 season when Sunseri was more comfortable in the Pro-Set offense and had a better OL in front of him.  That offense required the OL to hold their blocks longer and we saw a more normal passing game because of it. That year he was was sacked only 23 times for 1.77 sacks per game. I believe we’ll see this aspect of the offense level back down to 2010 sack numbers or even better.

As far as stacking the box against Sunseri? That happened some in both 2011 and 2010 and in ’10 we had 1088 rushing yards from Lewis and 958 from Graham. In addition, last season when the defenses really moved up into the box, Ray Graham had almost 1000 yards in the first seven games.  We had decent rushing success with whatever the defense did.

I think this is an issue that PITT fans may worry about too much sometimes.  There is an impact and the ideal situation would be that run stacking doesn’t happen at all because of a productive and efficient passing game, but even if the defenses do come up it isn’t the end of the world.

Our running game has been pretty good with Sunseri as QB. We were 45th nationally in 2010 and, even with Graham’s injury, 72nd in 2011. Had Graham not been injured halfway through the year we’d have been in the top 50 last year also.  You may say that isn’t too good either but here’s the thing…

… PITT has never had a fantastic rushing game even under Wannstedt with any QB at the helm.  He had some decent years but his running game had an average  rank of 64th.   However, Wannstedt did show improvements every year culminating in his best season in 2009 because he built to a strong running game.

What is going to be the difference between Todd Graham and Paul Chryst is that Chryst will also build to a strong running base.  He’s done this every year while OC at Wisconsin with sterling results.  Where the run game was an afterthought in the “High Octane” offense it will be the bell cow in Chryst’s.

Even with that you’ll see our 2011 yardage totals, under Graham and with the same QB we’ll have this year, were the third best in yardage but dropped to the fifth best in yards per carry over the last seven years.

Here is how we ranked from 2005 to 2011:

2011 – 72nd  – 1824 yds/3.52 ypc/21 TDs;    Sunseri and Graham /Brown

2010 – 45th  – 2154 yds/4.58 ypc/24 TDs;    Sunseri and Lewis /Graham

2009 – 34th  – 2344 yds/4 .89 ypc/25 TDs;   Stull and Lewis / Graham

2008 – 65th  – 1808 yds/3.67 ypc/29 TDs;    Stull and McCoy / Stevens-Howling

2007 – 71st – 1697 yds/3.62 ypc/20 TDs;     Bostick and McCoy / Stevens-Howling

2006 – 78th  – 1476 yds/3.88 ypc/15 TDs;    Palko and Stevens-Howling / Brooks

2005 – 93rd  – 1285 yds/3.20 ypc/9 TDs;      Palko and Stevens-Howling / Jennings

Out of those seven years we can say that we had subpar passing QBs four times, once with Bostick, once with Stull and twice with Sunseri.  Yet in each of those years we had at least a 1000 yard rusher and three of those years we had star RBs and fantastic production out of McCoy, Lewis and Graham.

In Stull’s good 2009 season we fared the best on the ground which makes sense.  A telling point is that even with Tyler Palko, coming off his great 2004 SO year, we our two worst all around rushing years in 2005 and 2006.

So, does the fact that Sunseri will be starting at QB automatically mean we’ll see eight in the box and a terrible ground game?  Who really knows, but I don’t think so.  Historically we’ve still been able to move the ball on the ground even without a great passing game.  Obviously a better passing game equates to more yards on the ground though and that would be really what we want.

If Graham comes back to his pre-injury form, Bennett plays at the level he did in the spring and Shell contributes we’ll have a good, if not very good, running game with Sunseri back there.  If Sunseri can regain the confidence and composure he had in 2010, with a less porous OL,  then that’s all the better.

I’m sure many of you have seen the stories. That Penn State’s new coach expressed a desire to reestablish the Pitt-Penn State series.

Penn State and Pitt last played Sept. 16, 2000, when the Panthers beat the Nittany Lions, 12-0, at Three Rivers Stadium.

