In Syracuse, Doug Marrone has a favorite word. That word: tremendous. He will apply it anything. Opportunities, potential of players, a dinner menu, a good pair of khakis, his thighs. Coach Paul Chryst is a man of few words, so it hasn’t been easy to crack the code to this point.
Here at Blather Labs, we have been parsing statements diligently to locate the “Word of Chryst.” This week, our research has yielded a potential hit.
The word appears to be: neat.
The O-line is doing a horrid job blocking? Well, that’s neat.
Pitt quarterback Tino Sunseri was sacked six times against Cincinnati, but coach Paul Chryst did not place all the blame on one player. “Certainly, the offensive line, you have five guys, and their job is to protect,” Chryst said. “We gave up one (sack) where we had both backs in there, and they both could have taken a hit off the quarterback. The quarterback has to get the ball out of his hands, and that means the receivers have to be precise in their routes. That’s one of the neat things about football. It takes all 11 guys, and that is a great example of it.”
How about the fact that the D-line can’t get any pressure up front? It’s sort of neat.
“One way is adding numbers to create pressure. Right now, it’s kind of neat that each week each team presents a little bit different challenge and you want to make sure you’re being smart with how you approach it,” Chryst said. “Certainly we pressured more in the Cincinnati game than we did the week before. We’re certainly looking at all different options and figuring out what’s best for Virginia Tech.”
Neat may not be the way you or I would describe disasters, but for Coach Chryst it’s all just a puzzle to solve.
Keep your eyes out for more examples of “neat” from Coach Chryst. Along with nifty, swell and even: keen.
Bottom line though, this is great for Pitt. Pitt keeps ND on the schedule for the foreseeable future. The ND game is the biggest on the schedule. Had ND gone to the Big 12, they would have had to agree to play more Big 12 football games. It looks like Pitt football is in for a rough couple of years. Pitt would clearly have been one of the teams that ND considered dropping.
This isn’t good for the ACC, it did not work for the Big East and will have similar challenges with the ACC.
The other good news, the ACC will be a ridiculously good lacrosse confrence. Syracuse, ND, Maryland, Duke, UNC and Virginia are all top 10 programs every year.
Also, would have like to see a 6-game committment. Again, Swofford falls short.
As a side note, ACC raises exit fee to a cool $50 million.
I can’t believe Swofford couldn’t force their hand and make them join for football.
#1. Let’s get this off the table. Notre Dame was never, ever, going to take their teams to the Big 12. There is no way, academically, and no way they were going to take their tennis and diving teams to Waco, and Lubbock.
#2. Love the Big Ten!! They would have never let this happen. Either all in or nothing. Conversation would have probably been something like this, “blow me”!!!
#3. Pitt will now lose games with Notre Dame. You now have 13 other teams will be demanding games!!!!!
***They get to join the best academic conference, they get to recruit the south even more so now, got their lacrosse, baseball and soccer teams in with the best conference***
And the ass kissing of Notre Dame begins again!!!
I don’t like it, but it’s not as big a problem for the ACC as it was for the BE.
I understand that.
ND was backed into a corner.
Were never gonna let their olympic sports flounder in the Big East
Never going to Big 12.
The only thing that I think ND could have said was, “look, if we have to join all in, we’re gonna join the Big Ten”
Got their cake and eatin too, stickin’ it right in everyones’ face!!!!
Neat!
I realize, “ya know” that all of you guys that comment on this blog, “ya know” have listened to these same interviews so I’m just going to, “ya know” see if you can figure out what that phraseology “ya know”, might be.
Its neat when a division II school doesnt beat your ass up and down your home field.
Its neat when you have to seriously prepare for Gardner Webb because its the only real shot you have at a victory this year.
Its neat when you actually look like a legitimate Division I football team on national television.
Its neat when your program isnt a national joke.
I could do this all day, kind of fun…ya know
There are tons of guys just like Chryst that have been great coaches. If you ever played sports you have probably played for one here or there that are good or great. A coach yelling in your ear or jumping up and down in the dugout, courtside or sidelines does not inspire. It become white noise to the players.
Additionally, if you were observant during camp you will notice that many of the assistants (Huxtable,Hueber,House) are very animated.
At any level, good and great players don’t need a cheerleader to have the will to win. It comes naturally as soon as you step between the lines.
Too much was made of Chryst’s personality by the media from the time his name surfaced in the coaching searches, and now it’s snowballed.
When the team struggles, fans get frustrated and angry. For whatever reason, the image of the coach trying to keep his composure only drives the frustration level of some of the fans even higher.
Wanny had some very visible meltdowns on the sidelines at times and more times than not, he came off looking he had even less control of his gameplan than it previously appeared. Given Wannstedt’s penchant for looking like he was usually a step behind the game as it was, that’s really saying something.
Brian Kelly is a red-faced, fire-breathing maniac on the sidelines at Notre Dame. While I’m sure at times he gets through to his players, I’ve also heard some national media types blast him for maybe going beyond “animated” and crossing the line into “bully”. I’ll be honest, I think he looks like an absolute ass most of the time when he does it. While I’m sure he gets through to his players to a point, I’d rather not have that be the image of my team’s coach that everyone remembers.
If Chryst is guilty of anything, it’s that he may be a little too much in the opposite direction. You don’t want a lunatic on the sidelines, but you also don’t want Chryst to be Pitt’s version of former Pirates manager John Russell, either.
That said, I’d like to ask T.J. Clemmings if he thinks Chryst still lacks fire after that exchange on the sidelines last week.
All things being equal, I’ll take the head coach who looks like he has it together 95% of the time. If I may draw a parallel to another local team, Dan Bylsma of the Pens is very much the same type of personality as Chryst. He seldom gets animated on the bench even in situations where it clearly calls for it. It’s worked out well for him and he’s one of the most respected coaches in the league by both Penguins and non-Penguin players.
Granted, he’s dealing with professionals as opposed to student-athletes, but that may be even more of a reason for Pitt to have a guy who projects that sense of calm and composure.
I agree on Tino and VT. It will be time for a change.
Come the Gardner-Webb game “Tino time” is over,,,,”The new fad is Chad”!
only i thougt it was 6 games a year i was close
ND leaveing big east my my what did they say abought us when we did the same thing so now what does that make them.
This has got to stick in the collective UCONN/RU craw. Now entry into the ACC is doubtful and they just lost the team their fans view as the evil, but necessary foe.
With Calhoun near retirement or Dante’s inferno, whichever comes first, UCONN is set up to take a huge fall.
The Big East just got burned again…right before they negotiated their TV deal. Oopsie! There goes their national draw…wait till Boise State falls off the map.
Time for Pitt to get its crap together and hire someone who works at ND. They are smart!
them play 6 games not 5 becuse they really only gave the ACC 2 games.
they play pitt all most every year any way the same with BC and miami so if you play thoes team any way.
then they have only giveing the ACC2 games so knowing this the ACC should have said come on bord but we want 6 games.
Now, if you were referring to ACC basketball, I don’t have a clue especially come playoff time
