This is one I wanted to get to for a week, but it has been hectic.

Fans for Script

is a place of interest for many, I suspect. I’ve added them to the links area under “School Links.”
It’s a student-based effort to bring back the script and the old colors for Pitt.

I miss the old colors. Have for some time. There’s no secret about that. I think the present colors are boring, common and the whole thing — as I know Lee and I have said on more then one occasion — reminds me of the San Diego Chargers situation. They have those boring dark colors, but when they break out the baby blues, people go nuts. They are one of the cooler pro football unis.

As for the script, well I’d like to say my view is a bit nuanced, but wishy-washy is probably a better way to put it.

I could take or leave the script. The colors are more important to me, and for logo designs I prefer simple. So, the block letter “Pitt” doesn’t really bother me. If getting the script meant junking the present panther head logo, I would probably get on board.

The big stumbling block, though, with the script is ownership. If I understand things correctly, the script Pitt logo is owned by the university itself, not the athletic department (hence, why you see Pitt Campus police with hats bearing the script Pitt). This is important for the funding of athletics if the merchandise sales are not going straight to the athletic department. In fact, this is the issue that probably does more to prevent any serious discussion of the return of the script logo.

Helmet stickers for Pitt. Yes or no? Personally, I’m not that big a fan of them (the downside of which is that it puts me in agreement with Joe Pa), but I could see Coach Wannstedt bringing them back sometime soon. I suppose I might not object as much if it was something simple — in fact that may have been the thing to do with that stupid Panther’s tooth they tried to push as alt logo a few years back. Then it might have worked. We all know, though, it would be that hideous Panther head that just looks like a blue and gold blob from any distance.

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.

Maybe it’s because I like history. Maybe it’s because all the blogging makes me appreciate archives and being able to search them at any time. In any case, this seems rather cool.

Last week, the University of Pittsburgh launched Documenting Pitt, a digital archive of more than 70,000 pages of text and images: course catalogs, chancellors’ reports, yearbooks, commencement programs, fact books, football and basketball media guides and hundreds of photographs of students, staff and buildings. It’s all searchable at digital.library.pitt.edu/d/documentingpitt/.

There’s some overlap with another digital Pitt archive on the City of Pittsburgh.

I could see spending a lot of time looking around these sites.

Coach Wannstedt’s press conference on Monday produced the main story in both papers about Conredge Collins seeing the ball more.

On Conredge Collins’ role in the offense:

Because we weren’t sure if LaRod was 100 percent, leading up to the game we had Conredge get a lot more work than what he normally might, just as an insurance policy. Kevin Collier didn’t get into the game, Shane Brooks did. We’ll continue to rotate all those backs but it’s difficult trying to get them all work. Conredge is one guy, other than LaRod, that has some experience. Even though he’s just a sophomore he’s the most experienced (fullback) we’ve got from a playing time standpoint. In certain situations he’s the guy we want to give the football to. Yes, we expect to try to get him some more carries. That will be a week-to-week thing depending on what we’re trying to do.

As noted, both papers ran with that. There’s the recapping that Collins wants to be used more as a tailback, not a fullback — stuff that has been covered before. Collins was expected to see plenty of work back in the spring drills. Eventually getting back, to the “team player” cliches and approach.

Collins is hoping the Panthers continue to hand him the ball and that his production gives the coaching staff the confidence to know he can carry the load — at tailback or fullback — in the case of an emergency.

“I take what they give me,” Collins said. “They keep increasing it every week so, hopefully, this week I get a little bit more and, by the end of the season, I’ll be an impact player.”

It’s more interesting that Collins admits the mind-set is harder to be a fullback — blocking for someone else to get the success.

“The blocking is rough,” Collins said. “Any time you are doing something you aren’t used to it is an adjustment, but it is something I am still working on and I know I am getting better. I’m getting there. In the spring I was getting plowed over and put on my back but I’m making good blocks now so it is coming along.”

