I’m not emotionally prepared to discuss yesterday at this point. Thankfully there is a basketball game to take my mind off of it (please?).
It’s a nooner on various local cable providers with ACC distribution — looks like a lot of options all over the country. For Pittsburgh, it is on WTAE.
Record-wise, NC State isn’t too different from Pitt. They are 10-4. They have one decent win over a major conference team (Tennessee). They have a horrid non-con loss (Wofford at home). Lost a road game in the state of Indiana (Purdue). Laid an egg of double-digit loss in the two games against good teams (WVU and Cinci). It’s a superficial comparison, but it works.
This despite some real talent on that team. There are three players that account for more than 1/3 of the available per game minutes. Trevor Lacey, BeeJay Anya and Lennard Freeman. Coincidentally, those are three key players who NC State and Mark Gottfried beat Pitt to get. Gottfried’s recruiting acumen has never been an issue. As you can guess, it has always been about getting production and consistency from said talent.
NC State has a very good offense, mediocre defense and their pace is about average. Pitt’s control of tempo will probably be their biggest issue. It is not a team that passes the ball. As expected with the talent they have, it is heavily reliant on one-on-one match-ups.
I am baffled at his struggles with Centers. He’s put three in the NBA (Blair, Adams and Gray) and a 4th playing professionally overseas – McGee.
The fact that we have one senior and one junior that started their careers here is not Pitt Basketball.
But how do you tell a team to lose the Division title.
What a crappy weekend.
Enough..with the Steelers, Pens and Pitt Football. I am tired of being totally embarrassed as a Pitt alum. And Jamie, what deal with the devil did you make to get this clown of an AAU coach as an assistant. A big help he’s been!
Then, I see piranha and blow job in the same sentence!!!
Friggin’ howling!!! Good night, thank you!!!
Let’s hear some good news on some legit coordinators this week. Oh todays weather was gorgeous and 56 degrees and sunny. Fitting!
This could be that year.
There are still some uncommitted defensive players that have interest in Pitt; we’ll see if we can close.
That’s why the guy should have been hiring staff for the last week rather than coaching MSU in their bowl game. I’m glad he was there in person to see that most recent Pitt abortion delivered in person. It would have been even better to have had the newly hired DC there also so that he could see and smell the stink that this house defense puts out up close and personal prior to his first attempts to exorcise those entrenched demons from this current squad.
Never forget Houston!
Did anyone notice or mention it looks as though we’ve recruited a bunch of old washed up white dudes? Or maybe we’re coaching them to play old washed up white dude style?
Not sure how every team we play has better athletes than us?
Running, dribbling, driving, dunking, shot making, shot blocking athletes.
And we have none.
I’d like to make an excuse that we are young… But that excuse doesn’t fly in basketball… Either you got it, or you don’t.
During the St. Bonnie game you could hear the coach yelling out play numbers, I doubt Pitt has a play book!
I will guarantee contacts have been made by HCPN this past week, and it was also a dead period in recruiting these past 2 weeks … only 1 contact (non-personal) per commit was allowed. If Pitt loses some commits immediately in the next few days, chances will be they weren’t coming here anyway.
The key is the DC getting on board ASAP, since there are so many uncommitted defensive recruits still left out there that Pitt could so dearly use on this team. It will take time for the new guy to meet and recruit these targets and of course the clock is ticking, the deadline being 2/4/15.
There are plenty of opportunities on this team for talented true Freshmen to compete for early playing time on Pitt’s defensive unit because we stink and the strengths of that smelly unit are all graduating. There is a lot of heavy lifting to be done with this defense come Spring. God help us!
BTW, Nard Dog’s discussion with the remaining coaching staff sure shouldn’t take very long. The first question I would ask of each coach, “did you find the need to throw up immediately after Friday’s bowl game”? Anyone that admits that they were physically sickened by such a pathetic Pitt finish to that game, could signify that they just may have enough self dignity left in the tank to be retained as a Pitt coach going forward. I still like the S & C coach. However a response to such a debacle by Coach Rudolph that it could be used as a motivational tool was such a poor analysis of the situation that he should never be retained. The appropriate response would have been admitting to a total coaching/team breakdown and making a personal public apology to the Pitt fan base for producing such a travesty in the first place. After that, he could embellish that abortion however he cared to.
Never forget Houstin!
I think we are in for a very long season.
Just taking a wait and see on the football front. Get staff in place, Get off-season S&C organized, Finalize recruiting.
Many (including myself) have read how the players love him and that there have been fewer injuries and that the players just look stronger. HOWEVER…
We have all noticed ho this team has faded in the 4th quarter in many games as well.
That could be mental(the young players haven’t learned how to win or how to play with a lead) or schematic (our coaches can’t make adjustments) or it’s just SOP (we have a culture of finding a way to lose).
But the 2 games I saw in person this year were Iowa & Akron. In both games our players just looked physically exhausted by the end of the 3rd quarter. I have never seen a team look as tired as we did coming off the field at the end of 3rd against Akron. While some of that can be attributed to spirit or confidence, we just looked dead tired.
Did anybody else see the same thing?
I am also surprised by the current coaches that some posters on here seem to want to keep.
As far as I’m concerned (and nobody really cares), I look at our current coaches like this:
On defense, get rid of them all. No need to even interview Palermo, Brekterfield, Haering or House. Although I like his attitude & credentials so far I’ve seen nothing from Douglass in the way of recruiting or improved play.
On offense:
Settle’s running backs had great production behind a great line but other than Hall has he recruited anybody?
Heuber lines have improved and he has shown he can recruit but he is ready to retire also.
Rudolph is the best of the lot. I would have no problem keeping him as OC but then you need to hire a qb coach.
Several have mentioned Lewis but what has he done? Boyd was still Boyd and no one else even showed a hint of developing this year.
How we ended up with Chris Jones as a starter is beyond me. The young man is trying, but I don’t feel he can play at the ACC level needed.
We have lost the NYC area kids. I believe they want to play in front of their friends and family. Look at the Big East teams.
Dixon get a big name NYC area recruiter now!
Nordenberg can’t be held responsible the the BB mess. All his time was spent screwing up football.
I’m thinking the next few years will be know as the “PITT Dark Ages of Sports”. As you can see I’ve already titled the book.
As Duzz would say, H2P…right?
2) Has anyone considered that none of the current ass’t staff coaches even want to stay at PITT? As we have read and talked about PITT is NOT a destination football program and that rings true for not just HCs but staff coaches also.
Staff coaches go somewhere because they want to work under a certain person not the particular school.
3) I’ll bet a dollar Narduzzi hasn’t hired his whole staff this week. If he has then I’m very wary he’s not getting the best he can for the money. There is absolutely no need to rush into position coaches at this point. After LOI Day they pretty much sit on their ass for eight weeks.
Reading all the comments makes it appear as though AAU coaches tell players to stay away fron Dixon.
