So the Penguins won in an overtime/shootout thriller last night. Whatta great game. Sorry, that’s honestly the last time I’ll ever mention the Pens on this blog.

On the other hand, the last time Antonio Bryant was mentioned on this blog was after his little reckless/drunken driving ordeal when he was clocking at over 100 on a freeway in his Lamborghini.

Now, he’s been cut by the Niners.

The 49ers hoped they achieved addition by subtraction Thursday with the release of troubled wide receiver Antonio Bryant.

Bryant was waived after a meeting last weekend in Indianapolis with 49ers coach Mike Nolan. Bryant, according to his financial adviser Chuck Sanders, asked for a larger role in the offense next season. Nolan said that because Bryant is in the middle of a four-game suspension and possibly faces jail time stemming from his Nov. 20 arrest on reckless driving and resisting arrest charges, that he couldn’t depend on Bryant.

I guess he still won’t be able to afford a belt.

Sorry for not posting for a little bit (thanks for picking up the slack Dennis). I’m trying to get as much done as possible in the 3-dimensional world before the weekend and all of next week. So many games to watch, so much to write. I’m really just trying to get as much done, and stockpile the essential supplies while I spend a lot of time watching basketball. Really, it starts tomorrow afternoon with the semis of the MVC Tournament.

The Tuesday telecast had Sanders and Wenzel mention that Charles Smith was in the Pete, but there wasn’t even a pan shot to him in the game. Seems that it was a spur of the moment thing.

A last-minute offer afforded Charles Smith a private plane to Pittsburgh and a courtside seat at Petersen Events Center for the Pitt-West Virginia game Tuesday.

It was fitting that the former Pitt All-American arrived just as Aaron Gray was standing at center court, where he was presented with a framed jersey on Senior Night.

After all, Smith advised the 7-foot center to return for his senior season, a decision Smith himself had to make 19 years ago and one that ultimately paid great dividends.

…

Now Northeast regional director for the NBA Players Association, Smith’s main assignment is running its rookie transition program. He counseled Gray during the NBA’s week-long, pre-draft camp in Orlando last year.

…

“When making one of my decisions to come back here for my senior year, I don’t regret it all,” said Gray, who is averaging 13.8 points and 9.7 rebounds per game this season. “This is my family now and they are going to be my family forever. I’m just so glad that I could spend this whole year and this whole experience with them.”

I have to be honest, I have no problem rooting for UConn over G-town. I don’t see it happening, but why not? I’d rather Pitt be the #1 seed. Besides I have enough bad memories of the Hoyas against Pitt in the 80s and early 90s to carry me past any distaste.

I don’t know what to say about free throw shooting. It’s not like the team doesn’t work on it. Everyone says they do, but Pitt simply has half of their players — Gray, Graves, Biggs, Young and Benjamin — who shoot poorly. The coaches can only do so much in teaching them and helping them — I’m assuming Brandin Knight is not in charge of that. It comes down to just executing them in the game. You don’t think UConn and Jim Calhoun or Jim Boeheim and Syracuse don’t work on FTs with their players? It doesn’t change things that guys from Thabeet (freshman) to Roberts (senior) just don’t shoot free throws well.
Hopefully, this will be the last week for power polls. The ESPN.com power poll puts Pitt at #9.

If healthy, this team has Elite Eight-type possibilities with the right draw. I like the Panthers’ overall offensive balance better than Georgetown’s as far as Big East heavies go.

Individual votes are here. Almost all had Pitt either 9 or 10.

I really can’t follow the logic of Luke Winn at SI.com. I don’t think he has anything personal against Pitt. I just think he doubts the Panthers in the Tournament.

Georgetown at home beats Pitt that has a hobbled Aaron Gray and then gets blown out in Syracuse — by a bubble team. He moves them up from 9 to 8. Pitt rebounds from the loss to beat bubble team and a rivalry game with WVU. He moves Pitt down to 15 from 12. Well, it’s really too late in the season to get too fired up about the “disrespect.”

Well, as you would expect. The Pitt-Georgetown game has some attention considering the implications. Of course, the prestige takes a hit when one team is lacking its star player.

