It’s been a month since Paul Chryst has been hired by PITT to be the Head Coach of the football program and the dust from that decision has pretty much settled.  His hiring came after a tumulus 13 month period in which we saw a six year HC fired, his replacement arrested and fired after a few weeks on the job and a third and divisive HC hired just to do a disappearing act after 10 months.

After Haywood imploded his career and Graham thumbed his nose at us what PITT needed in its next HC was a stabilizing and more conservative man to get the football program back on an even keel. I think we found that in Chryst. Just as with any head coaching search the fans weighed in with their favorites and inevitably some were disappointed with PITT’s choice and others were made very happy.

Now, after his first month, it appears that there is a contingent of fans who just feel the need to criticize everything Chryst did or is rumored to have done.  There is a laundry list of negative issues that these fans hold onto, mostly with no firm facts to support them.  Here are a few of the complaints about Chryst and staff from before he was hired to the present.

1.  Chryst had no head coaching experience.  Neither did Jackie Sherrill and we seem pretty satisfied with his work at PITT, don’t we?  This was a valid concern as inexperience in being the Top Dog can come back and bite the program sometimes.  But Chryst had been an OC with a Pac-10 and then a Big Ten school and had done well at that.  Leadership is a quality one develops in many ways and everyone who assumes the prime position has had to gather those qualities along his professional path. Chryst was heartily endorsed for the position by his AD Barry Alvarez who is well familiar with PITT and WPA football.  This is a ‘wait and see’ issue but there is no foundation to think he’ll not be able to assume the mantle and succeed.

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So, less than a month after Pitt hired Eddie Faulkner as the running backs coach, he leaves for Wisconsin to be the Tight Ends Coach. Um, okay.

I think I need someone to explain to me what life is like up in Madison. You know, I get wanting to hire guys you know, trust and have been with you in some form before. These Wisconsin coaches, though, seem to be taking it to a new level. There cannot be more than a degree of separation from either Wisconsin or personal connections. This has led to a lot of hiring guys away from each other Doren, Chryst, Bielema — all hiring the same guys and raiding each other for one coach or another. It’s making me a little nervous.

I’m not exactly distraught by this loss to the staff. As noted when he was hired, Faulkner’s recruiting area was in MAC/Big 10 region. That seems well covered with or without him by the Pitt staff.

Chris Dokish makes the good point that this could/should be a blessing in disguise for Coach Chryst. The chance to hire someone with recruiting ties in New Jersey and/or Maryland.

While the recruiting season winds down for college football programs and the last scholarships are being filled, it is often the case that schools will take ‘a reach’ on players just to see if they will blossom later on.  This is, to me, is one of the most intriguing aspects of the recruiting season.

We’ve been able to keep the core group of inherited recruits together pretty well so far.  However, we have had some recruits who would have contributed to the program turn their attentions elsewhere; Conwell Dakota (LB) to ASU, William Parks (DB) to UofA, Marzett Geter (DB ) to a remedial tweeting class, Brandon Cook (C) to Miami of Ohio and Corey Jones to Toledo.  In what may be our biggest loss OT Adam Pankey is looking hard at WVU and I think he’ll fall that way.

What is interesting about those defections is the debate on whether the recruits were ‘encouraged’ to go elsewhere or whether they made the move themselves.  I think Jones, Geter and Cook didn’t really have a place under the new staff, but it doesn’t really matter in the long run because the fact is that they will not be at PITT in 2012.

In addition, Chryst has added everyone’s favorite J.P. Holtz, a TE who decommitted from PSU and who could see action sooner than later.  We also pulled in two lower ranked kids in CB Ryan Lewis of WA State who, due to an injury in his JR year, was somewhat under the radar to recruiters and LB Mike Caprara the leading tackler in Woodland Hills history which isn’t shabby.

I do think Paul Chryst and his staff is doing more long range planning right now, whether out of necessity because high impact players aren’t signing on at this late date or by staff choice, we really don’t know.  In two days we will see what’s what when the players start signing and faxing their Letters of Intent to the school of their choice.  We still have some HVTs (High Value Targets) out there who our staff still has a shot at.

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Well to be fair, most of his former offensive staff is already in place at Rutgers. Soooooo. I guess this wouldn’t be the most absurd possibility for the next Rutgers head coach (h/t to FeartheStache).

That would be something, huh?

Reed is having ribeye steak, asparagus and homemade bread for dinner…

Oh, and four star TE/DE J.P. Holtz committed to play his college football at PITT this evening.