So does it mean Collins is going to take a bigger role in the offense? You’ll excuse me if I hedge a bit. Right now, I have trouble believing anything said about what is happening with player roles. The TEs were expected to see a lot of work, and that has not been the case in large part because the WRs have stepped up significantly. The young players were expected to see a lot more action at key spots, but instead they have very slowly been making appearances and not with major impact. None of that thrown to the fire thing we were expecting.
I’m not convinced he’s going to be getting the bulk of the carries or be an offensive centerpiece. If LaRod Stephens-Howling is healthy, he’s still a great option at tailback. Shane Brooks has looked good at spots. Dickerson and Collier will be getting touches. Right now, if he sees 8-10 touches (running and catching), then he is getting a lot of work in the offense (for the record, he had 5 carries and 2 catches versus MSU).

The running game just hasn’t happened as hoped. Once again, the eyes go to the O-line. Probably why Howling may be the best option when healthy. He can squeeze through the smaller seems and cracks they do make.

Hall of Fame Coach Don Nehlan spoke to WVU law students the other night. He was in total grumpy old man mode.

Coaches make too much money, too much pressure to win now and he discussed religion.

When the subject turned to the current state of college football, Nehlen did not hesitate to express his views. “The (current) drive to win at all costs scares me. Coaches making one or two million dollars a year scares me. That’s too much for a doggone coach.”

“It’s a game, and we’ve made it like a religion,” Nehlen continued. “If you look at the Southeastern Conference, I’m not sure it isn’t a religion.”

The role television has played in transforming the game into a business also worries Nehlen. “TV tells schools what to do and when to do it. We used to not play on Friday nights out of respect for high school football. Now we play on Fridays. It’s like biting the hand that feeds you. If you play on a Wednesday, the athletes miss class from traveling on Tuesday and on gameday, and we all know they’re not going on Thursday. But the NCAA says it’s all about academics. It’s not. It’s about money.”

Then he went on about the Big East — taking a rip at Louisville — and speaking near heresy.

“Say what you want, but it killed us to lose those teams,” Nehlen said in reference to Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College, each of which defected to the Atlantic Coast Conference since 2004.

“We’ll be playing a lot more Wednesday games unless something changes. South Florida doesn’t have their own stadium, and at Cincinnati games, the fans would rather talk about the start of basketball season.

“Louisville made their program go by taking Prop 48 guys. Now they can’t do that, and it won’t be long until they’re average again. That’s why we need Pittsburgh and Syracuse to rebound. They’re the only two (Big East) schools with national name recognition. I never thought I’d root for Pitt to get better, but we need them to give our league some prestige.“

[Emphasis added.]

Kind of funny to read anyone associated with WVU complain about schools taking academically questionable students. When the Big East voted this past year to refuse to accept academic non-qualifiers any longer, the Hoopies were one of two schools to vote against the measure.

That’s the frustrating thing about the Big East these days. We find ourselves kind of hoping that our bitter rivals do at least well enough to help the overall quality of the conference, and thus our status.

The 30th anniversery of Pitt’s ’76 national championship is this year, and the team will be honored at the season opener this Saturday. The Trib. goes full-feature in looking back at the team. They start with how new Head Coach Johnny Majors recruited the class of ’73.

Pitt’s once-proud program had sunk to unfathomable depths. It hadn’t produced a winning record in a decade, hadn’t beaten Penn State since 1965 and was coming off a 1-10 season in which it was outscored 350-193.

The first key to the renovation project was a change in the school’s scholarship policy. Previously, Pitt had been locked into the so-called “Big Four Agreement” with West Virginia, Penn State and Syracuse. It was designed to regulate the schools’ football programs and limited each to just 25 scholarships per year.

Then-Pitt chancellor Wesley Posvar and athletic director Cas Myslinski sparked the program’s revival by removing the self-imposed scholarship cap and by hiring the charismatic, 38-year-old Majors after the 1972 season.

In part because Pitt gave out such a slew of scholarships — anywhere from 65 to 100 — the NCAA set caps on scholarships per year after 1973. The numbers are a little unclear, in part, because Pitt washed out a bunch of kids in training camp. There’s a great little note about what helped Pitt be able to get Tony Dorsett to stay local and come to Pitt.

