Argh.

There’s an exquisite pain from a loss that was there to be grabbed as a win.

Head Coach Pat Narduzzi hasn’t shied away from making it an important game over the last few years. He makes it clear how important it is with his closed media access. And again, I’m not going into the weeds on that matter either. I’ve said before I think that’s  a stupid approach, but so be it. Narduzzi at least understood how much the game matters and does stuff to play up it’s importance. And in that, I agree with him.

It’s the 100th and last meeting of Pitt-Penn State. At least for another 10-20 years. I’m not going to go off into the weeds on that matter. It is a game that should be played with at least some regularity, but isn’t.

It’s just that if there is ever a game to go flat out for broke. To leave nothing behind by the players and coaches. This is the game.

(more…)

A few days of practices have taken place. It’s hard to be sure about the actual situations. Not simply because pads only came on today.

In this age of high-paranoia from coaches throughout college football, practices are closed other then an early stretching period before-hand. There’s highlights the programs release as they choose. There are the post practice interviews where you hope the coaches and players are not just blowing smoke.

Okay, I’ve gotten my annual bitching about the stupidity of closed practices out of the way. On to what we have.

(more…)

I know, football practices start in a couple days. But I have to do this one first, because it’s been turning over in my head for a while and then there was  great piece in The Athletic yesterday that put a bit of a bow on it.

Over last summer and fall, there were some pieces about the rebuild for Pitt under Jeff Capel. The stressed point was that the wins probably weren’t going to be there. The key was to see improvement.

With all of the potential difficulties this team may encounter, fans may wonder exactly what they should want from Capel’s first season as coach.

The answer is relatively simple. Pitt fans should just expect growth and improvement. They should root for a team that is tough, competitive and getting better each week, crafting the foundation of a culture that will pay off down the road.

I thought that was about right — even if changing/creating/crafting a “culture” is kind of a stock thing when a new coach takes over — for expectations. Maybe a few more wins in ACC play was presumed, but the season was about what could be expected.

(more…)

You know, in my relief over Shawn Watson’s dismissal, I forgot to mention one other aspect of the firing. The timing.

In prior years, when staff has turned over, it hasn’t been filled quickly and/or the change happened later.

Obviously with the early signing period, these days that alleviates some of that. Yet, that didn’t seem to matter last year when changes were made to the coaching staff. They came later in the cycle and took a while to fill.

(more…)

I’m not saying this is Nostradamus level stuff, but let me have a little fun.

I guess I am hoping for a little symmetry. Ten years ago, Pitt went to the Sun Bowl. The QB had a bomb of a game and Pitt couldn’t generate enough offense against a Pac-12 (10 at the time) that was missing their top running back and had other injuries. The complete offensive ineptitude forced the defensive-minded coach to make a change at OC. Let’s find out if history repeats.

And in one of Pitt’s briefest press releases that doesn’t announce a player being dismissed from the team…

(more…)

The loss to Stanford in the Sun Bowl could be something of a microcosm for Pitt this year.

The struggles to move the ball to start the game. There was that solid surge in the second and third quarter where Pitt was moving the ball and looked like the more dominant team. Then that fade to black in the fourth quarter. Where the team couldn’t finish and/or couldn’t make the plays.

It’s one of those things. If you look back on Pitt’s 2018 season, just in terms of wins and losses, the Panthers were right around where they were expected to be. Excepting the UNC game, they lost the games you would have expected them to lose. And they won the games you would have expected them to win, other then Syracuse.

It’s the way they lost those games, though. Oh, is it the way they lost those games.

(more…)

Feel like talking about the game with Syracuse this weekend? It’s homecoming… Throwback unis…

Yeah, not really feeling it.

Especially when USA Today published their annual college football coaches survey.

(more…)

Torn between rage and apathy. Very odd sensation. At the moment, I’ve drifted back to rage.

Right now Pitt football is a complete mess. The offense has played 3 good halves in 5 games. The defense is being consistently shredded; and even when it shows moments of competence, it can’t stop stepping on its own dick. Special teams… whatever.

(more…)

Hey, team basketball practices started yesterday. No, I’m not trying to change the subject. Stop questioning such things.