2. Gray area: One nagging question dominates discussion of Saturday’s first-place Big East showdown featuring No. 8 Pittsburgh at No. 12 Georgetown, and that is the availability of Panthers center Aaron Gray. If his sprained ankle keeps him on the bench, Pitt might have major problems containing the Hoyas’ Roy Hibbert. Pitt coach Jamie Dixon hopes the day off from practice he gave his team Wednesday helps.

Seth Davis at SI.com goes with Georgetown, which is no surprise. Even with Gray, they are the home team and very hot.

I was going to skip the power ranking stuff this week, but Luke Winn’s commentary as he puts Pitt at #12 was the partial answer to something I had been wondering about since Monday night.

Panthers fans: Have you ever said to yourself, I want to dress exactly like the injured Aaron Gray? Well, now you can. The Power Rankings’ fashion consultants have tracked down a store selling the exact track suit — the Adidas velour Vegas 07 model — that A-Gray wore like a sideline pimp during Pitt’s win at Seton Hall on Monday (boot sold separately). According to the product description, the suit is “loaded with Vegas-inspired details, including side-welt pockets to hold your chips.”

I know Adidas is Pitt’s supplier, but it still doesn’t answer why he wasn’t wearing Pitt sweats rather than that thing.

Orlando Antigua gets some love in the New York Post.

“It was an easy call,” Dixon said. “Orlando knows Pitt, he knows the Big East, he’s great with the players, and we wanted to continue our New York connection.”

So far, so good. Antigua, 33, has slid seamlessly into his new role in one of the nation’s premier programs. He’s become a student of Pitt’s rough-and-tumble defensive scheme, which has trickled down to the players, as evidenced by their 24-4 record and No. 10 ranking. They connect with Antigua on many fronts. And vice versa.

“I feel fortunate, first of all, to be at my alma mater, but to be there at a time of such success,” Antigua said. “To contribute is such a great feeling. To be in the background like I was, to watch Barry – and how he conducted himself – helped. I had the knowledge, I just had to go out and apply it.”

Now — and this is kind of fun to type — the talent level in NYC kids has be high enough to match Pitt’s level.

Kevan Barlow, former Pitt running back and local high school player, is out of a job and maybe out of football for good. His season was u-g-l-y.

Kevan Barlow‘s tenure as the successor to Curtis Martin lasted a season.

The New York Jets released the veteran running back yesterday after the least-productive season of Barlow’s career. He ran for a career-low 370 yards — third on the team — and averaged just 2.8 yards per carry.

Barlow, a former Pitt and Peabody High School player, was acquired from San Francisco in August to jump-start a running game that was without an injured Martin. Instead, rookie Leon Washington emerged as a prime playmaker and second-year back Cedric Houston got lots of playing time late in the season.

Barlow started just three of the 12 games he played in for the Jets, although he led the team with six rushing touchdowns.

If you’ll recall, on his way out the door in San Fransisco, he lashed out against his coach and did it Nazi style.

“He walks around with a chip on his shoulder, like he’s a dictator, like he’s Hitler,” Barlow said after he was traded. “People are scared of him. If it ain’t Nolan’s way, it’s the highway.”

Imagine if he ever said that about Wannstedt. Looking at some recent discipline for a perspective on this, I think it’s safe to say that it doesn’t matter if Barlow was across the world — Wanny would find him and punish him with an iron brass knuckled fist.

(Much credit to Mondesi’s House for the links.)

By the way, I can’t help but feel very excited for the game on Saturday against Georgetown. It should be a good one.

A nasty paper cut is going to make typing this take twice as long as it should, but the news of celebrity sightings at the Pete have to be mentioned. Monday’s game saw Dallas Mavericks owner and possible Pens/Pirates owner (we all know this’ll never happen) sitting court side. Word has it he might actually be interested in purchasing Pitt and maybe even moving the school to Dallas.

New Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was also there Monday, following Bill Cowher’s steps in attending. Other notable people who have been to the Pete in the last 5 years: Jeff Reed, Jerome Bettis (to support ND mostly), Franco Harris, Mel Blount, Mark Malone, Kordell Stewart, Joey Porter, Hines Ward, Marc Bulger, Dave Littlefield, the late Mayor Bob O’Connor, current Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato, Gov. Ed Rendell, gubernatorial candidate and ex-Steeler Lynn Swann, Penguins owner Mario Lemieux, Pirates CEO Kevin McClatchy and Alex Trebek.

Then we get this quote from Jeff Long.

As Pitt athletic director Jeff Long said of his facility, “It has become the place to be in the cold, winter months in Pittsburgh.”

Pitt basketball might be the place for the stars but for most regular people it’s hard to get a ticket. The hottest ticket in town might be a Pitt game if you like to make a donation on top of your season ticket expenses (or if you’re a celebrity) but to be honest, most people would rather go to a Penguins game than try to find a way into the Pete. With the student rush tickets for Pens games (generally a very good ticket for only $20), more people would say the Igloo is the place to be.

That’s not a big deal though. It’s the fact that Pitt is willing to screw “real” fans who actually care about weather they win or lose in order to bring in big names who don’t really care about the game.

Looking at the actual product on the court though…

I think this is where we miss Krauser. Not his skill set (Fields has filled in much better than most would have ever guessed) but the actual kind of person he was. Monday night, Louisville was able to get pumped up for that game. You can go ahead and say the Cards needed it but it’s not like Pitt has already clinched the Big East regular season title and can afford to lose the rest of their games. Krauser would have been able to bring some life to a team last night that was dead.

Perhaps it’s that Levance feels too young to step up and be vocal. Maybe he’s just naturally not a loud guy. The fact is we really don’t have anyone who can get the emotions going before and during the game.

First off, how about all of the Steelers fans out there take a moment and thank the scheduling gods that this game is not during an AFC Championship game that we happen to be playing in. Last year I missed the Pitt game to watch the Stillers. Luckily my choice is between Pitt-UL and the Texas-Oklahoma women’s game–a bit of an easier choice.

Next is an update on where former kicker David Abdul is at right now. The answer: kicking in an indoor football league. Commenter B.B. left the link to the Pittsburgh River Rats (who I didn’t know existed until about 15 minutes ago), and it’s good to see he’s in good shape after some health issues.

Now looking to a possible future Pitt Panther, Terrelle Pryor gets an article on SI.com which speaks of a comparison to NFL QB Vince Young. As Mondesi’s House mentions, though, Young was never a top football and basketball recruit.

Jeannette, Pa., quarterback Terrelle Pryor has been compared to Young because of his 6-foot-6, 220-pound frame, his ability to glide past players at top speed and his ability to simply dominate football games.

….

“I leave it up to people to make their own comparisons when they watch me play,” he said. “It’s a very nice comparison, but I haven’t done anything yet. I like to watch Vince Young and Troy Smith and the quarterbacks that can move around and do things, but I don’t compare myself to them.”

Pryor is so good he could be the next (and first) Terrelle Pryor. He still looks skinny on his 6-foot-6 frame, he’s getting faster and he’s learning how to play quarterback. The same raw athletic ability also comes out in basketball, where Pryor is ranked as a national top-25 player.

And finally, I leave you with how the Big East Tournament would look if the season ended right now, compliments of Card Chronicle.

It wouldn’t be right not to note Ruben Brown being at the Superbowl. Granted it might not have happened if he hadn’t gotten a little pissed at his offfensive coordinator in Buffalo in 2003.

Another would be to say he nearly killed Kevin Gilbride, the team’s pass-happy offensive coordinator for whom Brown had developed a distaste for as the team spiraled to another losing season and Gilbride refused to emphasize the run the way a team that was turning the ball over far too often to win probably should have. At a team meeting following another defeat, Brown finally snapped, coming over a table at Gilbride after he began to upbraid Brown for a lack of leadership. The 300-pound Brown’s path was blocked by several teammates and he soon left the building, never to return. Brown understood he would be seeking employment elsewhere that winter.

With apologies to my step-father-in-law (and Buffalo native), when hasn’t leaving Buffalo been a good move for a pro player (or anyone else)?