Sherrill was the lead recruiter on Dorsett, and he quickly discovered that Dorsett’s closest friend and Hopewell teammate, Ed Wilamowski, was critical to the chase. He was a pretty good player, too.

“Ed was white and Tony was black, and at every school they visited, they were separated (in the college dorms),” Sherrill recalled. “I don’t know if I was smarter than the others, but I didn’t separate them. I knew Tony was very, very close to Ed. We kept them together.”

Dorsett remembers.

“There’s a whole lot of validity to that,” he said in a recent phone interview.

The end of the article features capsule reviews of every game from the ’76 season.

There’s also a “where are they now?” piece covering 11 members of the team. Plus a full feature on another member, Jim Corbett, who at age 51 is now doing relief mission work to Nigeria. He will be at the game on Saturday then leave for another trip in less than a week.

The other stuff I hadn’t had a chance to post on this week.

Assistant Head Coach Bob Junko is taking a leave of absence from the team as his recovery from heart surgery in February has gone much slower than hoped. Junko is an underrated recruiter for Pitt, and has been Pitt’s recruiting coordinator this season. Not sure if the perceived slowness in the Pitt recruiting this summer is actually related considering how hands-on and active Coach Wannstedt is.

Taking over on the field for Junko is Charlie Taafe.

“We were fortunate to be able to gain the services of a highly knowledgeable coach in Charlie Taaffe on such short notice,” Wannstedt said.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to contribute to the University of Pittsburgh’s football program and help Coach Wannstedt build Pitt to the level of prominence it is accustomed to,” Taaffe said. “There is a real excitement and anticipation here and I’m glad to be part of it.”

Taaffe was Maryland’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 2001-05. Prior to Maryland, he served as the head coach of the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League (1999-2000) and The Citadel (1987-96). Taaffe additionally held collegiate assistant coaching positions at Army (1981-86), Virginia (1976-80) and Albany (1973). He was a graduate assistant at NC State (1975) and Georgia Tech (1974).

Taaffe was something of the scapegoat at Maryland for the team’s struggles. After leaving Maryland unexpectedly to “pursue other options” Maryland HC Ralph Friedgen announced he would serve as his own OC. Can you say scapegoat? I knew you could.
Alan Robinson is the longtime AP sportswriter for Pittsburgh. He has a piece noting some similarities to what Coach Wannstedt has done with recruiting in his first year to what his old boss and mentor Johnny Majors did back when he started at Pitt.

Maybe there’s not a Tony Dorsett or a Bill Fralic in the bunch, both players who were known nationally before enrolling at Pitt and went on to great college careers.

Less than a week into summer camp, though, it seems evident Pitt’s 27 freshmen have the potential to be the best such group at Pittsburgh since Dorsett’s in 1973. That class was greatly responsible from transforming the Panthers from one-game winners in 1972 to unbeaten national champions in 1976.

Maybe the names aren’t well known yet outside of recruiting circles, Pitt’s fan base and opposing Big East teams, but coach Dave Wannstedt didn’t bring them to campus to let them sit. That means the Pitt team that takes the field Sept. 2 against Virginia may not closely resemble the one that ended last season with an embarrassing 45-13 loss at West Virginia.

There probably hasn’t been a bigger changeover in the roster from one Pitt season to another since first-year coach Johnny Majors, during the days when there were no real scholarship limits, brought in scores of new players in 1973.

That’s one to save from the memory hole to review in a couple years.

Shane Corson is learning to play Center. Viewing it as the shortest route to playing time. It’s gone as smoothly as expected as a Guard moves to a position never played before.

Scott Corson’s training camp practice debut for the University of Pittsburgh was rather inauspicious, but at least he left a lot of room for improvement.

A former GreaterJohnstown Trojan lineman, the 6-foot-5, 280-pound Corson was moved from guard to center with the freshman group and mishandled consecutive snaps to the quarterback in the opening team drill.

“That was a tough start for Scott, but he’s learning a new position,” Pitt offensive line coach Paul Dunn said. “So, he’s going to make some mistakes, but he’s gotten better already. And he’ll continue to improve.”