MMMMmmmm. That new coach smell is still there. Everything is upbeat and positive. There’s energy and good vibes (no, not that one, but now I’m thinking about it) around the players, the coaches and fans.

Pitt’s website has videos of the interviews with Head Coach Jeff Capel, senior Jared Wilson-Frame and junior Malik Ellison.

(more…)

I’ve held off writing/posting anything for a few days, because I really needed to be calmer about things. I also needed to climb out of the “Black Pit of Negative Expectations.”

The BPONE is a state of mind in which no part of a football game is enjoyable because it is merely a prelude to some pratfall made more embarrassing and or painful by whatever minimal, temporary successes are experienced prior to the pratfall.

…

Alcohol will not improve anything but will be consumed in quantity anyway.

At some point repeated defeats will create an OMINPRESENT BLACK PIT of NEGATIVE EXPECTATIONS. OBPONE is a severe condition with consequences such as writer’s block, writer’s block, and writer’s block. The only cure for OBPONE is a new season, but yo-yo-ing in and out of OBPONE makes individual occurrences of BPONE more severe.

This state could also be used to describe almost the entirety of  the Stallings Era.

(more…)

UNC Head Football Coach Larry Fedora did every other ACC football coach a solid yesterday, by putting all attention on him. During his media session, Fedora — Well, I mean how do you describe a guy going off the rails?

His media session seemed to be going fine. He was bantering with the reporters. Calling out one for wearing a shirt with avocados on it.

And then he went somewhere else.

(more…)

You probably know that Kene Chukwuka decided (at last) that he would remain at Pitt. Cynically, his choices were going to be limited — much like Malik Ellison. He played one year of junior college, and if he transferred would have to sit out a year and be a junior. Unlike Ellison, he is not a high-level player, so development and getting on the court are big deals.

Chukwuka has some potential. The hope coming into last year was that he would redshirt first. That became untenable. Don’t give him a green light to shoot threes, and he can be a more effective and efficient player. His minutes will likely go down, which is also a good thing for his overall development.

(more…)

Okay, maybe not exclusively, but I definitely expect to see it more then once this season. Definitely a ton of 4-guard rotations.

Plus, a Jeff Capel puff piece.

In recent radio interviews, Capel has stressed he won’t just look to add bodies. Which means, despite a glaring need for more in the frontcourt, he’s not going to reach for a player if he can’t help this year. After missing out on traditional transfer Sacha Killeya-Jones (he went with NC State), Pitt didn’t waste much time.

(more…)

Pitt men’s basketball coach, Jeff Capel, completed his staff last night with the hiring of Milan Brown. Brown had been an assistant at College of Charleston. But before that, he had been the head coach at Holy Cross and Mt. Saint Mary’s for a total of 12 years.

All three of his assistant coaches have head coaching experience. Especially the two lead assistants — O’Toole and Brown.

There is a logic to it. As much as the assumption was that Capel would hire a name, stud recruiter, Capel himself is the name, stud recruiter.

(more…)

After waiting for something, anything regarding Jeff Capel’s coaching staff; two assistants named at last. Jason Capel and Tim O’Toole.

O’Toole joins Pitt after spending the last two seasons as an associate head coach at University of California, Berkeley. He has also worked as an assistant coach at eight different programs over the last 30 years. Before California, O’Toole was an assistant at Stanford from 2014 to 2016 and spent the 2013-14 season in the same position at Syracuse under Jim Boeheim.

In his only head coaching stint at Fairfield from 1998 to 2006, O’Toole amassed a 112-120 record and made one appearance in the NIT tournament in 2003.

Capel’s brother, Jason, first came to prominence during his college career playing at North Carolina. In his time at Chapel Hill, Capel averaged at least nine points per game in each of his four seasons. He starred for the Tar Heels in his senior season averaging 15.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.

After spending time playing professionally overseas, Capel spent time as an assistant coach at Appalachian State during the 2009-2010 season, then as head coach of the program from 2010-2014. He hasn’t held a coaching position since Appalachian State decided not to renew his contract in 2014.

I’m sure the hiring of his younger brother will raise some eyebrows.

(more…)