This is a big get for Chryst & Co. in that Holtz is a highly ranked local prospect who was targeted by Wannstedt, Graham and Chryst as a player they very much wanted on the Panthers.  He most probably will line up at the TE position for us and seeing the way Chryst used TEs, sometimes in a two TE set, he may be able to contribute sooner rather than later.

Currently PITT has only two ‘true’ TEs on the roster in Hubie Graham and Brendan Carozzoni with converted WR Drew Carswell and converted QB Anthony Gonzalez working into the rotation at that position.  I wonder if Carswell might move back to WR as he has the size at 6’4″ and 215  that this staff likes and has used there while at Whisky.

I don’t envision Holtz playing much as a true freshman but one never knows.  Hubie Graham will probably get the bulk of playing time at that position and let’s hope he gets more passes his way.

Here is an interesting fact: in 2010 our TEs caught 21 passes; under Graham in 2011 they had 45 receptions.  I hope we incorporate the TEs into the offense at least as much as last season.

Personally I really like Brendan Carozzoni and want to see him get more action on the field.  He only caught four passes last season but showed flashes of what he can do in the UCONN game when he had three catches for 36 yards.

The big question, at least in my mind, is which of these TEs are going to excel in the run blocking aspect of the position? I think Bostad will incorporate that into the offense more than we saw last season.  We really were spoiled with Nate Byham in that role.

There is also the chance that the staff may want Holtz on the defensive side of the ball as he excelled there also.  He’s a multi-talented kid who has great athletic ability.  Plus he looks like he’s forty years old already so he’ll definitely be able to get into bars without being carded.

Holtz was a Jack of all trades in his career at Shaler as he contributed in many ways:

As a senior, Holtz ran for 337 yards on 72 carries. He caught 19 passes for 332 yards and scored 15 touchdowns.  J.P. Holtz says he played mostly running back during his junior season and had 14 total touchdowns (rushing and receiving). He says he can bench 305-pounds.

Holtz plans to major in education and reports a 3.0 core GPA. He is taking the SAT in June.

So, congrats to J.P. Holtz for picking the University of Pittsburgh for his college choice and let’s wish him the best of luck while here.

Holtz had originally committed to play at Penn State then reviewed his options after the Sandusky scandal broke and they had their coaching change.

In regards to some fan’s angst over HC Paul Chryst losing committed recruits, it is important to understand that Dakota Conwell is the only recruit who PITT has actually ‘lost’ so far. It is apparent that the new coaching staff allowed WR Corey Jones to switch to Toledo without much of a fight to keep him as evidenced by Jones’ own words in this Post Gazette Blog article.

“When coach Graham was there, I would get a lot of phone calls from Pitt,” Jones said. “After he left, that slowed down. I just felt like things fell off or something. I felt like I wasn’t a main priority for them.

“I wasn’t sure of how Pitt was going to handle things, how I was going to fit into their offense and if I was still in their offensive schemes. … [Pitt’s coaches] are cool, but I’m just trying to do what is best for me and I think Toledo’s offense is what’s best for me.”

At 5’9 and 165 pounds you can see that Jones fit the stereotype of WR that Todd Graham was recruiting. That didn’t seem to be a priority for Paul Chryst at this time.  I would have liked for PITT to keep Jones though, talent is talent and I feel it’s a good use of a scholarship.

Note also that both Corey Jones and DB Chas Whittaker, who had committed to WVU, are teammates who made this decision together.

From the looks of things, as detailed in this Trib-Review piece, our staff is still in hot pursuit of others who will fit their plans for the type of football players they want to field this season.

“Meanwhile, Chryst offered a scholarship to defensive back Ryan Lewis, of Sammamish, Wash., his father said.

Lewis, who visited the campus over the weekend, is the son of Seattle Seahawks vice president of football operations Will Lewis and the nephew of former Steelers defensive coordinator Tim Lewis, who played cornerback at Pitt.

“Ryan really enjoyed his visit and the coach enjoyed having him there,” said Will Lewis, who is a cousin of Pitt linebacker Tristan Roberts. “(Ryan) is going to think about it for a couple of days and get back to him, sooner rather than later.”

Lewis, 6-0, 185, has offers from Colorado and Utah. He is rated a 3-star recruit by rivals.com.

Pitt welcomed several recruits to Pitt over the weekend, including defensive tackle Willie Henry and defensive back Sean Draper of Glenville (Ohio); defensive tackle Terrell Jackson of Marion Franklin (Ohio); and New London (Wisc.) offensive lineman Gabe Roberts, who also is considering Wisconsin.”