Corson didn’t think it could get any worse.

“I was real nervous that first day because I never took a snap before in my life,” Corson said. “Then, we had two fumbled snaps right off the bat, so I had to make sure it didn’t happen again. I needed to be confident and approach the next practice with a better frame of mind.”

Interesting to note that in the story, Chris Vangas, who was challenging Villani for the starting Center position in the spring before an injury shut him down is now been moved to Guard. I would presume because he is good enough to be playing somewhere on the line, and Pitt needs depth and the best players out there.

Finally, Tom Dienhart at the Sporting News doesn’t think much about Pitt this season in his Big East quickies.

He does the least with the most: Dave Wannstedt, Pitt

…

Offensive coordinator on the spot: Matt Cavanaugh, Pitt
…

Watch him now, because he’s turning pro: Darrelle Revis, CB, Pitt

If this guy gets hurt, his team is toast: Tyler Palko, QB, Pitt

…

They’ll be worse than advertised: Pitt

Safe to call this the conventional wisdom of national sportswriters heading into this season.

I really don’t want to bother writing much about Joe Pa, and Penn St., but what the hell. I can’t let this Joe Paterno press conference quote from today go past without preserving it from disappearing down a memory hole.

…Akron is awfully clever. The guy who is the head coach at Akron was on Pitt’s staff when they embarrassed us out there. It wasn’t even close. As I said, the quarterback is awfully good. There are a lot of quarterbacks around the country and I think we are playing against all of the good ones.

And yet, he would rather keep the embarrassment from the last game then renew the series.

Shocking.

Note: If you have yet to hear, I am Keith and am filling in for Chas today. He’ll be back tomorrow.

My memories of former Pitt running back Curtis Martin began before I knew I’d be attending Pitt. Being from Maine I cheered for the Patriots – who drafted Martin in the third round and stupidly let him walk after three years – growing up.

I would suggest passing on Martin — the NFL’s No. 4 career rusher — in your upcoming fantasy draft (along with every other Jets player). If Martin’s career isn’t over, by all accounts it’s pretty close.

Two sources close to Curtis Martin told the New York Daily News that the running back talked about retirement before deciding to give it a go for another season, and one of the sources told the newspaper “I’d be really shocked if he came back.”

Those in Jets camp know little of Martin’s status.

“Curtis? I haven’t really talked to him,” said fellow running back Derrick Blaylock. “I really don’t know how he’s feeling right now.”

Curious, considering coach Eric Mangini said that Martin has attended all position and team meetings.

Then there is Chad Pennington, who said, “I haven’t seen Curtis that much. I’ve been going from meetings to eating back to meetings to rehab. My schedule’s been so full, I haven’t gotten a chance to sit down and talk to him.”

While his teammates know little, the media caught up with Martin recently.

“I’m working out as hard as I can,” said Martin, resolute as always. “I’m here every single day and probably up here longer than most of the other players because I’m doing extra work. … I don’t know how long it will take me. All I can do is keep working the way I’m doing.”

Martin comes off as being a class act. He’s one spot ahead of Jerome Betttis on the career rushing list, and until recently had as many Super Bowl rings as The Bus. However, his superstar status has never reached Jerome-like proportions. He plays for a big-market team, but he’s just not a media mooch charismatic guy like Bettis.

I find it interesting that Pitt/Pittsburgh doesn’t have much of an attachment to Martin. He went to Allderdice High School and didn’t seem to burn any bridges at Pitt, yet you never hear too much about him. I can’t even find his Pitt stats anywhere (can anyone help me with this?)

Here’s my dilemma: Who does/should get in the Hall of Fame? Martin? Bettis? Both?

Also, share some Martin-Pitt memories if you have them.

So, I watched the opening press conference on the All-Access. Here’s what I took note of.

Asst. AD E.J. Borghetti’s reminder to the media to “eat, eat, eat.” Not to mention making note that Joe Bendel showed up. He now works for Clear Channel/Fox Sports Radio 970 not the Trib (he’s still listed, though).

