wbb, as a fan you can critique his actions and raise concerns, but it’s his team. His longevity as coach should be determined by the results he produces.

Here’s hoping for better records, better bowl games, and better fan support both at home and at a bowl game (regardless of the location);-)

We are critical of Chryst’ Strength & Conditioning coach hire. But what we don’t know is what budget Chryst has to work under. Perhaps this is the best hire Paul can afford given his budget constraints. Either way we’ll soon see just how Pitt performs on the field this fall.

As an aside the Steelers have a good S&C coach and look at what happened to their season. Just sayin..,

Didn’t the last guy have all kinds of experience and certificates and seminar awards?

No one liked him, including people at NC ST., because he was a flexibility guy instead of a strength guy.

Seemed he knew the “science”.

ECH, reread what Chas wrote. It’s not that he is inexperienced it’s that he is grossly underqualified.

MariettaMike, budget has nothing to do with Chryst’s hires. His hires are his hires. Period. End of story.

I’m sure the Florida Gators (4-8) have a rocket scientist for their S&C coach.

Good morning, good emotional read this morning, I’m just not feeling it.

Because this seems to be the first time I remember that Chas has taken a strong opinion and I respect his opinion, I am somewhat swayed. Personally I just can’t get all jazzed over this. I’m in more of a wait and see kind of mood.

This is another example of Chryst’s method of “I did it my way” and I don’t think he cares what any of us think about it. It is his ass that is on the line. There are a lot of micromanagers among us.

Usually you get the best results when you hire the right people and let them do their thing. This is the feeling I have about Chryst. Only time will tell. Unfortunately results will be very hard to evaluate on this one. Unless our tongues are hanging out and our linemen are bowled over in September, how will we really know. I guess wins and losses, but when has the weight room got credit for a win or a loss?

While many are down on House, and I am not overwhelmed with recruiting so far, the defensive results were not bad considering what he had to work with.

As far as PSU goes, I don’t really give a Rat’s a#$ or flying f#$% take your pick. If you worry that much about the competition Frankie, you will never win. When we were at our best, PSU was at it’s best. Anyway, they are not even in our conference. We need to outrecruit FSU, Clemson, and Miami if we are to be relevant in our new conference.

It does piss me off that PSU gets a big article in today’s Post about a VA linemen that still wants to go to PSU. I don’t get how that is newsworthy.

Anyway, I am enjoying the debate/rant this morning, good job.

Four Panthers did make the all ACC Bowl Team…VA lineman gets bigger headlines than Boyd making All American Frshman team.

@ ward….excellent points at 8:45

@Gordo…..my bad buddy. Used some poor choice of words. Appreciate your comments.

My beef with this hire and it’s just another in a long string of wisconsin friends, family and known associates. The Group think of this group has got to minimal and since a lot of them are getting their first chance at running/directing their respective duties, as ppl have said, it’s all ‘yes’ men. This staff looks/acts very confused and we’ve heard of some of the terrible coordination on the recruiting side.

Add another ‘learner’ to the staff. Makes sense to me 🙂

@Wardapalooza Yes, Chryst’s hires are his hires period. I agree. But Chryst does not have an unlimited budget. No way can Pitt compete with Georgia or Alabama or Penn State on $$ matters in its athletic departments budget. We just have to give Coach Chryst some space here before flying off the handle so to speak. For the most part, Pitt’s losses last season were, in part, due to execution not conditioning. I suspect the same will be true in 2014.

When you look at the great staffs of Majors and Sherrill, that included Jimmy Johnson, Foge Fazio, the beloved Buddy Morris and plenty of others, did they all have credentials or connections.

In life it is more important who you know than what you know most times, at least when you start out.

You seldom make it without great mentors.

Will Chryst beat the odds? Well isn’t that what he has been asked to do?

Win at Pitt LOL

you all were on gorman from the trib he went to penn state i know that.
what we should do is call or text him and ask why penn state is hireing a coach who will be asked if he covered up a gang rape that some of of his team did does penn state need franklin with that trail comeing up after what his school has been thru all ready what would his ansewer be to that

Added another risk into our program. But to be frank, there were questions about our previous S&C guy from the beginning. To the point where he was my #1 worry with the new incoming coaching class. I don’t think it would really take much for a ‘step up’, which I actually think this may be.

I know the kids didn’t like the previous S&C C, and why would you work hard for someone you don’t like. I don’t know if this is the situation, but in terms of S&C, the best guys I know aren’t the ones with the fancy degrees. Those degrees and certs come later, they’re the best because their health, their strength, is their life.