“I would love to see that game played on an annual basis,” O’Brien told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in a story published Saturday. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for (Pitt coach) Paul Chryst and their program, and that’s a great rivalry.

“For the fans of Pennsylvania to be able to see that game every year, I think that’s pretty neat.”

From the earliest days of this blog, I have maintained that Pitt-Penn State would resume some time after Paterno not only retired, but had passed away.

Now we have the home-and-home coming up in 2016, and it seemed obvious that there would be some discussions as it got closer to extending it. Especially since by then no one expected Paterno would still be coaching.

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Given all the close games Pitt has lost in the last three years, a reliable kicker seems like a necessity. Yet, Kevin Harper is going to be a senior and there is no apparent next guy up.

I’m not sure what kind of value Coach Paul Chryst places on kickers. Whether he actively seeks out the good ones or if he just trusts in finding one via walk-ons (preferred or otherwise).

Well, I’m sure a few Pitt coaches will be at the PSFCA East-West Game being played at Gateway High’s stadium this Sunday. Hopefully they will check out East’s kicker, Brad Lukasak. He’s hoping to hear from Pitt about getting a shot this fall.

“In practice, I’ve hit from beyond 60. My record is a 66-yarder,” Lukasak said. “With a snapper and holder, my record is about 55 yards. I have the range for over 50. I can hit 55 usually.”

That range is something Lukasak hopes to show off Sunday in the East-West game. With a couple practices under their belts, Lukasak already appreciates the camaraderie the all-star squad has built.

Playing with the East’s 32 other stars is something to which the Blue Mountain senior is looking forward.

“Just meeting a great group of guys. A lot of people say kickers are exiled, but this group of guys I’m with has really taken me in and made me feel welcome,” Lukasak said.

Heading to the University of Pittsburgh, Lukasak plans to major in chemistry with a second major in either biology or neuroscience. He’s also waiting to hear whether or not he’ll be invited to training camp for the Pitt football team.

Well, given the majors he’s pursuing, he would be a good addition to the football team just to help the grade point average.

Well, at the risk of setting people off on rants and rages…

/eyeballs the bottle of bourbon sitting on the kitchen counter

/turns back to the computer

/back to the bourbon

/computer and deep sigh

Some Tino Sunseri stuff that has been in my browser tabs for a while.

Athlon ranks the Big East QBs. Sunseri came in 7th — thanks UConn.

Sunseri has been the source of frustration for Pittsburgh fans over the last two years. In his first season as a starter in 2010, Sunseri threw for 2,572 yards and 16 scores. He didn’t improve those numbers by much in 2011, throwing for 2,616 yards and 10 touchdowns. In fairness to Sunseri, Pittsburgh’s offensive struggles last year were largely due to the scheme not fitting the personnel. New coach Paul Chryst should do a better job of adapting his scheme to Sunseri and the offensive line can’t be any worse than it was in 2011. Expect Sunseri to play better in 2012, but for now, he checks in as the No. 7 quarterback in the Big East.

Of course we figured Sunseri’s numbers would improve noticeably in Fraud Graham’s offense and well…

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More of the same.

Goodman is visiting Seton Hall tomorrow — they actually have an open scholarship for 2012.

He is still working on setting visits to Pitt and UNLV (don’t let him near Khem Birch).

His high school coach, Rob Moore, seems to be the spokesman at this point. Swears he is going to be deciding soon and it will be for 2012.

“The kid is looking to start school in June and be on campus somewhere working towards a degree so this process is going to move very quickly,” Moore told SNY.tv Thursday.

Of course right after that he then rattled off a list of other schools that are trying to get him and Goodman has not ruled out considering: West Virginia, UCLA, USC, St. John’s, Gonzaga, Temple and now SMU with Larry Brown.

Yet at the same time no one is ruling out him heading to prep school for a year.