Brown will be the oldest player on the field for the game, but still expects to keep playing after this year. Of course, Brown would never have become an offensive lineman if he had had his way at Pitt.

It all goes back to Aug. 14, 1991, when Brown was a redshirt freshman at Pitt playing on the defensive line. He was a star, one of the most highly recruited players in the nation, a Parade All-American. But Pitt had future pros, Keith Hamilton and Sean Gilbert, on the defensive line and needed help on offense. Five days into preseason camp at Johnstown, coach Paul Hackett finally agreed to the pleas of offensive line coach Bill Meyers and switched Brown to offensive tackle.

“I was very disappointed,” Brown recalled this week. “But I was behind two outstanding defensive linemen. I was upset, but there was a good reason for it, and I was fortunate. I wanted to get on the field, and I knew I had a good chance to start.”

Brown excelled at his new position. He started for four years, was an All-American and was a first-round pick of the Buffalo Bills, the 14th player selected.

A Pitt player on the O-line often means success in the superbowl.

Yep, it’s a slow day week. If you need some Friday fun, here it is. The first 10 seconds or so of the video link below show Sun Ming Ming, a 7′ 9″ player in the USBL, against former Pitt Panther and current USBL player Mark McCarroll. McCarroll sort of attempts to post him up but ends up getting a jump ball called. Uhhh, very entertaining stuff…I guess.
Sun Ming Ming: A Very, Very Tall Man…Mark McCarroll: Not So Much

By the way, Toree Morris also plays for the Brooklyn Kings.

One of the great walk-ons for Pitt football in recent years. He started his post-college career looking to the media and then moved to the coaching side with USC. Now Yogi Roth faces a tough choice.

Lane Kiffin, USC’s former offensive coordinator and the Oakland Raiders new head coach, made an offer to Roth to become the assistant receivers coach with the Raiders. On Friday, USC made a counterproposal.

Now comes a big decision for the 25-year-old. Be sure of this: Roth will attack whatever job he has with a vigor that is unmatched.

“The philosophy at SC is to do whatever you do better than it’s ever been done before,” Roth said. “Hopefully, I did my job better than anybody before me. What’s crazy is you buy into that. Be the best in the world at it.”

For all the things that Roth has done successfully in his life — walking on at Pitt and becoming a starting wide receiver, going overseas and earning his keep by teaching children English, starting at the bottom of SC’s coaching staff and working his way up — I have to disagree that it’s something he learned at SC.

Maybe it was cemented there, but Roth always had a drive from inside. Saw it in that first football game, and you could tell it from how seriously he took his job bussing tables at J.J. Bridges. What Roth has achieved, he’s earned. So that he now has the choice of two or three cherries on top is no surprise. Nor is the fact is that he’s remembered everyone along the way.
…

“The nice thing is (Carroll) has been a friend to me first,” Roth said. “That’s not going to change. I’d love to stay here forever. This has been the coolest two years of my life. They’ve instilled a philosophy, a belief system, a vision that I live. It’s very critical to me. His son is my best friend. It’s a difficult thing to leave but what an exciting thing to do.”

Whether Roth stays or goes, it probably will be about which he perceives to be the greatest challenge. That’s how he lives, never afraid to fall flat on his face, and get back up and start scaling the mountain.

It’s that drive that will push Roth to the top of his profession. So, don’t be surprised six or seven years from now when he’s the guy wearing the headset on the sideline and calling all the shots. And maybe coming back to haunt Pete Carroll.

He’d be an assistant. Unlike Kiffin in the big role, it can’t hurt Roth to be an assistant at any level in the NFL. Still, his offer at USC is to be the Wide Receivers Coach. Not sure which is really the better offer. Honestly, if it was not for the whole Reggie Bush cloud, I’d lean to USC. But if the Trojans get nailed because of the Bush issues…

Still, Yogi Roth is in good shape if that’s his worst concern.

ESPN Insider is following a few college QB’s who are expected to be taken lower than your top prospects like Brady Quinn and Jamarcus Russell. Tyler Palko along with Chris Leak, Troy Smith, and Drew Stanton are among the QB’s being watched and closely examined each day at practice.