This hire bothers me much less than the House hire, which I felt was completely off the mark for a team who’s best asset had been their Defense only a season ago.

Only worry I have is from the science/health side seeing potential issues / injuries crop up in the athletes.

Over time coaches develop networks and learn who the up-and-coming assistants are. Coaches keep people in mind for when openings occur in their staff. For PC, his network is very small and tied to Wisconsin. As PC gets around more in the coaching world, attends meetings, gold outings, his network will grow and he will hire more worldly.
H2P

POINT is this why hire house and this strength coach yes they may both work out and be great hires
but why take that chance he could have hired a really good and proven DC at that time and one of then was from the Burgh.
he could have hired a proven strength coach who worked with a pro team one of there asst just like the MAC team did that i posted abought before.

it is not that they wont work out they might but why take that chance when he did not need to.

is it just becuse he is stuck on wisconsin men

Truth be told, if Pitt can play at Wisconsin’s level, I’ll be more than happy. Right now we are just stabilizing from our coaching carousal. H2P!

Andrew Taglianetti ?@Andrew_Tags

“never met him. Current players say good things however!”

1:10 PM – 8 Jan 14

********
Former Pitt Safety Andrew Taglianetti responding on Twitter to news that Ross Kolodziej is officially hired as Pitt’s Strength & Conditioning Coach.

Remember it was Taglianetti who went public calling fired S&C Coach Todd Rice “incompetent.”

Well, the players lobbied for Dixon and that worked out pretty well.

INFO for you franklin to tell penn state he will or will not take the job on thur.
i dont care what you say if he takes it that is bad news for pitt.
maybe not the end of the world but still bad news for us. read some of the posts on dokish.

I get a kick out of all the comments/opinions in this forum but one on this thread made me laugh out loud….

Steve Pederson is a “program destroyer”.

I’m sorry, how many years was it since we made it to a bowl before he brought Walt in? Eight?

How many years had it been since we won a NCAA Tournament game before he brought Ben in? Nine?

Before calling someone a “program destroyer” you need to look at the facts and ask yourselves… Were we better the 10 years before SP arrived, or the 10 years after?

He may not be the Tom Jurich, win at all cost, savior you’re looking for… But to say he’s destroyed our programs is just not true. Even through all the turmoil, we’re still better all around than we were before he got here… Sans the Pitt Script and boring uniform colors. 😉

I also don’t understand the notion of any year/season as being a “waste” or “wasted”.

Whether it’s a big win or disappointing loss, I never think I “wasted” my time with Pitt… I’m always thankful to have the opportunity to watch and be entertained by my favorite team. Win or lose. It’s entertainment. Nothing to cry about.

You are making too much sense for this board Cali.

We are the micromanaging nitpickers, forget that big picture stuff, LOL

Pitt2Cali, Johnny Majors’ first stint at Pitt was great; second stint at Pitt was pretty bad.

Same can be said for Steve Pedersen.

By bad, GC. That’s why I rarely post… I’m too rational! Lol!

That being said, I really do honestly appreciate all the irrational thoughts and comments by the great community of Pitt fans here on this site… I am always entertained and sometimes even learn a thing or two!!!

Wbb,

While I don’t think SP’s second stint has been a smashing success… He has help solidify our future by leading us into the ACC… Would the ACC have wanted us 15 -20 years ago?

UConn was the initial choice for the ACC instead of Pitt but the BC AD stopped it — this is well documented. Also well documented is the fact that in addition to UConn, at least both Louisville and West Virginia had applied for ACC admission .. and probably Cincy and Rutgers also.

Pitt was picked because of the TV market, successful BB program and academics.

pitt2cali, I agree that his efforts in his first stint are partly responsible for us being in the ACC right now.

However, what is unforgiveable is what he had turned the FB program into …. by making 2 horrific hires within a one month period.

Even more exasperating, is the fact that he repeated history. He fired a coach who was winnning (but maybe justified in both cases) and replaced that coach with a worse candidate.

I don’t know why people have a problem with this but when you take the action to fire a somewhat successful coach, you better ave a plan already in place to replace him. In both instances (at Neb and Pitt) he was clueless.

So if basketball had something to do with it, SP deserves at least a little credit, right? After all, he had the vision and oversaw the revitalization of BB. He certainly did not “destroy” anything. (Pitt Stadium doesn’t count!) lol

“Horrific hires”? a bit dramatic, don’t you think?

