Or… something.
Last week, Wisconsin linebackers coach Dave Huxtable publicly declined the offer to go with Paul Chryst and be the defensive coordinator at Pitt. This on the heels of TE Coach Joe Rudolph apparently going to be promoted (and get a bump in pay) to stay at Wisconsin.
Close the book on those guys and move on to other speculation and crazy rumors.
Weeelllllll….
Spoiler alert: No.
I do get it. I do get the logic and how it can be arrived at that point, but the reasons for it not happening are just too overwhelming. Granted I was wrong on whether Pitt would actually fire Wannstedt. I was wrong on thinking that FraudGraham’s sales patter was irrelevant — as long as there were results. So maybe my track record on what to expect regarding Pitt football coaching activities are less than impressive.
Wait. Let’s start over. I seemed to have digressed.
There was the early rumor/nugget buried in what was a Penn State story:
Bradley repeated Monday he will stick with the program “until the end.”
However, he has said he expects to have other opportunities for a coaching job.
One may emerge at Pitt, if the timing is right. Bradley is on a short list of contenders to serve as defensive coordinator for new Panthers coach Paul Chryst, sources said. Chryst finished his tenure as Wisconsin’s offensive coordinator Monday in the Rose Bowl against Oregon.
Sure it was a Trib PSU beat reporter reporting that nugget, but maybe there was something.
After an entertaining as hell Rose Bowl, Paul Chryst gets to take the reins at Pitt. Before that game even finished, news leaked of another coach being hire — unofficially of course.
It’s not going to be an earth-shattering, wow type of hire. Instead, it is a guy with long ties to both Chryst and to the local high school scene.
Chris Haering, who won a WPIAL football championship as Mt. Lebanon’s coach, is headed to the college level.
Haering resigned today to become an assistant coach at Pitt under new coach Paul Chryst. Haering was at Mt. Lebanon for 17 seasons and also coached Hampton for one season. He was a social studies teacher at Mt. Lebanon and won the WPIAL Class AAAA title in 2000.
Haering handed in his letter of resignation today and also met with Mt. Lebanon’s players (he didn’t pull a Todd Graham).
“You’ll have to talk to him, but if you’re asking my opinion, it’s just the right situation for him,” said Mt. Lebanon athletic director John Grogan. “I think he’s had a relationship with [Chryst] for a long time. The fact that he wouldn’t have to move his family I think also played a big role in this.”
Haering played for WVU in the late 80s. His time overlapped while Chryst was a Grad Assistant with the Hoopies.
So far so good.
No reports of Paul Chryst being arrested for beating his wife. He hasn’t been caught pulling up to an In-and-Out drive through stark naked looking for someone to slather in any special sauce,
Happy New Years everyone.
In something of a surprise, Dave Huxtable declined the opportunity to become the defensive coordinator at Pitt, to instead remain the linebackers coach at Wisconsin.
“I’m very flattered,” Huxtable said. “I’m humbled. I love Paul Chryst, in the short time I’ve been here, I’ve become very, very close with him. I think he’s a tremendous person and a (heck) of a football coach. I wish him nothing but the best and I know he’s going to do a great job and have great success at Pitt.”
Huxtable admitted it was not an easy decision for him to make, but said he is extremely happy at UW under head coach Bret Bielema.
“It’s always a hard decision for me,” Huxtable said. “I love this place, I love the guys I’m coaching. Coach Bielema has been awesome to me.
“It was a great opportunity for me to go to Pitt, to get back to a coordinator position. It was not an easy decision. But right now I’m fixed and I’m focused on playing this game. I’m ready to do that.”
I’m sure Wisconsin sweetened the pot for Huxtable, but it seems Huxtable is just feeling a bit comfortable at the moment.
So, back to the Orlando or Tomsula speculation for the next Pitt DC.
Just to provide a brief counterpoint to the story I posted yesterday about Wisconsin Linebackers Coach Dave Huxtable coming to Pitt when Paul Chryst takes the reigns. Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema has been vague about much in the change of coaches, including who. He did offer a hint.
A source previously told the State Journal that Chryst had contacted three assistants about going with him: linebackers coach Dave Huxtable, tight ends coach Joe Rudolph and Bostad.
The source said Huxtable was still a possibility, but Bielema might have just firmed up that situation.
“The last 48 hours have been all of that stuff going on,” Bielema said. “It was a good break for our players, because there were some things that needed to get sorted out.