First, here are the basics with a few comments from the scouts.

Here’s what some NFL scouts are seeing after a few days of practice:

Palko did not have a bad day on Monday, but it was rather evident that he’s the least talented of the three North quarterbacks at this year’s Senior Bowl.

Not as talented as Smith and Stanton. Not a huge surprise. I’m not sure how a guy like Smith projects at an NFL level though so I would give a second thought to him being placed under Palko based on NFL type talent.

Palko measured just shy of 6-foot-1 and weighed 217 pounds at this morning’s weigh-in, which is a little shorter and lighter than expected.

He shrunk an inch from what the Senior Bowl roster has as well as his bio on the Pitt athletic department website?

During practice, Palko displayed good timing and accuracy as a passer. However, he does not stack up with Drew Stanton or Troy Smith in terms of arm strength or mobility.

I was never under the impression that Palko wasn’t mobile. Watching him on the touchdown pass to Oderick Turner against Rutgers really sunk in as mobility. Sure he’s not going to beat Troy Smith in a foot race but look at a guy like Mike Vick. Sure he’s a good NFL player but I’d rather have a slow footed Peyton Manning that Vick in most situations.

When called upon to make a throw vertically or on a deep out, Palko noticeably dropped down and wound up even more than usual in his delivery.

NFL scouts don’t really like that kind of stuff.

I’ll be back in a day or two with more notes from his practices and well as how he does in the actual game. For the Senior Bowl website check here and for the Palko scouting report go here (Insider subs.).

I’m sure most of you don’t care, but tonight is the Crosstown Shootout between Cinci and Xavier. Even though the wife is a Cinci alum, I’m struggling with who to support.

On the one hand, it’s Cinci, a BE team and it’s good for the conference and ultimately Pitt for them to win. In terms of out-of-conference record, conference strength and of course the RPI — direct benefits to Pitt for Cinci to win. Plus Bob Huggins is no longer there to hate.

On the other side, Xavier is coached by former Pitt PG, Sean Miller. And I always like to see the alum doing well. Especially a guy who played while I was at Pitt.

Aw, geez, Antonio. That was my initial reaction.

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Antonio Bryant was arrested on reckless and drunken driving charges after his Lamborghini was seen speeding faster than 100 mph on a freeway, police said Tuesday.

Bryant, 25, was arrested Sunday night on suspicion of misdemeanor charges of reckless driving, driving under the influence and resisting arrest, police Capt. Kevin Raffaelli said.

An officer entering U.S. Highway 101 saw Bryant speed past and tried unsuccessfully to catch him, Raffaelli said. He radioed another officer who pulled over Bryant.

The next reaction I had was, “Damn. He’s got a Lamborghini.”

On the field, he’d been fine. Relatively problem free this year. Now this.

Charles Smith is, without any exaggeration, one of the best basketball players ever in Pitt history. His professional career was not what was expected as injuries and playing for the Clippers took its toll. Still, Smith was smart in how he planned his life, and he listened:

In 1987 Smith listened to his mother, Dorothy, who advised him not to leave Pittsburgh University in his junior year to take a tempting NBA contract. A year later Smith became Pitt’s first basketball or football All-American to graduate. He kept a B average, majoring in business and communications. And he got that lucrative NBA contract anyway.

Smith listened to John Thompson, his coach on the 1988 U.S. Olympic basketball team, when he advised him to spend his newly acquired wealth very carefully.

…

Seeing a market for a system that would digitize and store videotape, he formed a company called New Media Technology. The system he devised earned a patent from the U.S. government. NBC and ABC ranked among its clients. In 2000 NJBiz magazine named Smith among its “Top 40 under-40 New Jersey Entrepreneurs.”

Smith reportedly sold his patent a few years ago for $7 million. More recently, Smith joined the NBA Players Association as northeast region director, a job that has him advising players as they make the transition in and out of the league. He also represents some former NBA stars.

That’s all very good, but the reason for a story like this is that his Bridgeport, Connecticut foundation (his hometown) that bears his name is not making positive news.