We’ll never know if Haywood would have been a good coach or not, and obviously there’s no way anyone could have known he would fly off the handles and force us to let him go… How was that man’s stupidity in anyway Pederson’s fault?

And who would have know that complete jackass Fraud would leave after one year?… Again that’s on Fraud, not Pederson. In my opinion.

Anyway, that’s yesterday’s news…. Let’s move on 🙂

@gc

I am with you on this one. I respect Chas and I realize that he has more insight to what happens on the practice field and in the locker/weight room. But, I like the fact that Chryst is loyal to the guys who are loyal to him. At the same time, I don’t think that he is stupid and that he would hire someone who did not truly believe could do the job. So, I am very willing to let him make his choice for a S&C coach.

If anyone has any thoughts about where we stand with some of the recruits who we still want to get to commit, let’s hear about that.

H2P and H2S&C

@Pitt2Cali

Glad to have you commenting today. Welcome to our little den of panic.

H2P

While I am in no way a fan of Steve, you have to take the good with the bad. Putting money into our Olympic sporting sites and Baseball helped get us in to the ACC as well. Wbb while you are right that UConn was first pick, at least we were second, there is no reason to discount Pedersen’s contributions.

While most here long for Pitt Stadium, at the time Pete’s decision made sound business sense. It got us the Pete, which saved basketball as much as Howland and Dixon.

Most don’t remember or conveniently forget the public outrage over building Heinz and PNC.

It took a smooth political operator to accomplish what happened.

While the hiring of Heywood was a travesty most thought at the time Graham was a good thing. He obviously can recruit and coach.

Other than the most Pitt-centric, few in this town give a tinker’s damn about an on-campus stadium or Pitt Script, or long for the days of Dave Wannstedt.

Don’t sell Heinz Field and the City short, visiting fans have told me how great it is to have all the amenities and will come back.

None have mentioned missing walking around the Cathedral lawn. Oakland congestion is a nightmare,the Pete is bad enough, I can’t imagine the traffic with 60,000 these days.

“It is not his team, it is our team. I have been a season ticket holder for several years now (as as many as 5 sideline tickets for 3 years ina row). While I don’t expect to be part of the decision making process, I reserve the right to raise concerns as to how the leadership is handling things”

wbb, the above quote is yours. You Sir are quite confused. Until Coach Chryst receives his pink slip from the Pitt Athletic Department, the football team is HIS! It also belongs in part to each and every paid employee on the staff that has direct ties to the program from Chryst all the way down to the equipment manager. But most of all, it belongs to the players currently on the team, because it is their sweat, blood, and overall commitment of their time and effort that creates the essence of what a team is in the first place.

Because you have a vested financial stake in multiple season tickets to attend Pitt football games, that makes you a FAN of that team. For the time period it takes to play the game, you are the temporary owner of the seats that you’ve paid for, that’s it.

So HCPC can, and probably will, continue (based on his track record so far) to do exactly what he wants to do regarding his coaching, management and recruiting of HIS team without much regard to what outsiders like all of us think about it.

We don’t necessarily have to like what he’s doing with HIS team and we have the right to bitch about those issues that we take umbrage with, but HCPC is THE GUY responsible for the program, he owns it. He owns the praise when things go right, he owns the criticism when things go wrong. The buck stops with him, as will this S&C coach hire that he has decided on.

I hope that he knows what he is doing in this case because it will definitely impact the outcomes of future games as well as having an impact on the health of the palyers on this team.

I have to believe that Chryst thinks that this is the right guy for the job or else he wouldn’t have hired him. Coach Chryst is neither STUPID or uncaring about this Pitt team. Conversely, I believe that he cares very much about this team and its players.

Does that mean that this hire couldn’t possibly be proven down the road to be a disaster, ABSOLUTELY NOT! But can anyone of us determine at this point that it’s already a disaster as of today, once again,absolutely not!

We are all going to have to wait and see, PERIOD. Myself, I don’t like the look of the hire from the outside for many of the reasons that have previously been eluded to already, but I hope that HCPC proves us all to be a bunch of worried blowhards a year or two down the road.

In the meantime bitch if you prefer, but the guy whose team it is, will continue to follow his own plan without giving much regard to the oppressive chatter that constantly surrounds him and the program from all those other outsiders that supposedly know better than him, and that includes the likes of all of us.

