Pitt’s screw-up with the schedule is starting to be noticed outside of Pittsburgh. What do you expect? It’s mid-August and training camp stories get repetitive after a while.

Someone in the Pitt athletic department needs a calendar.

The school scheduled its Sept. 16 game with Michigan State at 3:30 p.m. and the game was scheduled for ABC regional telecast. Heinz Field, though, shares parking spaces with the Pittsburgh Pirates’ home field. The contract calls for any football traffic to clear out two hours prior to a home game.

Yep, you guessed it. The Pirates have a game scheduled at 7:05 p.m. on Sept. 16. Pitt will probably have to reschedule the game for noon. Both conferences (Big East and Big Ten) plus Michigan State will expect someone — yep, you guessed it, Pitt — to make up the difference in television money lost because of the switch.

I’m guessing this is not the kind of story on Pitt the Athletic Department is hoping to see making news.

It really seems Pitt would be more interested in changing the time of the game rather than do anything about parking.

Further complicating the scenario is a new partnership between Pitt and the Pirates. PNC Park hosts the Panther Zone, site of pregame activities for Pitt students, for all home games. It also is the starting point for Pitt’s March to Victory and the Panther Prowl to Heinz Field.

…

Molin said he talked to Michigan State athletic officials yesterday to inform them of the conflict. He said Pitt would continue to look into changing the game time “until someone tells me for the record that it can’t happen.”

While alternative parking and using shuttle buses is mentioned, it doesn’t seem to be the desired option by the Pitt Athletic Department.

Now, the pressure is on the Pitt Athletic Department to solve this problem. They, essentially, are responsible for the mess. If I’m in the Pirates organization, though, I see a big opportunity here.

Let’s face it, the crowds haven’t really been there this season, despite the boost in season ticket sales tied to possibly getting tickets to attend the All-Star Game. More importantly, the other revenue streams — parking and concessions can not have been that good with all the no-shows. Plus, anyone with half a brain knows the team will draw really poorly next year after this season.

So, if I’m in the Pirates organization, I want Pitt to keep the 3:30 start time. I then want to let the Pirate ticketholders to be very aware of that. Highly recommend they come early to the ballpark to avoid the traffic congestion when the Pitt game would be expected to end around 6:30 or 7 pm. Do whatever it takes to get people coming to PNC Park early. A big boost for the concessions as people get to the park early and eat dinner, snack and drink there.

So, the Pirates should work with Pitt on some of the parking. Maybe let them have part of a lot. It wouldn’t hurt the Pirates in the PR area — which they always are in need of help — and it would make them appear altruistic while really serving their own finances quite handsomely.

A dumb screw-up by the Pitt Athletic Department.

Pitt may have to move the kickoff for its Sept. 16 home football game against Michigan State from 3:30 p.m. to noon because of poor planning by the athletic department. If that happens, and at this point it is a definite possibility, it likely would cost the school thousands of dollars in television revenue and penalties as well as from the dropoff in ticket sales generally associated with earlier kickoffs at Heinz Field.

The sticking point is a lack of available parking spots because the Pirates play host to the New York Mets at 7:05 that night and, by contract, are guaranteed to have a large number of the parking spaces in the lots between the two stadiums available to their customers at least two hours before the first pitch. That means many of the parking lots that Pitt sells pre-paid parking passes for will be locked when Pitt fans arrive for the football game earlier that day.

The MSU game is supposed to be a regional ABC game. If Pitt has to move the time, they’ll have to pay penalties to ABC and to Michigan State (and likely the Big 11). Not to mention losing a big telecast opportunity.

I’m not sure how many parking lots/spaces would be lost. I would guess there is actually enough parking in the area to accomodate, but Pitt would have to shift some people — and the lots in question are definitely some of the pricier lots — meaning better paying fans and a decent amount of anger from them for being moved somewhere much further away.

Part of the major problem was that Pitt never communicated with the Pirates over the time. The Pirates claim they only found out about the game time problem recently by reading the paper. Still, why do the Pirates need that much parking for a mid-September game when they are on pace for what, 100 losses? Normally, they’d have what? Maybe 15,000 actual people in attendance? Answer: it’s a giveaway night.

In the past, the Pirates have moved their games in order to accommodate scheduling conflicts with the Panthers. But the Pirates aren’t budging this time because 1. It is Jack Wilson Bobblehead Doll Night. 2. They expect a crowd in excess of 30,000 fans that night. 3. The conflict is Pitt’s fault.

Please note, it’s Jack Wilson. Not Craig Wilson who they gave away to the Yankees. Jack is still with the team. Really, hasn’t the whole bobblehead thing played itself out? People really crave these things? And if it’s such a primo item, why would they have planned it for a Saturday night game when they should expect to draw somewhat decently. Isn’t that the sort of giveaway you use for a weeknight game?

Right now, everyone is claiming that it is an impasse that doesn’t seem to be resolvable. My thought is that Pitt cut a deal with the Pirates for use of the parking lots. It’s going to cost Pitt, but it is very clear at the moment, that anything done is going to cost Pitt money.

The local punditry weighs in with gut feeling expectations for what Pitt’s record should be this year. It’s couched in the usual stuff about how it is really about seeing progress and making strides for the long term. No, let’s keep it simple. It’s about the Wins and Losses. That’s how they and everyone else measures things.

