When I saw the FootballScoop.com story, I cringed. Not because I didn’t want Pitt to aim high. Not because I don’t think they couldn’t get a really good coach.

Simply because a story like that sets up disappointment and ridicule. Because when you look around the college football landscape, there aren’t that many realistic “go big” options for a head coach.

The landscape has changed. Fewer coaches are just chasing a big paycheck. The money gets absurd at the higher levels, but to some degree it flattens out. Coaches are looking as much at sustainability and the long-term.

The Dan Mullen thing has gone nowhere. Well, not quite nowhere. It seems to have just gone away. And after that?

That creates the question of what it means to “go big.” The story suggested a big name coach, and reasonably, most people seeing that phrase would think the same.

Yet outside of Dan Mullen, who is there that could fit the bill and is someone Pitt could legitimately hire away? I mean without going the route of the rumored “Godfather” offer from Michigan to Jim Harbaugh. Florida, which had once gone out and grabbed Urban Meyer, this time had to take Jim McElwain from Colorado State as the best option available in 2014.

I mean, we can all agree that Nick Saban, Urban Meyer, Mark Helfrich and Bob Stoops aren’t walking though that door. No one with any shred of sanity and a sense of reality would suggest that. Same with coaches already pulling down big money and or have a very secure place — Freeze, Sumlin, Malzahn, Dantonio, etc.

So, if the idea of a “go big” hire is an established head coach in a major conference, who is legitimately a possibility that Pitt would want and could get?

I don’t see anyone from the Pac-12 that fits the bill. I also don’t think Pitt would target anyone from within the ACC (the first person who dares to suggest Al Golden gets banned). In the Big 12, there is nothing to see unless you want a very expensive and capricious Gundy.

How about the Big Ten? Does Jerry Kill from Minnesota grab you?

Over in the SEC after Dan Mullen there is… I don’t know, Gary Pinkel from Mizzou? Anybody feeling that one?

From there it is dropping down to the American and Mountain West:

— Tommy Tuberville now at Cinci has the name recognition and commands a high price tag. Aside from that, meh.

— Justin Fuente had a really great year but just signed an extension.

— Bryan Harsin finished his first year at Boise State very strong. But it was just his first year as the HC. It’s a small sample size and it is hard to see him moving that quickly. Especially from his alma mater.

— Tim DeRutyer is the head coach at Fresno State and doing a fine job. He is being championed by former Pitt WR Yogi Roth.

Would a big name assistant be enough? We all know Pat Narduzzi the DC from Michigan State is getting a lot of run. Would Kirby Smart, the Alabama DC and highest paid assistant coach in the country, be enough? He would certainly command the price tag, but is a legitimate unknown for interest and actual ability to be a head coach.

Then you start hitting the MAC, Conference USA and Sun Belt. Doc Holliday (Marshall), Bill Clark (UAB RIP), Matt Campbell (Toledo), Pete Lembo (Ball State), Mark Hudspeth (UL-L) and Willie Fritz (Georgia Southern). Fine coaches. Safe to say, though, none would fit the “go big” albatross.

Of course, maybe we are looking at it wrong. Maybe the concept of “go big” isn’t simply a splashy, big name hire. Maybe it has to do with the entire coaching staff. Not simply the head coach. *

If part of the problem at Pitt has been keeping and paying for assistants, then a significant uptick in the money put into getting much better assistants for coaching and recruiting would be a huge step forward. In that case, going with an assistant from a Power 5 program or a sitting head coach from a mid-major, but paired with quality assistants to develop and recruit.

Perhaps. Just perhaps, the idea of Pitt being prepared to “go big” really means that Pitt is prepared to act and spend like a major conference program. Not just slapping a coat of paint on the front of the house.

(*I can’t take credit for this line of thought. This was not something I came up with, but suggested to me and has a certain logic to it. )