Next AD Long spoke. Welcomed everyone including net denizens watching on All-Access to year 117 of Pitt Football. This year being the anniversary years for Pitt championships from 1916 (90 years), 1936 (70 years) and 1976 (30 years). The 1976 championship will be honored at halftime of the opening game against UVa.

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of that monumental season, the University of Pittsburgh will honor its 1976 national title team during halftime of the Panthers’ season-opening contest with Virginia on Sept. 2. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Members of the ’76 squad will appear at Panthers FanFest on Art Rooney Avenue for autographs from 3 to 4 p.m. They will also take part in Pitt’s “March to Victory” at 6 p.m., on General Robinson Street.

Another new feature will be for the students only. A “Panther Zone” for pregame. Featuring entertainment and activities. Twofold purpose would be my guess. Try and get more student involvement, and try to keep booze out of it.

Finally he pimps the new elite seating in the North End. The Endzone Club seats. Can’t find a working link for it, but  nothing like having a billiards table in your seating area along with the TVs.

Then it’s the main event with Coach Wannstedt.

*From the opening remarks.

Talking about leadership on the team, he said the seniors are the leaders. There are only 12 scholarship seniors, so they all play a major part.

On injuries, Kicker David Abdul has not and will not be medically cleared to practice for the duration of training camp. He might be cleared to play and practice by the start of the season itself.

TE John Pelusi is coming off his knee surgery, but will be in camp. He will practice but not any contact drills. DL Mick Williams and OL Dave Weber both have injuries that will delay their camp.

Regarding the NCAA Clearinghouse, Freshmen Aaron Smith and Jason Pinkston haven’t gotten it yet. Coach Wannstedt minimized it as a paperwork issue, that should be resolved very soon — possibly tomorrow.

*Q&A Time

On the split practices, he admitted that it will be a grind for the coaches that first week (5 practices). Looking at starting practice at 6 am and not getting to the coaches meetings until 10 pm.

On how they will work is that with the WR, one day a freshman will practice with the upperclassmen and one upperclassman will be with the freshmen. It will be a rotation that changes daily. Not to single out anyone.

The Offensive line will be better, but the lack of depth there is the biggest problem.

The Defensive line has to be significantly better for the defense and the whole team to take another step.

Big question marks for starters appears to be at WR, RB and the Kicker.

On the subject of the freshment, Defensive End Greg Romeus was singled out by Wannstedt as a very exciting player. The sleeper of training camp it would seem.

At the end of the press conference after Coach Wannstedt left, it was amusing to watch all the reporters go up to the podium to get their recorders. Many of them looked surly and downright dour. I guess the free grub just wasn’t up to snuff or something. No word as to whether Smizik was counting the minutes to see how long he was inconvenienced between the scheduled time and actual starting time.

One of the better shirts on the market. Yeah, it’s a couple years old, now. But hopefully we can have reasons to repeat that sentiment often this fall.

So, former Pitt AD, Steve Pederson has to find a new head coach for Nebraska basketball. The question, naturally gets raised, as to whether a traditional football school can even become an occasional top-25 team. It seems like a stupid question. The answer is yes, assuming the commitment is realy there, resources are spent and the right coach is hired. Pitt is cited as an example as to a school that has done it.

When Pittsburgh — under the leadership of Pederson, it’s worth noting — fired Ralph Willard prior to the 1999-2000 season it had gone six years without an NCAA Tournament appearance. Panthers football legend Dan Marino sneezing was bigger news in the area than anything that happened inside or outside a 3-point line.

Enter Ben Howland/Jamie Dixon.

Howland and Dixon (otherwise known as coach and assistant) came to Pitt together, and almost immediately turned things around. The second year featured a winning record. And the third year, 2001-02, marked the Panthers’ first trip to the Sweet 16 in nearly 20 years. Howland departed for UCLA after the ’02-03 season, and Pitt wisely allowed Dixon to step in. All he’s done is go 76-22 the past three seasons while setting the stage for what may be a Final Four campaign this year.