Of course, Chryst & Co. have some other more familiar names that they have been working on to play thier college ball at PITT.  J.P. Holtz and J.J. Denman, at TE and OL respectively, are highly sought after recruits who have interest in PITT.   Safety Bam Bradley and LB Deaysean Rippy are possibilities also among others the staff has contacted and worked to commit.

On the flip side we may lose Adam Pankey to WVU as he visited the Mountaineers on the 13th, but no solid news on him so far.  So it looks like we’ll get some real recruiting news over the next eight days.

UPDATE (12:36): Well, now it appears to be nothing but denials. So it would seem the crisis is over.

I don’t know what Indian Burial sight the Pitt side of the Southside Complex was built upon, but something is clearly not right.

Reports are that Bob Bostad’s tenure as OC/O-line coach for Pitt is already over. He is apparently taking the same position in the NFL with the Chicago Bears.

WSCR-670 The Score’s Mike Mulligan reports the official announcement will be coming soon from the Bears.

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That said, Bostad has a connection to Bears offensive coordinator Mike Tice. Tice’s son, Nate, was a walk-on quarterback on the Badgers the last few years. Bostad also coached Bears offensive tackle Gabe Carimi at Wisconsin.

Tice was recently promoted to become the Bears’ offensive coordinator, replacing Mike Martz.

The only thing that might give pause is that Mike Tice was contacted by the Raiders to interview for their vacant head coaching job. I don’t know. This is just ridiculous.

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Well, it had to happen sooner than later.  PITT has its first defection of the 2012 recruiting class when Dakota Conwell left the fold yesterday.  His 100% commitment to PITT flip-flopped to being 100% committed to Arizona in the course of a two day visit.  We lose a four star LB right after we picked up a non-ranked LB.

That sounds a bit bitter and I’m really not.  This is how things work in the recruiting game. Conwell has now stated that he was ‘feeling’ Arizona for a couple weeks and I believe that.  Graham had recruited him to play either the Spur or the Panther LB position and Chryst will field a traditional 4-3; three LB defense where the LB play is rather confined.

Apparently Conwell wants to freelance a bit more than that entail and RR’s 3-3-5 will fit him better.

Conwell, 6-foot-1, 210 pounds, said the 3-3-5 defense that new Arizona defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel, formerly of West Virginia, is installing for coach Rich Rodriguez, is a better fit for him than Pitt’s 4-3 under its new coordinator Dave Huxtable.

“I’ll get to play in space a little bit more than I would have at Pitt,” he said. “I will have a little more (pass coverage) responsibilities at Arizona.”

Now I’m no Dick Lebeau but I can’t see how having an extra DB is somehow going to translate to Conwell having more pass coverage responsibilities.  You’d think having one less DB and an extra body on the DL would make that happen more often.

Anyway, there is no doubt in my mind that Chryst & Co. knew this was probably going to happened and with that they made sure that Caprara was onboard.  We’ll see in a couple of years if this was a decent trade off or not.

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Really, Pitt? You are releasing news of hires around 5pm? This isn’t bad news. Don’t treat it like it. Even some of us bloggers have a facade of a life that doesn’t let us get updates out every hour of the day. /grumble

So in addition to the hiring of Eddie Faulkner as the running backs coach, it was announced that Matt House would be the secondary coach. House is a Michigan State alum — and like Faulkner in his mid-30s — who has been toiling at the low end of the NFL coaching ladder for the last four years.

He spent the last three years as the defensive quality control coach with the St. Louis Rams, and the year before that he was a special teams assistant with the Carolina Panthers (and helping with the strength and conditioning program).

Here’s the rest of his resume:

Prior to his NFL stint, House was defensive backs coach and recruiting coordinator under Turner Gill at the University of Buffalo for two seasons (2006-07). In his final season at UB, the rising Bulls captured a share of the MAC East Division title. House’s pupils at Buffalo included four-time first-team All-MAC safety Davonte Shannon, a native of Jeannette, Pa., and graduate of Jeannette High. Shannon finished as the Bulls’ all-time leading tackler and signed a free agent contract with the Washington Redskins.

House additionally was defensive line coach at Gardner-Webb University (2005), where he helped develop consensus All-America defensive end Brian Johnston. The two-time Big South Conference Defensive Player of the Year would go on to be selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2008 NFL Draft.

House began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Michigan State (his alma mater) during the 2001 and ’02 seasons and worked with the Spartans’ defensive backs and special teams. He also was a defensive assistant at North Carolina for two years (2003-04) working with the secondary.