Years of fiscal mismanagement have left the Charles D. Smith Foundation at least $1.2 million in debt and struggling to fulfill its mission to help disadvantaged children, a series of internal foundation documents show.The previously secret documents, provided to the Connecticut Post by the agency’s former interim director, allege that the charity, founded in 1989 by former NBA star Charles D. Smith Jr., is behind on federal taxes, misused federal funds and operated for two years without required liability insurance.

“They are essentially insolvent,” said Anthony Ball, the former interim director who suddenly resigned last week, claiming the organization is not doing enough to right its ship.

Smith disputed any contention that the charity is on the brink of collapse. He acknowledged serious problems have been discovered during the last few months, and stressed all of the issues are being addressed.

Unfortunately, foundations such as Smith’s, over time, are ripe for abuse and misuse if the principal does not have trustworthy and competent people operating it. Smith does not live in his old hometown any longer, so the direct oversight and controls necessary for personal foundations is just not there. Sadly, such abuses appear to be the primary reason for the problems.

The Post previously reported that city police are investigating allegations that former foundation executive director Deborah Sims and program manager Maria Valentin used foundation credit cards to fund lavish personal expenses, such as Caribbean cruises, spa treatments and personal cell phones. Both were fired in September after they walked off their jobs.

State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is also investigating the organization. He said last week that he has “found some very problematic practices and omissions.”

“It’s really nothing short of a tragedy for a very worthwhile organization,” he said.

Hopefully this will be cleaned up and fixed. There are no allegations that Charles Smith did anything wrong other then not paying close enough attention to the doings of the people running his foundation.

I do have to look into the claims in the article that Smith was “Pitt’s first basketball or football All-American to graduate.” I have re-read that part a few times and I have to believe that was an error. Just on the football side, players like Ernie Borghetti, Mike Ditka, Marshall Goldberg and a host of others never actually graduated? If they meant to say African-Americans, that would still mean Dorsett, May, Green never graduated. I’m not sure about that. On the basketball side, there was Don Hennon and Billy Knight that come to mind.

UPDATE (10:15am): I just got an e-mail response from Michael Daly, the Managing Editor for the Connecticut Post. He agrees that the passage is an error. They will correct and will look into from where that bad info came.

A Q&A with former Pitt RB Brandon Miree, now a fullback with the Green Bay Packers.

Question: You played college football at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Alabama. Can you talk about the differences between the places?

Answer: Pitt was like New York City compared to Alabama. Alabama was real rural and pretty much a campus town. It was an awesome experience, but at Pitt, you really felt like you were in the big city. We had bigger buildings on campus than they had in the entire city of Tuscaloosa. There’s not much there.

In a shock to few, yet another pro athlete tabs “Scarface” as his favorite movie.

I’ve got a bunch of open tabs I need to clear out, and not enough time to do it.

Welcome to our world Mr. Mandel.

By this point in the season, you’d like to think you have a pretty good grasp on how good a team is, particularly when that team is 6-1. But I have to admit, I still have no idea how good this year’s Pittsburgh Panthers are — and I’m not sure they do, either. “Maybe we’re just getting lucky,” joked quarterback Tyler Palko when I spoke with him last Sunday.

We watch them every weekend and don’t have a consistent opinion.

It is blatantly obvious to the most average sportswriter that this is the game of the week in the Big East.

Context, please.

It’s easy to show Pitt QB Tyler Palko‘s rejuvenation with this obvious number: His pass efficiency rating has jumped from 126.7 last year to a nation-leading 188.6 this season. The underlying reason is that coordinator Matt Cavanaugh tweaked his West Coast approach to stretch the field and accommodate a quarterback who throws a nice deep ball. That leads us to a more revealing number going into this week’s key Big East game against Rutgers: Palko is second in the nation with 10.3 yards per attempt–way up from last year’s 7.0. Any offensive coordinator will tell you that number is the most important statistic for a quarterback.

It’s a good number. An interesting number, but I’m not quite sure as to why it is “the most important statistic for a quarterback.” Anyone care to supply the answer?

