To get out of the BB negativity here are some items about the football program…
First – here is the UPMC LiveWire 2016 LOI Day Special program – 50 minutes of Pitt fun. Enjoy!!
In breaking news Pitt wants more asses in those yellow seats. Not that we haven’t heard that before but AD Barnes has set specific goals and started the process by having the season ticket renewal forms arrive at the season ticket holders’ homes the day after we landed our best recruiting class in eight years… smart move actually.
Athletic director Scott Barnes set the bar high for everyone — coaches, players, the ticket office and fans — when he revealed Monday an ambitious plan to sell a record number of Pitt full-season packages at Heinz Field: 53,775, an increase of more than 16 percent from last year. Two years ago, Pitt sold 40,696.
I have to say this item cracks me up. After all the fanfare (pun intended) with Barnes soliciting and getting applications for a Panthers Fans experience Committee and all the hoopla surrounding it we get this amount of fan participation in their first major action. Well, read for yourself…
Also, Barnes and his recently created Panthers Fans Experience Committee sent out 38,000 surveys to ticket buyers and alumni within 100 miles of campus. Barnes said 7 1/2 percent were returned, with a total of 1,700 suggestions.
“We are going to dive into that and really see what our fan base is thinking,” he said.
As an AD Barnes is a great straight man and sets up a joke nicely. I’ll tell you what they were thinking, that 92.5% of the self-professed “fans” thought that Pitt football wasn’t worth five minutes of their valuable time to fill out a freaking survey. Well, I sent mine back the day I received it, wrote down every suggestion I had read on here, and stated that he should read this blog if he wanted a pulse of the Pitt fan’s thoughts and complaints. Of course my earlier request to be on that Fan Committee was shot down… as were many others. That got a lot of attention from people in the area wanting to take part.
Man, if I were him I wouldn’t be publicly advertising the appalling lack of interest by our Pitt fans. That is as embarrassing as having 85% of the fan’s seats at Heinz having been emptied by the middle of the 3rd quarter, which we have seen too many times.
“Hmmm – Let’s see – we have cold beer in the parking lot or I can stay for the 2nd half of the game… no brainer guys. See you at the tailgate, I’m taking off.” Oh, you’re coming too, great!”
Hey here’s an idea to get the fans interest Scotty my friend; sell beer inside the stadium so that getting tight isn’t more important than sitting in the seat for the rest of the match. That what the survey says! “… and the audience’s #1 answer is… Sell booze at Pitt games!!” Scott Barnes… you have won a new contract extension!
I give the guy credit for trying, and he’s doing good things, but c’mon man! Not everything has to be discussed in the media. Wait until you sift through the returns and have some good ideas before rolling up the surveys and sticking yourself in the eye with them.
Pitt’s Spring Game is returning to Heinz Field. Too bad I think. I get that it looks more ‘big time’ to be in Heinz but the real kickoff for the excitement around Narduzzi last season was Highmark Stadium filled to every last seat and the fans being close enough to see both the players on the sidelines and get their first view of Narduzzi in action.
“The spring game was held at Highmark Stadium last year, due to construction at Heinz Field. But coach Pat Narduzzi said he wants to stage the game, the culmination of 15 days of drills, on the same field where games are played in the fall.
Barnes said Highmark is not big enough for his plans to grow the game.
We’ll see how it all works out. I just hate sitting so far away and in little groups of fans where there are so many empty seats surrounding you at Heinz.
Here is the Red Shirt Diaries complete copy of Barnes’ remarks during that interview – interesting reading for us fans, and bold visions.
Here is an in-depth reporting podcast by Rivals.com’ Chris Peak where he expounds (and slobbers a bit) about how much he loves this 2016 recruiting class. listen to this at work – you’ll enjoy it. He always does well and passes along great insights into the FB program during these pieces… plus they are about an hour each.
LeSean McCoy’s in the news again, not so positive this time around. I’m getting to the point where I just don’t care much about any news stories about players who have left Pitt and are in the NFL- especially ones who bagged out as soon as they possibly could. That’s just me. There are Prima Donnas everywhere, I just prefer they not be ex-Pitt players. Anyway, here it is.
Wait, there’s more – here is a Central PA (PSUville) newspaper’s article on the McCoy incident – they aren’t shy in reveling in the fact that two of the four people involved are ex-Pitt football players. Gee, guess Tamarcus Porter went from being below average ball player at Pitt to a starter in McCoy’s entourage.