Dr. Tom, I don’t think anyone thinks Chryst is stupid or uncaring. I think some of us think he promotes his buddies over seeking out more qualified staff. It’s his team so he has the right to do that. But as fans we have the right to bitch. By the way in the case, the oppressive cahtter was caused directly by Chryst. Chryst could have hired a S&C coach from any small school and no one would have said anything. It’s only an issue because he hired such an unqualified candidate. I just think that Chryst could really help himself out by hiring more qualified assistants instead of constantly hiring his buddies.

Maybe Chryst thinks he is an up and comer and didn’t want to lose him.

We always reserve and protect our god given right to bitch. For many of us it is all we got.

Maybe Chryst has put in a system and does not want to change it. If it is what they use at Wisconsin it might be good and it is what he knows.

pitt2cali, there is no excuse for Pedersen not to know that Haywood had a child out of wedlock, especially since he was pushing the disciplinary/ethical issue so hard. This information was out there.

Any HR rep will tell you that if you hire a guy, pay him handsomely and he leaves within a year, it is a horrifc hire … unless he leaves the place much better than he found it, which he did not. Anytime you hire someone (FB coach or otherwise) from across country, one the first things you need to do is get a good understanding just how committed the guy is to moving to this area … of course, in this case, you had to look thru all of the BS.

I guess I’m a bit biased in this case … I am proud to say that I was the first to term this guy as a snake oil salesmen on this site the very day of his hiring press conference. I heard it on the radio and wondered just how you could throw so much money to this windbag .. he just seemed so insincere to me.

Of course , the other warning sign is how quick he left his first HC job (1 year) to go to Tulsa and how anxious he was to leave there after justa few years.

Dr Tom, I don’t necessarily disagree with what you wrote but remember … we were committed to Pitt long before we ever heard of Paul Chryst, and most likely, long after he leaves.

Emel, no worries my man. No offense taken. Appreciate your comments as well. I hear you with the concerns over groupthink and not expanding our horizons. I think it was Wardapalooza on this thread who said that Engram was really the only coach he hired without Wisconsin connections. (Who is also one of the best coaches/recruiters on the staff if not the best) I agree with that completely.

I am generally supporting PC and his plan, but I agree that this is of concern. Was completely disappointed with the hiring of House which I think many of us were, and for good reason.

I have a question that I don’t know the answer to. How do we know that all these coaches connected to PC are ‘yes’ men? Isn’t it possible that he hired them because their familiarity, trust level, and communication is such that he can/does expect them to call him out when they think he is wrong. Usually it’s the people closest to me that tell it to me straight so to say. I don’t know. It is an important question to ask though. Is there group think on this staff and is learning on the job staff seriously hindering the plan PC has in place. I’m a bit wary in some sense and trusting of PC in others. In other words confused and just wishing it was Spring.

I think the S&C coach was hired to get the program closer to what Chryst knew at Wisconsin. The guy did grad assistant coach a full winter program at Wisconsin. Maybe this guy butted heads with the former S&C coach also.

That being said, there still needs to be some changes made with the D staff. I doubt House is leaving but the coaching assignments are bizarre with the sharing of duties.

Cali – Everyone and their mother who looked at Todd Graham’s resume knew he was a 1-2 year max coach. If Pederson did more homework and knew what a Southern Texan / Southern Baptist and his family would feel long term about the Burg. I think he should of slowed down and looked bigger picture. I don’t like Pederson, he presented to our teams a few times. He wasn’t genuine in my opinion. Lastly, Athletics has had some success mostly in basketball but I wonder where we would be worse, better, etc we would be with a better overall AD. No one will know more sure but to just compare him to the previous AD isn’t fair. Didn’t Jeff Long hire Jaime? I’m not positive but thought so. Take care.

wbb, Kudos again for your early call on Fraud, but as it turns out he has made it through two years at Arizona and seems to be doing ok. Obviously Pedersen was under considerable duress when he made the call after the first fiasco.

He had a very bad month all his decisions three of them bit him hard in the ass but if you look at each individually they weren’t that bad. When you put them all together it was a disaster.

Firing Wanny only looks bad in retrospect because of what happened afterward. You can blame Pedersen for poor planning and should have had his ducks in a row as they say.

I don’t know that having a non-traditional relationship in today’s world is a deal breaker.
No one could have predicted Heywood’s poor behavior, just ask Ken Melani.

Graham was an up an comer, it is hindsight that tells you he was not worth the risk, otherwise why did ASU hire him.