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Paul Chryst really likes those Wisconsin connections doesn’t he? According to Chris Dokish, he has made his hire for Running Backs Coach. He’s Eddie Faulkner, a former Wisconsin running back who played behind Ron Dayne.

Faulkner is in his thirties and has been working as a MAC running backs coach the last several years. Most of the time spent at Ball State under Brady Hoke and stayed on staff there when Hoke left for SDSU. His recruiting contacts are in Big 10/MAC country.

Last year he was the running backs coach at NIU under Dave Doren — who before taking the head job at  NIU was the defensive coordinator at… Wisconsin. So now Chryst isn’t just raiding his old team. He’s raiding a team headed up by a former colleague.

Hmm. Maybe it isn’t just Chryst. Maybe Wisconsin is just some close-knit cult-like place. All who come from there must surround themselves with others from the same place.

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We are all pretending the BBVA didn’t happen. Probably for the best.

On Saturday, Pitt and head coach Paul Chryst officially announced six hires. The trinity from Wisconsin which everyone already knew: Bob Bostad,  Offensive Coordinator/O-line; Dave Huxtable, Defensive Coordinator; and Joe “Booger” Rudolph, assistant Head Coach/QB Coach.

Also confirmed, former Mt. Lebanon HS head coach Chris Haering, to handle the linebackers.

The new ones, though, are Jim Hueber to coach the tight ends and Todd Rice for strength and conditioning.

The reaction from Wisconsin fans are mixed. Not that it was surprising that Bostad left. Or even that Huxtable took the opportunity to be a DC once more. It is more the volume that left with Chryst. Especially Rudolph since he was one of, if not their best, recruiters.

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Chris Dokish is reporting that Joe Rudolph will be joining Paul Chryst’s football staff.

That makes Bostad, Huxtable and Rudolph on the new staff and Wisconsin feels quite raided.

Rudolph is considered an excellent recruiter. Considering Chryst and Bostad do not have reputations for such skills, this is a big deal.

Rudolph’s position on the staff is not yet known. He coached the Tight Ends at Wisconsin, but had just been promoted to O-line coach.

Once more to the BBVA Compass Bowl. Once more the run up to the game has been largely ignored by the fans in favor of basketball (not in a good way this time) and the future head coaching situation. Unlike last year, the coach who will be running things next year is in place on the eve of the bowl.

In the best of times, the BBVA Bowl is largely an ignored and at best a curiosity. A very minor bowl that is on a Saturday afternoon after the BCS Bowls, but before the BCS Championship game. Even worse, competing with the start of the NFL playoffs.

Well I may not have written much this week about the actual game, but the liveblog will be running. Apathy Bowl, part 2.

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That’s it for my ‘reporter’ attempts my friends.  The one time I played ‘reporter’ with rock solid info I got burned.  From now on I’ll stick to throwing opinions and links up here and then take what you guys want to talk about and run with it.

Obviously the Huxtable hire trumps my news that Tomsula was going to be hired on staff.  The word I got was that Tomsula had accepted the DC offer from PITT over the holidays.  What actually transpired was that Huxtable, as the primary target, changed his mind after Tomsula was contacted and he accepted the DC position.

Now, I’m in an ethical dilemma. Do I bite the bullet and never ever reveal my source like a real journalist would do, or do I weigh that against my great friendship with a guy who, while remaining nameless, has reason to fly to the West Coast to be with an ex-Panther family member on a NFL team there and then parties at the post-game tailgate with that team’s coaching staff, including Tomsula, and players where he learns this information first hand?

No, I’ll take the high road and will not revel that source and will use this incident as a learning experience.  But you can be sure I’ll keep it in my back pocket as something I can beat over my friend’s head until his wallet, debit card and any line of credit he may have runs dry at the bars this season as payback for setting me up (even though he truly didn’t set out to do that).

So, my apologies to you all and I’ll stick to my own predictions from now on.  One of which is that Malcolm Crockett is going to surprise us with the amount of PT he gets at RB.

Obviously for this Saturday as he leads Pitt in the BBVA Bowl as the interim head coach with a skeleton coaching staff. But beyond that.

After the game, Patterson will be on the move from Pitt. That was very clear when the news that Dave Huxtable would be the next defensive coordinator. And as good a resume, and a positive that it is to get Huxtable, I liked the job Patterson did. The defense improved noticeably from the start of the season to the end.

The beat writers spoke well of him, and he stayed when he could have bolted right away with Fraud Graham. As it stood, he could  still take the Arizona St. DC position if he wants it.

Turns out, he didn’t want it.

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