Harrisburg native and Buffalo Bills star running back LeSean McCoy, 27, is the one drawing headlines. But Philly.com also reported former Chargers running back Curtis Brinkley and former University of Pittsburgh wide receiver Tamarcus Porter participated in the beat down of a Philadelphia cop. The website reported that Christopher Henderson, 26, was the fourth person labeled a suspect on the incident report.
Here is the latest Pitt News article on the school’s 2016 recruiting class. This is my new favorite quote from Narduzzi discussing a signed recruit – in this case it is DT Keyshon Camp:
“COACH SAYS: “A big, big football player … You may have seen, if you follow Twitter, he made a big, big snow angel in the middle of Heinz Field. That was him. That was his body.”
This is KDKA’s Mike Vukovcan’s piece on the 2017 recruits’ reactions to Pitt’s Junior Day held last weekend. Here is another new favorite quote for me – this time from a prospective recruit after JR Day:
Gabe Houy, OL, Upper St. Clair- “I had a great time and really enjoyed the basketball game. The police escort to the game stood out to me and I thought that was pretty cool. Also, the atmosphere at the game was great. Coach Peterson said that they’d like to get me back to look around the campus and academic side of everything because college is not only about football, school will still be there. And I’ve never been on Pitt’s campus yet so I would like to check it out.”
Emphasis in bold by me. That sums up so many of these recruits who tend to forget they actually have to enroll and attend college classes in the near future. Sounds like a great kid also and hope he sticks with us.
We have been talking a lot about the WR corps who will be without Tyler Boyd next season, maybe – he hasn’t declared for the draft yet has he?
Watch these Dontez Ford highlights – he gets hard earned Yards After the Catch (YAC) and isn’t easy to bring down and he makes his share of stretched out hands receptions. Those reasons are why he had that 19.4 ypc and 5o5 yards even thoiugh Boyd was the main target on the season.
This is why I have written many times that should Boyd leave, and he will, Ford is going to be our next offensive star player. I watch him very closely over last season and was very impressed – I think he dropped only one pass all year.
Here is another video of the two heir apparents, Ford and Challingsworth, in action against Duke last season. Two things to note – Ford makes a great catch on his TD play and he has the whitest teeth on the team, maybe in college football.
BTW – I had an interesting Superbowl game conversation with a legendary Baltimore HS coach (retired) who put hundreds of kids into college football over the last 30 years. I asked him about those ‘late in the game’ recruiting phone calls to recruits from the big time schools… obviously I was thinking about LSU and MacVitte.
He said something interesting in that 90% of the time (his quote not mine) that is because the school needs to round out the position quota in that recruiting class or they have a late minute opening due to kids switching or not being academically or personally ready for a scholarship. Very rarely are they looking at that late recruit as they do a normal recruit who they had been pursuing for months – more likely they are seeing them as a stop-gap measure.
H2P
The typical low response rate to surveys in general should send a message to folks like me, i guess. Respondents to these surveys have their influence amplified by the vast majority who never reply. In essence, everyone who responds is speaking for 20 more who did not.
Perhaps the Keyshon Camp snow angel could be our new mid-field logo. LOL
Reed, If you get alcohol in the stands you might be elected Homecoming King and Queen.
Kids like Houy would set foot on campus if there was an OCS to come and see games as kids – yeah I know it aint happening in my lifetime but I can dream.
Tamarcus Porter I harly knew ya. No mention of Ped’s all american WR for Poopy Pants who had at least 5 burglaries of fellow students apartments burglarized? Nah. Plus ca change.
Guys – the regular college fan and media types (bloggers, etc…) have no idea what a ‘good’ response number is and that is why I said Barnes should just keep that 7.5% number quiet – transparency is nice but not required, especially if one is trying to change something’s reputation.
I’m really hoping that after last year’s media blockade of the camps, practices and scrimmages (save the Spring Game) Narduzzi is going to open up to the public more. There is nothing that gets interested fans more excited, and draw new fans in, than detailed reports from the camps on the player’s progress… especially new players.