All of this seems to have made us a critical paranoid bunch.

you know i did not like graham i said so not long after Wbb did but i still think are AD did something
lied to graham or would not let him hire who he wanted i think there was some noise in the paper abought a hire that he said no to.
as much as graham is a ass hole i think he graham said he would not work for are AD one more day
becuse he was a pain in the ass

gc, not knowing about the SI article, I thought Wanny’s firing was premature considering he had the best 3 year run in 30 years of the program. I thought he was providing stability, something this program sorely needed. Even after the SI article, I thought a coach who was an alum and was even giving a salary discount to the school should have been given time to clean tings up. I still feel that way.

But to expound on my claim that Pedersen was clueless, the same thing happened here that had happened at Nebraska. He had to settle on the 4th or 5th choice. I believe he originally targeted Golden and then Holgerson, only to find they were all but hired by others. He then approached both Graham and Sumlin only to find he couldn’t afford them. He may have even approached someone else before Haywood — can’t recall. And of course, he had no idea what the market bore and what a discount he was getting from Wanny.

Again, if you’re going to fire someone, you better have a plan in mind on whom you can get for replacement.

Just in case anyone disputed the fact that he gave an alma mater discount … and more evidence how dedicated he was here

link to espn.go.com

I don’t disagree with any of that wbb.

I do think that in addition to the SI article the fact that Wanny lost most of the big games especially the Cinci game got Pedersen thinking we could do better. Easier said than done.

No doubt he was a Pitt guy and gave the University a huge discount. In hind sight, I bet Pedersen wishes he gave him that additional year, I think we all do.

That should be a lesson to anyone that wants to fire a coach at the drop of a hat. How many times do you get a better one, just look at the NFL.

Right on, gc.

I get a kick out of all the comments/opinions in this forum but one on this thread made me laugh out loud….
Steve Pederson is a “program destroyer”.

I’m sorry, how many years was it since we made it to a bowl before he brought Walt in? Eight?

How many years had it been since we won a NCAA Tournament game before he brought Ben in? Nine?

Before calling someone a “program destroyer” you need to look at the facts and ask yourselves… Were we better the 10 years before SP arrived, or the 10 years after?

I don’t think most of us had a problem with Cornhole the first time around, other than taking away Pitt script, asking the Networks to refer to PITT as PITTSBURGH and of course blowing up our on Campus Stadium.

Hey wait a minute,,,let me xxxxxx out “I don’t think most of us had a problem with Cornhole the first time……

haha

@ gordo.

Concur with your assessments. My experience with ppl that were on my payroll is; they always went along with whatever my agenda was. I can’t remember many times or any times, someone said anything different.

And I went along 99.5% of the time of what the National Marketing Director wanted to do.
The .5% was when I moved everyone to a different company. lol

I have had an opportunity to speak with three athletic directors about Pederson. Two are at institutions with consensus top 20 programs in football and basketball. One is at a program on par with Pitt. All three believe he should not be leading an Athletic Department. This is telling. One used the term paranoid and unwilling to change when something isn’t working. Not my words!

I look at how our womens bball team had to go winless in the conference for nearly two years because he couldn’t pull the trigger on Agnes. Nice lady, wrong person for Pitt. He tries to shove square pegs into round holes. He has been trying to cover for himself in mens bball and baseball by having some of the easiest schedules in the entire country. Noone respects his work. Pitt bball is perhaps rightly or wrongly feeling the heat because of scheduling.

The ACC move was not his doing. He was here. Pitt was going to be left out because other AD’s don’t like him or trust.

The Peterson Events Center was not his doing. Pitt had a wealthy donor that predicated that building. Pederson was in charge when that building came to being. This is done in spite of him, not because of him.

College AD’s think he completely missed the boat when he took the football team off campus. That is part of the higher education experience that we can never provide a young athlete. There will never be traditions at your stadium when it is shared with the most successful football franchises in the US.

Sorry about the rant, but any mention of that man, gets my blood boiling to the point that I need to vent.

One last note, Gateways Armstead Williams just transferred back from Purdue to …..Duquesne! The grass ain’t always greener away from home. The grass is greener where you take care of it. It is easier to take care of it when you have the support of friends and family on a local level. Perhaps that is another reason I don’t care for Pedersons work. He just ain’t one of us and never will be.

this will happen if penn state hires franklin some tv station or news paper will do a story true or not they wont care.
it will read like this penn state hires coach franklin who is involved with a rape cover up at old school vandy etc etc
then it will say something like this penn state did not do there do delgence after there own rape scandel etc etc
this is a prediction they will do it for the rateings