I like that SI.com considers Palko about the 5th best QB in college football. Now, here’s what I’m wondering. Does anyone actually know what kind of offense Pitt is running versus what it had run under Walt Harris? Look at the comment “…In this, his second year in coach Dave Wannstedt’s pro-style system…”

Excuse me? I thought the passing game for Pitt was now more of a true West Coast from OC Matt Cavanaugh and that Harris ran more of the pro style. Of course, I’ve read it the other way in the past. Honestly, and maybe it’s just because it’s late, but I don’t know anymore. I’m not sure anyone really knows anymore.

While on the subject of Walt Harris, there was this in Stewart Mandel’s mailbag (I saw it Frank, but was going to let it go).

Stewart, Stanford managed just 52 yards of total offense in its Homecoming game, a loss to Arizona. The Wildcats entered the game ranked 118th in the nation in rushing yards and ran for 223 yards against the overmatched Cardinal. Stanford is now 0-7, the fans and players have quit on Walt Harris, and it’s clear that the program has been in complete disarray since Ty Willingham left in 2002. Have you ever seen a case where one coaching change has so drastically crippled a college football program?
— Tony Barber, Mountain View, Calif.

No, I have not. The program has gone from being a regular Pac-10 title contender under Willingham to the absolute worst team in the conference by a country mile. The Cardinal was bad under Buddy Teevens, too, but not nearly this bad. And what makes it all the more puzzling is that Stanford showed promise last year in Harris’ first season. As you may recall, they came dangerously close to knocking off Notre Dame in their regular-season finale, which, if they had, would have sent them to a bowl game. Even stranger: This is not a young team. They returned 16 starters, including 10 on offense (though several have been injured).

That said, I knew something was fishy when seven of Harris’ assistants left after one season. Though Harris did an admirable job of turning around Pittsburgh’s long-suffering program, he was generally despised there by the end of his tenure. And now he’s not exactly inspiring confidence in Palo Alto. In addition, the athletic director who hired him, Ted Leland, left the school last year and was replaced by former Iowa AD Bob Bowlsby, who you know is looking forward to the opportunity to make his mark on the program. Cutting ties with a coach after two seasons certainly doesn’t help a program’s stability, but at the same time, I don’t know if it’s possible for the Cardinal to become any less stable than they already are.

This will be a bit of a rant.

Anyone remember Harris’ first year at Pitt? Remember how the team turned around in one season and in one of the greatest Backyard Brawls ever (and the best game I ever saw in-person) beat the Hoopies in Morgantown? Remember the next year when Pitt went 2-9. Losing to Rutgers and Temple? I do. It was my first year as a season ticket holder since graduating. I sat through a bunch of those humiliations. When the team regressed badly. Players were not that good and being shaken out of the program.

I had bounced around for a bit in Chicago, law school — in Ohio when Pitt played and was crushed in the home-and-home with OSU — and generally just not connected to the school and the team. This was pre-net so there was no way to stay aware of what Pitt was doing outside of little box scores in papers and very little info in general. Hackett and then Majors with the assistance of an uncaring administration had nearly destroyed Pitt football.

Walt Harris brought Pitt back to respectability (that and a job in Youngstown that made trips to the ‘Burgh an easy thing). Slowly. Surely. There were steps back. There was also progress. There were times when it was thought he might leave. Alabama. Ohio State. They sniffed. Whether he or they were serious, nothing came of it other then some extensions, raises and some nervousness by fans at the time.

When Harris left Pitt/was forced out, I was torn. Harris had probably reached the end of the line with Pitt. There was something of a plateau. He had alienated a lot of people. If he had stayed, it is very likely he could have done harm to Pitt.

At the same time, I felt like I owed Coach Harris. I owed him a debt. This, despite not knowing the guy. Never meeting him. At times being as eager as anyone else to throw him over.
Walt Harris brought me back to caring and following Pitt and college football. I wouldn’t be writing this blog. I wouldn’t be writing for AOL on college football. None of that, if it hadn’t been for what Walt Harris did to bring Pitt back into mainstream Division 1-A college football.

So I hope he turns the corner at Stanford. Just as he did in time at Pitt. Rebuilding doesn’t come easy at all places.  I know not everyone feels the same way. That’s fine. My view is just that. My view. Just don’t expect me to revel in his struggles.