Let me echo (in a variation) the comments Paul Zeise made about “rooting” for the Big East’s survival. I’m rooting for the football schools in the Big East to survive. USF, Louisville, Rutgers, Cinci and even UConn. They’ve been stuck in the same boat as Pitt for a while. And their path really doesn’t get any easier. They’re stuck in the conference because there is no other choice right now. These aren’t programs that haven’t put any effort into their football and sports. They aren’t coasting on the conference. Yet they are stuck. It could very easily have been Rutgers or UConn heading to the ACC instead of Pitt or Cuse, and we’d be bemoaning Pitt’s plight.
Yeah, I have nothing but contempt for most of the conference framework. The basketball-side that controls too much. The continuing kow-towing to Notre Dame. Even that chunk of media that somehow romanticizes the Big East of the 80s as something pure — when it was created solely to make money for the programs and try to shield basketball-only schools from the growing power of college football. And the host of other issues.
That doesn’t mean I want the football schools screwed.
I watched some of the media day activities.
Interim Commissioner Joe Bailey definitely put the “Interim” in the title. He just didn’t want to be there and couldn’t have been less enthusiastic to speak first. It does appear that the Big East might have a real commissioner named by the end of August — just in time to try and negotiate a new TV deal. There are five unnamed finalists.
One of the people is thought to be Associate Big East Commissioner for Football, Nick Carparelli, Jr. He followed Bailey and I have to admit to being impressed. He actually talked up the Big East. Not simply in terms of markets — like Bailey and Marinatto before that. But in terms of the product. Yeah, it’s a tough sell, but he was actually making it.
I don’t see the basketball schools letting someone like Caparelli getting the gig, even if he is in-house. He’s a football guy. He doesn’t have Providence ties (Syracuse for an MBA). He worked for the Syracuse and Notre Dame Athletic Departments on the football side for both. He actually has an understanding of the football side of things beyond simply putting up with it. Admittedly I think for the sake of the football schools, the Big East needs to go outside the offices in Providence, but I have little faith that this will yield results beyond hiring a basketball guy from somewhere else.
And that just sucks for the football schools in the Big East.
There isn’t a school among the football schools who would feel sorry for Pitt so why waste the energy?
They have highly paid people running their ships…if they can’t stay afloat, so be it.
Finally and a bit off topic….I mesmorized the people at the athletic department at Pitt this week and this continues to be my major area of concern.
I increased my monthly donation (which they missed by a month–but they are human) and when they corresponded with me to confirm, I asked them to tell me what their “vision” was. What goal was the department striving to achieve and what is their view of the world they serve.
I did not get and will not get an answer.
And that is the problem as I see it, you can’t lead people unless you have a destination in mind.
Pitt’s athletic department still does not have an identity, no real higher purpose and nothing that they foresee in their future.
Want to know why Pitt athletics have come across as 2nd rate? Ask yourself what valuable and successful organization lacks a sense of self and purpose.
What kind of culture exists inside our own athletic department? We know they are good at balancing the budget and pissing off big time boosters (fund raising levels are below par compared to other schools).
I wish Pitt’s other sports programs didnt suck so much. Wrestling is very good now but its not part of the ACC. What is Pitt doing to field a lacrosse team which does have a place in the ACC?
Why does Pitt continue to be cheap?
I like the balance between academics and athletics but what is Pitt doing to ensure athletic success in all their sports?
Did you see where we placed in the Director’s Cup this year? Pathetic.
We now have the facilities (outside a track field) so what’s the excuse? Pitt is leaderless.
While ND will tell them face-to-face how the ACC will definitely be their choice if and when the want their FB team to join a conference, it will be totally disingenueous.
By joining the B10, ND will:
1) get much more money from TV and bowl arrangements,
2) will greatly reduce the traveling expense of its Olympic sports, and
3) will be able to maintain its 3 most revered FB rivalries aside from USC.
The only reason that ND wouldn’t join the B10 is that they don’t get favorable coverage which would involve national coverage of all of its games — something that the ACC will concede.
My main knock against the guy is the whole adios Script / groundhog logo / no-mas Pitt brain-fart before he left. Still rankles me. And to a lesser extent, the hiring of Mike Haywood (I thought it was a mistake even before he bailed out Stevie-P by committing career suicide).
Look at the positive moves (which even I gotta concede far outweigh losing the script): He brokered the move to the ACC, which will prove huge financially (and respect too) for football. He brought “Pitt” back. He’s brought back (soon) the PSU game. He got us out of the dump that was Pitt Stadium (great location, bad facility), and into shared facilities with the Steelers (better facilities improves recruiting). Hoops is better than ever. Wrestling is (perhaps) better than ever, certainly as good as ever. Just to name a few.
You knock him for lacrosse? (FWIW, I’d add mens & womens ice hockey to that list). Wow, tough grader.
Past 10 years: Heinz Field, new South Side Sports Complex, Petersen Events Center, new complex for baseball, softball and soccer, new gymnastics center, new wresting facilities and they are working on plans to upgrade the track and field facilities. So Pitt has or will be spending SIGNIFICANT dollars on every sport in relation to our total athletic budget.
Gheeez, guy, how much more do you want?
The good moves made by the athletic department should not be dismissed.
But, if we are ever going to at least match the sum of our parts, we have to have a goal, a vision of what we hope to achieve. We don’t have that.
We have a lot of ingredients to be successful, but since we don’t have a vision, there isn’t anything to measure our efforts except wins and losses.
Of course those count, but that doesn’t set us apart.
Everyone wants to win, but few know how to win. Those that do start with a vision and work toward that. Whether they reach their destination is almost inconsequential….the journey carries its own rewards.
But if you don’t have a vision, you don’t have a journey. You just wander.
At Pitt, we wander.
That is what hurts the most.
I give money, but unlike PSU folks I DO ASK QUESTIONS.
My vision? A self supporting athletic department with 2 more varsity sports and a renewed focus on club sports. Where the purest student athletes call home.
Pitt needs to stand for something. PSU had one creep of a head football coach for fifty years. Pitt? Vegas has the over/under at 12.
Seems like both approaches have failed. I don’t care about PSU, but I care about Pitt. Time for us to define our brand and stamp it.