4 pitt players make all ACC bowl team

Glad the comments have finally moved on from the sky is falling panic. So far I like the way Paul Chryst’s program is proceeding, from what I can observe in terms of player commitment, the team coming together, player quality both in terms of character off the field and individual ability/progress on it as well as overall team progress on the field. The CEO has to make his own judgements about his hires. Based on the progress so far I anticipate good results over time. Call me a goofy optimist but I am willing to wait and see and expect some satisfying results in the years to come. I also refuse to be worried about Penn State regardless of who they manage to hire as their coach. I’m old enough to remember when Pitt would beat PSU 3 of 5 times on a regular basis. We may not get back to exactly that but 6 of 11 isn’t bad. When we get there and win 7 to 10 games almost every year I’m sure some of us will still find somethings to worry and bitch about. Hey, that’s why its called Blather. Enjoy the ride! HTP!

Still don’t know why everyone is shocked. HCPC is quiet and I really think he doesn’t have much…..confidence. I have no idea how this guy will turn out but what this hire does show without a doubt is PC will not bring in experienced assistant coaches who are not yes men. I know some on here will say I’m crazy but the guy lacks confidence and dare I say experience and he can’t be bringing guys who will show him up or not agree with him.

if franklin is hired penn state coach larry johnson said he will leave pitt should make him asst head coach and co DC TO GET HIM TO COME TO PITT HE IS THE ACE RECRUITER THERE

Everyone calm down. I heard from a reliable source that Ross K once stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.

I johnson wants respect and he thinks penn state has disrespected him bye hireing franklin just saying give him some titles and he might come great recruiter

I’m happy with Pitt’s football coaching staff. We’ve come to some stabilization in staffing, now it’s time to get better as a football team. Paul will get Pitt to be more competitive but it takes time. Let’s be thankful that our program it turning in the right direction. Pitt easily could have won three more games but didn’t because of poor execution or mistakes in judgment. In the off-season, Paul has the opportunity to work on the intangibles that may help Pitt win without too much “surgery.” Hail to Pitt and Paul Chryst!

dhuffdaddy
Your sources don’t sound very credible. Not just speaking negatively about a colleague but speaking negatively to a person that will post the information on the internet. Nice.
To say Pederson had nothing to do with anything good that has happened at Pitt while he was employed is a joke. He is responsible for the good and the bad.

They aren’t friends of athletic directors. They are the athletic director’s. I have known them all for years so the conversations aren’t generalities. I trust what they say because they have no reason not to speak what they feel.

I wouldn’t put their name to what they say as that would be violative of a trust. I don’t tell them to give me info so I can go add to a blog. Most of the time we talk about litigation between university and athletes. I go over protocols with administrations and the respective medical staffs. Conversations cover a myriad of topics.

Each worries often about disposable income of patrons at the gate as well as donors and endowments. They worry about the gameday experience at 100k stadiums and how to keep selling tickets when many would prefer to stay home and watch the game on the 60 inch tv. Think what you want, I respect that rocket.

They do not consider themselves colleagues with Steve P. Acquaintances yes and collegial, yes. I never said he didn’t have anything to do with anything good that has occurred at Pitt. I do struggle with creating a long list of good. At the end of the day, it is his legacy at Pitt. If it was your legacy, how would you feel about what has been accomplished? What did he do so good for instance.

Now remove yourself from the Pitt program. What did he do good at Nebraska? So has it been more bad than good? Most people get fired when they do their respective jobs poorly. Poor would be my grade for him, not fail. I would give him a 6 out of 10. What is your score?

I would give him a 7 out of ten.

The Pete
Olympic facilities
Great basketball program
Heinz Field and South Side facilities
Sorry. I was not a Pitt Stadium fan. It was an embarrassment.

Not too different. I can respect a 7.

I was not a great fan of Pitt Stadium either, but I do think an on campus stadium trumps what we have now. The game experience is used against Pitt in recruiting. They should be strategic in their thinking and real estate deals to make room for an on campus facility. At that point, they can bring some lasting traditions to the ball yard.

I went to the University of Pittsburgh between 1971 and 1975. Came back many times during my freshman dental school days to watch Pitt win their national championship. I cherish my memories of Pitt stadium & being on campus. The place was a dump.

Petersen Events Center is a fabulous facility that stands on its footprint. Heinz Field is a modern facility as well. It is easy to get to, lots of parking and things to do around it on the north shore (including the casino which is a favorite of mine), and it’s a venue that has a beautiful view of the city. Heinz Field may not be the perfect venue for Pitt football but it sure is a much better stadium then Pitt stadium ever was.

Off topic. Dr. Tom where did you go to Dental school?