I understand Narduzzi doesn’t want the players to read negative accounts of their play but that really doesn’t happen as much as people think it does. The only remotely ‘not real positive’ thing I have written about a new Pitt player was that I asked Pitt fans to re-evaluate their stardom expectations for Voytik during his first year at Pitt. Not that he wasn’t a decent ball player or couldn’t be a good one – only that he may not be the star fans were expecting him to be right off the bat.
Now what you get is pure speculation on the media’s part as to how well a new player is responding to college level talent across from him.
The criticism of our fanbase’s response to the survey is uneducated and unwarranted.
I too am on-board the Ford train. He does a lot of things well, and is much better than people think. However one concern I have is the lack of consistent separation in his rout running. He does not have explosive moves, and will need to become a better technician in order to overcome his lack of quickness.
Scott, are you reading this?
H2P
“uneducated and unwarranted” aside, Barnes shouldn’t have floated that 7.5% number out in public. He should have said something like “We were very happy to have received 1700 very good fan suggestions about how to enhance our game day atmosphere and we’ll take a long look at how to implement the best of them for the 2016 season and I’ll keep you all informed of our plans.”
Anyway you cut it referencing 1700 positive things beats a 7.5% survey return to the “uneducated” Pitt fans… and as I said at this point, unfortunately, the perception of Pitt’s football program still needs propping up.
“Fans” come to Pitt games as a day trip at most. It’s not like ND or Alabama where they make it a weekend. By 3rd quarter many casual fans have moved on to the rest of their lives. Maybe it’s that terrible Pittsburgh traffic! LOL! I can’t even type that with a straight face after living in the DC area for 16 years. You can’t expect a rabid fan base after 30 years of mediocrity. Mediocre teams have mediocre fans.
I like Ford too, but I think he has more difficulty getting open than Boyd did. So much more important to have better number 2, 3 and 4 options. He does have excellent hands and power when he runs after the catch.
Barnes is definitely thinking Big, but I think the spring game at Heinz will look like a high school play-off game. Much prefer a packed venue like Highmark.
Also disappointed he isn’t considering tarping parts of Heinz. Also, great to think big, but filling Heinz will be a process. Especially with the schedule this year. If we go down to PSU and OK ST, it will really be hard on turn out. Well, he is new here, will learn about Pitt and Pittsburgh fans soon enough.
Also disappointed that he is not losing sleep over attendance at the Pete and says attendance is down nationally. Needs to learn that Pitt and Pittsburgh Fans, are spoiled and only support winners. The decline at the Pete matches the decline in results, not some national trend.
Sorry to finish wit BBall negativity. Things are really positive for football, Narduzzi has righted the ship after the hard landing at season’s end. Looking forward to spring practice.
There are so many fans on the Blather who want good reporting on their beloved Panthers. I know having the door closed not only has to be frustrating and disheartening to Reed but it does a great disservice to the many who use this as their primary source of information. Pitt needs to do everything possible to be inclusive to the faithful.
In my only phone conversation with Steve Pederson he informed me ” it’s my job to fill those empty seats!” We all know how that ended.. Always smart to listen to the people who are paying the Bucks and to who have a vested interest spiritually and emotionally in the University athletic programs.
Just looked at 247 2017 rankings and Pitt is in at number 29!! It’s just never too early to start getting excited. The dairy college is at 30th.
OSU has now received verbals from two 4 star cb’s and a 4 star safety. This will be noticed by Lamont Wade and perhaps open the door for his Pitt recruitment. I sure hope they get another verbal from a 4 star cb not from Pa., soon.
All of you guys should just trout fish at the Point and grill all the fish at the tailgate with some Iron! LOL!!!
But seriously … JP, isn’t it a bit too crowded and much better the following day?
And you can’t complain about his W/L results with closed camps either as 8 wins was a nice 1st year.
Part of wishing they were open is personal with me as I do like driving up to the Southside from MD (9 hrs round trip) to visit my friends there and to talk Pitt football with people but I find it hard to do if I can only see 25 minutes of stretching and exercises. Once any sort of actual practice starts the field is closed to any media and guests. Then Pitt arranges interviews with the HC and usually 1 or 2 coaches and a few players but those interviews are pretty much bland party line stuff.
Sometimes Narduzzi will let some good info out but it isn’t like seeing it yourself.