Look, I love the talent and potential of Goodman. Everything in scouting reports about him suggest what a good fit he and his game would be for Pitt and the style of play.

At the same time, I’m beginning to see him as a diminishing return. To get him, Pitt would have to drive someone off the team at a late date. Something I’m not wild to see happen, and from a team chemistry standpoint could be a big problem. Both in terms of the trust of the players towards Coach Dixon and towards how they would view Goodman.

Plus — and this is just speculation on my part — it sure seems that Goodman is drawing this out to a ridiculous level either out of ego or in the belief/hope that an even bigger name will offer him.

Coach Paul Chryst is still a relatively blank canvas. Sure he’s been an outstanding Offensive Coordinator, but we have no idea how he will translate to being the head coach. We can project. We can believe. We can hope. But we don’t know.

Neither does anyone else. And one of the primary time-killers in the spring and summer months for college football media are lists. Best coaches, best hires, best players by position, etc. Then you can break them down by conference.

That’s where we are at right now. Lists.

Athlon, usually one of the first-to-the-market publishers of preview guides has a rather bizarre ranking of the Big East Coaches. Why is it bizarre? Consider that it includes the present members for the upcoming season, but also tosses the future members as well. This despite being a list just for this year. That means it is a list of 15 coaches rather than 8. Er… I realize expansiopocolypse can be confusing and convoluted, but this just seems silly.

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Positionally speaking, not geographically. We already covered that.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure that Coach Paul Chryst is looking to stock the lines with this recruiting class. Chris Dokish has a rundown on the recruiting targets for the entire offense and defense. He highlights specific players Pitt is or should be looking to get.

A good compliment to work with that, PantherLair (Rivals.com) has the scholarship board showing how many and what level of eligibility is at each position for Pitt. Chris Peak offers some thoughts on what the board shows.

By the numbers, Pitt’s deepest position is the offensive line with 14 players, but there are qualifiers that go with that figure.

The offensive line is front-loaded with upperclassmen; seven of the 14 linemen are juniors or seniors, and four more are sophomores. There is one redshirt freshman (center Artie Rowell) and two true freshmen (Adam Bisnowaty and Gabe Roberts) joining this summer. That leaves Pitt dangerously low at a position where it’s ideal to have numbers in every class, thus making the offensive line a recruiting priority in both quality and quantity.

The defensive line is also in need of prioritizing, especially at defensive tackle where the coaching upheaval of the past year plus has screwed the recruiting for that position (i.e., decommits).

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If you are a senior who goes undrafted by the NBA, the odds are stacked heavily against making it. Maybe there’s a chance in the summer leagues, but more likely you would find yourself either playing in the NBDL trying to get a crack. Maybe scoring the occasional 10-day contract because injuries have piled up to such a degree at the parent club that they need a body, or the team is trying so hard to tank they bring up guys who they figure can’t compete.

The smart play is to immediately look to the overseas leagues to start making money. Earn a good living for a while playing the game you love. You can earn a much better rate of pay, and one would like to hope start saving some to plan for the future. Trying to crack the NBA is more dream.

You do it, because when you were a kid playing. Whether in high school, college or even on the street; you dreamed of suiting up for your team in the NBA. To play on what is the biggest stage. Where everyone could see you play. Even if you are on the fringe of the NBA, making the leauge minimum as opposed to a bigger deal you could get in Europe or Russia.

Brad Wanamaker knows getting to the NBA is not as likely, but he’s going to stick with the poor pay of the NBDL a while longer.

Wanamaker knows sooner or later that he’ll have to make a decision on whether to chase the money or the dream of playing in the NBA.

“I’m only 22, and I feel like I have a lot of basketball ahead of me,” Wanamaker said. “I have a lot of time to make money. Right now, I’m still chasing my dream.”

He even left playing overseas to join the NBDL Austin Toros after the lockout ended for this year.

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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 2^nd, 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 16^th 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 1^st:

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

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