“I know what’s going to happen. I don’t want to release anything. … Definitely going to be transition on my side.”
Bielema was asked if he planned to wait until after the Rose Bowl on Jan. 2 to make the announcement.
“I haven’t talked to those guys specifically,” he said. “It’s just one other guy.”
With Bostad being the confirmed departure, Bielema’s statement could be read as just Bostad going. Or, I suppose it could be taken to mean that “one other guy” means one more besides Bostad.
Spitballing a bit here, so bear with the incoherence.
As posted by Reed, SF 49ers defensive line coach and Ron Jeremy non-stunt double, Jim Tomsula appears to be poised to join Paul Chryst’s new staff at Pitt. The initial thought was that he would be the defensive coordinator. He is loved by 49er fans. I am not sure, though, about him becoming the defensive coordinator. Why?
There are reports that Wisconsin Linebacker coach Dave Huxtable will be coming to Pitt.
Pitt: We have learned that Wisconsin linebackers coach Dave Huxtable (2011 Linebackers Coach of the Year) will be joining Paul Chryst’s staff at Pitt. Huxtable coached the linebackers at Wisconsin this season and served as the defensive coordinator at Central Florida prior to that.
Huxtable coming to the Badgers last year, was something of a coup for Wisconsin. Obviously it paid off for both, but if he’s coming to Pitt it would not be to remain the linebacker coach. The guy has been a DC at UCF, UNC and GT. The extra plus side, is in recruiting since he has spent the last 20 years in North Carolina, Georgia and Flordia berfore last year in Madison. Considering the desire to recruit in Florida, plus Pitt heading to the ACC, a coach like Huxtable would be a very good hire. Whether it is real or not, remains to be seen.
The general media response to the Chryst hiring has been positive.
“It sounds like he’s a good man for Pitt,” Dorsett said. “We’ve got to wait and see. I’m not trying to be any way but cautious. The last couple of hires at Pitt, you know how they turned out. … I’m just hoping and praying he can come to Pitt and do some of the wonderful things he’s done in the past.”
National college football analyst Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com gave Pitt “total thumbs up” for hiring Chryst, calling him a “huge upgrade” after it “whiffed” on its past two hires. Sports Illustrated’s Stewart Mandel called Chryst’s hire “encouraging,” especially after what Pitt has endured.
“Obviously, the last 13 months were a mess for everyone involved, but I do feel they got this one right,” Mandel said. “Paul Chryst is very respected in the profession. He’s the opposite of Todd Graham. He’s not going to jump job to job, putting his name out there. … His coaching style will be a better fit than Todd Graham’s was.”
Not a terrible surprise. Only a small number of hirings are ever truly panned. Fraud Graham was considered a good hire at the time.
It’s not that the introductory press conference was spectacular or inspiring. It really was rather standard. Little hints of personality, but otherwise nothing seems overwhelmingly memorable to me nearly a week later. After last year, not standing out at the presser seemed to actually “win the press conference” for people with regards to Chryst.
Chryst also comes across as genuine, no small issue given Pederson’s brutal hires of Mike Haywood and Todd Graham. The son of a high school football coach and father of three, he spoke with a soft but serious tone and sounded anything but self-absorbed.
…
Among Graham’s many missteps at his introductory news conference was that he boasted about the greatness of his system even more than he boasted about grandiose goals.
This was refreshing.
The PITT Blather is in the “Dead Period” where there isn’t much football news to discuss so let’s throw some info around.
There have been some legitimate worries about how Paul Chryst is going to be able to finish off the PITT 2012 recruiting class. Sometimes you need a Mayan Calendar to know who can do what and when during these last few months. Here is a good PDF that shows the calendar dates and what recruiters can do during them: 2012 Recruiting Dates.
Now that you have that here are the definitions for what can or can’t be done during those times: NCAA Definitions. Here are the three which concern us the most .
Contact Period During this time, a college coach may have in-person contact with you and/or your parents on or off the college’s campus. The coach may also watch you play or visit your high school. You and your parents may visit a college campus and the coach may write and telephone you during this period.
Quiet Period The college coach may not have any in-person contact with you or your parents off the college’s campus. The coach may not watch you play or visit your high school during this period. You and your parents may visit a college campus during this time. A coach may write or telephone you or your parents during this time.