Like I have said before EJ Borghetti has called me a total of three times to talk about something I wrote after attending practices or press releases. All were very valid requests that I change something that I shouldn’t have printed – minor stuff – and I agree to do so right away. Truth be told each time was something I should have looked more closely at before writing or putting up a photo (privacy issue in that one).
But never any censorship for which we all at The Blather are grateful.
I think that because of the way we write, comment and discuss things here on this blog in real conversational terms and are pretty blunt about some issues it ticks the coaching staff off. I’ve gotten some stern looks from Narduzzi but that isn’t to say he worries one second about what I may write.
Anyway – it’s his call and I just hope he’ll change his mind – Pitt needs all the exposure it gets and I know EJ and his staff review the views and visits of media outlets so they know what kind of audience numbers this and other blogs get.
Ansd… the old saying that it doesn’t matter if it is bad press as long as they are talking about you holds a bit here too. Pitt needs all the exposure to WPA citizens get especially because during the off season and into the camps there is almost nothing in the mainstream newspapers.
BigB – a note: I sent some more magnets over to a buddy of mine who will pass them out at Pitt BB games. so fellow Blaterites – if you want one a have some left. Let me know and I’ll contact you through your email address that is on file here. There are 3″ x 5″ size with the Pitt script & old traditional (Marino-era) colors with a note on the back asking fans to lobby for that design to be adopted for the next real uniform change.
At this point I believe there are plans for only one game with a ‘throwback’ uniform in that style for 2016.
I upgraded because something feels different right now. Perhaps it’s the PSU game. Perhaps it’s new uniforms and a fresh start. Perhaps it’s our best recruiting class in nearly a decade. Perhaps it’s this coaching staff with both their passion and their knowledge. Perhaps it’s seeing 8 wins in a season rather than 6. But perhaps it’s even something bigger than all that…..
Pitt Football is transforming. And we, as the die hard fans, need to help facilitate the progress where we can. For me, I’m committing to attending every single home game this year. A simple step, but I’m playing my part nonetheless.
But really…..This is about more than football. We are all part of something bigger than ourselves here. This is about being a loyal member of this incredible Pitt family. This brotherhood.
I’m endorsing TT’s 10-2 campaign right now. As he has noted, it’s not even about that final record as much as it’s about having that mindset. That swagger. That attitude. I want that from the fans, the coaches, the players, anyone that’s associated with this program. The attitude of being a champion. I want this team to act like they have our division title in hand and anyone stepping onto the field is trying to take it from us. They are trying to take what is ours in 2016. And they are going to need to be dealt with because of that.
It’s time to get ready for the 2016 edition of Pitt Panther Football.
A storm is coming….. and you are either with us or against us!
Voila!
@Reed thanks for helping me with the magnets. I was able to get one each to EJ, Barnes and hand delivered one to the chancellor in the tent at Annapolis..Met Duzzi’s barber at the Annapolis Military Bowl game and gave him one to give to Duzz..If you got one I hope you enjoy it…
Here prayin they come out of the tunnel in the Mustard and Bright blue against are only real rival.the Nittany Lions…Let’s Go Pitt!!
and while I am hoping Mr Barnes, please restore the original lyrics to the Pitt “Victory Song.”
EJ Borghettin himself last week tweeted “Da Da Da Da Da Fight PITT fight..Da Da Da Da Da Da Fight PITT fight…V I C T O R Y…Play it like it was written..big phucking deal if the fans add Penn State Sucks..shit we can add those lyrics to “Sweet Caroline..Penn State Sucks” so do us all a favor and ban Neil Diamond.
Great post VictoryLites!
But I’d guess most blatherites would think it best that I did not respond, since I have always been a fan of the no beer policy. Somewhat of a contrarian.
That is a well coached solid team.
We are, well….. If JR see’s the court Chapstick should be shown the door before he boards the plane home.
Dan – Love you man but I hope you are joking.
Glad you backed off SB. Cam is not mentally tough enough or mature yet.
Change the logo on the 50 yard line and replace the stupid 1950’s lines in the one end zone with Pitt script.
We need more Pitt fans to get on board. Pitt fans can help Pitt by coming to games – it’s a simple as that.
And there is something about the experience of being at the game cheering for your team that beats watching on TV, I don’t care how large the TV is…
Go Pitt.
I could care less about the beer sales but I do think it makes for a less family friendly crowd.
If you want to drink, pony up for a club seat.