In an interview with UCLA Coach Ben Howland, there is naturally nothing but support and belief that Pederson will hire the right guy. There is a short hand revisionism though, about the hiring of Jamie Dixon to replace Howland at Pitt.

“Kerry does a great job (but) I think Steve is going to first look at all head coaches. When you’re in a major conference, I would say almost always that’s the case,” said Howland, who had an assistant, Jamie Dixon, succeed him at Pitt. “Jamie was really unique, and I recommended him.”

That of course ignores the fact that Pitt pursued and offered the job to Skip Prosser of Wake Forest. Only after Prosser finally turned the gig down did Dixon get the offer. So the situation wasn’t quite that unique.

Then there’s the new incursion by Pitt into the DC area for recruiting. Luke Winn on his new CBB blog for SI.com noticed the article from Monday.

Today, the focus is much narrower: the changing dynamics of the Washington D.C. talent market.

…

A nice story in Tuesday’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette describes how coach Jamie Dixon is banking on newly hired director of basketball operations David Cox to help make Pitt a player in D.C. recruiting. Cox, to put it lightly, is “hooked up” inside the Beltway after serving as an assistant with the Assault for seven years. Coincidentally, with Cox in the fold in July, the Panthers landed Darnell Dodson, a 6-foot-6, three-star wing player for the Assault. They’re also now in the hunt for Vaughn and McClain and are said to be considered by Beasley as a possible back-up option should he change his mind about K-State. Cox also gives Dixon more pull in his battle against Huggins for Herb Pope, an ultra-talented power forward from Alquippa, Pa., who formerly played for the Assault.

Oh — and Chris Wright, the lone, five-star D.C. prospect who hasn’t made his college decision? He doesn’t play for the Assault, but that doesn’t mean he’s unfamiliar with Cox. “Actually,” Wright told Scout.com this summer, “[Cox] was the assistant principal at my school [St. John’s College High]. We had a very good relationship before he went to the University of Pittsburgh.”

Wright has two Big East schools on his short list: Georgetown … and Pittsburgh. Is anyone surprised?

The only correction is that Dodson credited his verbal to Mike Rice, not Cox. Though, it seems not to be believed.

Should also note that PF Julian Vaughn gave a verbal to Florida State yesterday.

Track and Field or Cycling. Take your pick as to which has more doping going on in it. My bet is on Track and Field. They are much more advanced in what to use. Cyclists lacks sophistication and much creativity.

So, naturally if there is a non-steroid story regarding Track, it must be about the past. Great story about the 1936 Olympic Gold Medlist in the 800 meter — John Woodruff.

On Aug. 4, 1936, John Woodruff won one of the most memorable races in Olympic history. In the 800-meter final in Berlin, he was boxed in by other runners at 300 meters and forced to stop in his tracks. He let everyone else go by, then caught and passed them all.

It was another gold medal for the United States’ so-called Black Auxiliaries — the Nazis’ term for the black athletes — and another thorn in the side of Adolf Hitler, who greeted every white winner, but none of the blacks.

“It didn’t bother me,” Woodruff said in a telephone interview Friday. “After the race, Marty Glickman, who was a teammate, told me how good a job I did. Two other teammates told me that, too. The coaches said nothing.”

…

Woodruff was a 21-year-old college freshman, an unsophisticated and, at 6 feet 3 inches, an ungainly runner. But he was a fast thinker, and he made a quick decision.

“I didn’t panic,” he said. “I just figured if I had only one opportunity to win, this was it. I’ve heard people say that I slowed down or almost stopped. I didn’t almost stop. I stopped, and everyone else ran around me.”

Then, with his stride of almost 10 feet, Woodruff ran around everyone else. He took the lead, lost it on the backstretch, but regained it on the final turn and won the gold medal.

Did I mention he’s a Pitt grad? Woodruff served in both WWII and the Korean War. He became career Army and retired as a Lt. Colonel.

He has given some of his trophies and medals to Pitt. Unfortunately, his health doesn’t allow him to travel, so he won’t be able to come to Pittsburgh this fall. Pitt wanted to honor him and his accomplishments at halftime of a game this season.