Dead Period The college coach may not have any in-person contact with you or your parents at any time in the dead period. The coach may write and telephone you or your parents during this time.
The bottom line is that it is always a “Contact Period” except when it isn’t.
Since there is a Dead Period until Jan 3 anyway he’s not missing much on the recruiting side by being at the Rose Bowl until that date because he can still call the recruits.
But the key for Paul Chryst is going to be the Jan 13-28 Contact Period is when he’s going to do his lion’s share of recruiting as he can host recruits on campus and call them as much as he wants. That’s 15 days of face to face talks with some of these young players.
Understand that we can only pay for official visits by a recruit but we can meet with anyone who wants to come to campus on their own.
The National LOI (Letter of Intent) Day is on Feb 3rd this year. That is when we’ll find out how well this recruiting class actually stuck together.
I read a poll the other day which showed that the Green Bay Packers were now “America’s Team” beating out the Steelers in popularity across the U.S. I bah humbug that. However, I can say without hesitation that the University of Wisconsin’s football team just picked up thousands of new fans prior to their bowl game. As our AD said “On Wisconsin, baby”
The reason for that is our hiring of Paul Chryst, ex- Wisconsin Offensive Coordinator.
Pitt fans seem to have feelings ranging from “like but will withhold judgment” to being ecstatic that PITT hired him as the Panther’s new head coach. I haven’t read or heard one negative thought about him since his initial press conference when he was introduced as the HC. On paper it looks like a good hire and Paul Chryst himself looks to be the type of guy we want leading the football program. He’s got some real work ahead of him though.
First off, he must reassure his returning players that he is both sincere about his wanting to be their coach and secondly he must allay their worries about the effects of what has hit them like a runaway freight train over the last 12 months.
Any change in a coaching staff is tough to deal with but these players are experiencing a string of events which may be unprecedented in college football. The current roster members, less true freshman, have had, in essence, six head coaches in the last 384 days. Unfreakinbelivable!
Wannstedt, Bennett, Haywood, Graham, Patterson and now Chryst. I’d call in a Murder’s Row but the first five couldn’t shoot straight and the jury is out on the sixth.
Chryst has to be able to convince the players that things are going to be different going forward. He has to be honest with them and with himself in acknowledging that it isn’t going to be either smooth or easy. We PITT fans need to acknowledge that also else we set ourselves up for a big disappointment.
Today PITT starts another new era to go along with the other new three eras we’ve had in the last 12 months. This era may actually last longer than our last era which will be a marked improvement for everyone involved I would think.
Our eras were getting longer though. We went from the 16 day Mike Haywood Era, commonly known around the PITT football program as “Them Bitch Slapping Days of Old” and the longer 338 day Todd Graham Era, referred to as the “There’s No Business Like Show Business” period. Prior to those two we had, of course, the six year Dave Wannstedt Era entitled the “Are We Running Faster Yet?” time period. That ‘run faster’ video never gets old. Funny that people remember that so fondly, huh?
Everyone is just a wee bit focused on the football side of things. There are some basketball things to get out there.
The Khem Birch situation just remains incredibly sad to me. This apparently was not thought through particularly well. There are even rumblings that Birch might actually want to come back to Pitt. Just one little problem so far:
That could be a hindrance.
Okay, in case there was any question that there might be a last minute change. Pitt has put out the press release announcing Chryst has been hired.
With the hiring of Paul Chryst by Pitt to be all but officially announced (hint: 3 pm Eastern), there is already the first controversy. Will Paul Chryst continue to coach the offense for Wisconsin through the Day After New Years Day Rose Bowl? Predictably plenty are already saying/demanding that Chryst needs to step down right away and take over his duties at Pitt.
There are compelling reasons for the Pitt side. Shore up the recruiting. Put together a staff. Meet with the players. All the things a new, first-time head coach needs to do and learn. Not to mention becoming acclimated at a new place.
Well, I’m not trying to be contrarian. There are, however, plenty of compelling reasons for Paul Chryst to finish things in Wisconsin.
They are coming. Whether Paul Chryst is announced officially tomorrow or Friday. So brace yourself for them.
The tweets and radio reports have been a steady drumbeat all evening. The Trib and Jery DiPaola late in the day went with Chryst as emerging as the top choice. Paul Zeise at the P-G seemed to be first on the confirmation.
The Trib story stressed that certain boosters were won over to Chryst, and Sports by Brooks tweeted a specific name:
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