I love drinking during a game but if you can’t sit through a game without a drink or it make you leave before the game is over…call AA. LOL
?gc I agree with you.
You don’t come right into a job like this and fire Dixon. He’ll wait until the numbers at the Pete and post season reality set in further and demand it in a couple – few years when no one will be left to ignore it.
Dixon will never step down though. He’s still convinced that his method still works…..even if the team is loaded with stiffs.
And yes Dixon wont get canned unless several boosters buy him out and we can bring back Miller or some other very star caliber coach.
I just dont think better assistants who recruit like Demons will be the answer. Dixon has some deep rooted fundamental issues with his coaching and style of play.
And dont tell me Slog Ball wins these days. Good defense and rebounding helps but unless you have shooters, athletes and guys who can create shots, you wont win many games. NC and Duke dont play Slog Ball.
Slog Ball to me means a slow, unathletic, possession game. Give me pressure D with shooters from the 3, guards that can penetrate and dish, forwards who are athletes and relentless, and Big MEN who can block, rebound and quickly transition.
Pitt B-ball is stagnating and stooping down to the depths of mediocrity.
All I see today is a half empty Pitt with the non-Zoo sitting on their hands. Soon enough there will be bags over people’s heads. Dixon has taken the energy completely out of this program in a mere 5 years.
I think you and many other fans are vastly underestimating what Ford did last season… he had 27 catches for a 19.4 ypc. Here is the company he is in of Pitt receivers over the last 20 years who had over 25 catches and who averaged over 19.0 ypc:
’15 – Dontez Ford – 19.4 ypc
’09 – Baldwin – 19.5 ypc
’05 – Greg Lee – 19.6 ypc
’04 – Greg Lee – 19.4 ypc
’00 – Ant. Bryant – 19.1 ypc
’97 – Terry Murphy – 19.0 ypc
Our great WR and future HOF WR Larry Fitzgerald averaged 18.4 ypc in ’03 and 14.1 ypc in ’02.
So, Ford is up there in excellent company but here is the kicker – none of those other receivers had a star WR playing on the field at the same time – they were all WR1s on the team in those years.
He has a starting job in ’16 for certain.
The staff hardly took him out of play at all last season and he’s really built for the position. I think fans tend to look at Ford and think he’s some type of smaller receiver – he’s all of 6’2″/220 and can move down field. He’s gotten a lot of playing time since his SO year at Pitt – he started the last three games of ’14 when Garner got hurt, was the starter all last season he produced very well.
Here’s a follow-on from my leading YPC receivers from above. Those guys listed were all the #1 receivers and in some cases star players on those teams. But what did the guys who played WR2 or were the 2nd leading receivers (DD @ H-Back) do in those same years… in those leading receivers shadow?
’15 – Tyler Boyd – 10.2 ypc
Ford – 26/505 – 19.4 ypc
’09 – Jon Baldwin – 19.5 ypc
Dickerson – 49/529 – 10.8 ypc
’05 – Greg Lee – 19.6 ypc
Kinder – 37/374 – 10.1 ypc
’04 – Greg Lee – 19.4 ypc
Delsardo – 49/573 – 11.7
’00 – Antonio Bryant – 19.1 ypc
Grim 39/595/ – 15.3 ypc
’97 – Terry Murphy – 19.0 ypc
Hoffart 64/731 – 11.4 ypc
You see above that some of the “2nd” receivers of those years went onto be star players for us as Dickerson, Kinder, Grim did very well the year after they were behind those previous leading receivers.
But look at Dontez Ford’s production above – he played behind the leading, most productive, receiver in Pitt history and still gained 505 yards on 26 receptions.
He’s the starter.
@Reed. Agreed. Ford has shown much and also has the experience. HCPN has stated that he prefers players who know their assignments and responsibilities over those who may be better athletes at the position. Seems like each year the “other” receivers who look good in camp don’t carry that over into the season.
But that doesn’t mean Barnes should retreat … anything he can do to help increase attendance is very much appreciated.
While I like most here immediately thought that McCoy and buddies were the thugs in this incident, I can’t help but think about 10 years ago or so when a PSU player got charged for an incident with an off-duty policeman in New Jersey, and while everyone was yelling for JoePa to throw him off the team, the player was eventually acquitted of all charges. Remember, nobody has been charged yet, it is being investigated.