It’s nice to say things like how what you really want is to see the growth of the team. Improvement as the season goes on. Talk about the long term plan and vision by the coach for the team. It comes back to winning more games than last year. Meeting or exceeding the expectations — whether inflated or not.

Joe Starkey puts the wins and losses a bit higher than the reasonable mark of 7-5 (which seems to be the expected record for Pitt if they have an average season).

All those question marks up front. Precious little depth. Too much youth. I could see 6-6.

Palko-Revis-Blades. Highly favorable schedule. Gifted freshman class. I could see 10-2.

So, let’s split the difference and say Pitt will go 8-4 in coach Dave Wannstedt’s second season. That sounds about right. It would mark a significant upgrade on last year’s 5-6 fiasco and point Wannstedt’s semi-rebuilding job in the right direction.

Anything worse than 6-6, and you’ll have every right to seriously question Wannstedt, who addressed reporters on the South Side Monday on the eve of Pitt training camp.

I guess the bright side to severe underachieving last year is that it shouldn’t be as hard to go up. The big issue for the season as far as the column is concerned, the lines.

Does anyone disagree with that conventional wisdom any more? Everyone with even a passing interest in Pitt knows it will be all about the lines.

Ron Cook says something with which I agree. The opening game against Virginia is absolutely crucial for Coach Wannstedt and Pitt.

Sept. 2 wouldn’t be too soon to start.

The opener against Virginia at Heinz Field.

Pitt badly needs to win it.

Wannstedt needs it.

It’s almost unreal how the perception of Wannstedt and the Pitt program has changed so drastically in a year. Last August, people around here were fired up about Pitt football. Wannstedt was seen as the right guy at the right time, the perfect coach to pick Pitt up and carry it to greater heights after Walt Harris had taken it as far as he could. Wannstedt had come in eight months earlier and done everything right. He was a Pittsburgh guy — a Pitt man, to be more specific — and came with a long NFL resume. His energy and enthusiasm were contagious. He mended fences with the local coaches and recruits. He reached out to alumni and fans. He recruited aggressively. And — get this — he talked openly about competing for a national championship.

How sweet that sounded.

Now I don’t buy a lot of the sky is falling, people are turning on Wannstedt stuff locally. Yeah, there was a fair amount of that nationally, but that was just reinforcing past perceptions from the NFL head coaching stuff. Wash out of the NFL and don’t come in like Charlie Weiss in his first year, and that perception will be presumed until proven otherwise. Pete Carroll changed it after an unimpressive first year. So did Al Groh, though, he is regressed back in perception. Chan Gailey and Rich Brooks haven’t changed the perception of inconsistent and overmatched.

The Cook article is great for lowering expectations with some ridiculous predictions for the season and continuing the theme that people have turned on Wannstedt.

Now the man isn’t seen as a savior by nearly so many. If you had a dime for each time someone said, “They should have never let Harris go,” you’d be a wealthy person.

There also are minimal expectations for the Pitt team this season. There isn’t nearly the same anticipation for the Virginia game that there was for Notre Dame. Some have predicted 3-9 or 4-8 for the Panthers.

Shame on ’em.

Shame on those who have given up on Wannstedt after just one season, disappointing and embarrassing as it was.

Shame on those who have lowered the bar so drastically for this Pitt team.

It’s a strawman argument. Now, admittedly I don’t catch Pittsburgh sports radio, so in between the Steelers, Pitt basketball, complaints about the Pirates and Penguins performance and such, I don’t know how the team is being treated for what 5 minutes a week? I have noted the P-G chats and most other media. It doesn’t seem particularly harsh and neither do the fans. I definitely haven’t seen anyone predicting only 3 or 4 wins for the team.
That said, he is absolutely right about Pitt needing the Virginia game. It’s the season and home opener. A definitely beatable opponent. The team can’t come out flat. It doesn’t have to be a blowout, but Pitt, Coach Wannstedt and all the coaches have to look like they know what they are doing. Have a recognizable and working gameplan. And yes, win.

Finally, a column about the “wall” around Western PA that Coach Wannstedt is trying to build.

With photos to be taken of all the players individually, with their position mates and with their high school alumni, someone needs to be in charge. But, predictably, a mild form of chaos can ensue as players file to and from the photo area.

Yet, five letters managed to bring Media Day to a halt when Borghetti bellowed, “WPIAL” at the top of his lungs.

A drove of young men filtered from all sections of the practice field on Pittsburgh’s South Side to near the 50-yard line. Thirty-eight in all found their way to the lineup, and two (media darlings Darrelle Revis and Tyler Palko) didn’t hear the command and had to be dragged away from pressing interviews.

And that mass didn’t include a pair of City League alumni and two players from nearby Johnstown.

Dave Wannstedt’s wall around western Pennsylvania? It was formed by the 60 or so remaining players who watched photos being snapped.

Pitt’s second-year coach and Baldwin native made the wall a platform for his coaching campaign, even after a 5-6 record last year. He said he’d do whatever necessary to keep western Pennsylvania’s best prospects in western Pennsylvania.

Hoopie fans and Penn St. fans point to any WPa kid that doesn’t go to Pitt as proof that either the “wall” Wannstedt wants has already failed or that it galvanized their coaches to recruit and work harder in WPa. Of course, the idea was to build a wall, not claim it was just going to be formed the minute Coach Wannstedt and the coaches started recruiting. But whatever sets their mind at ease that trying to get prospects from Western Pennsylvania away from Pitt is not harder and more challenging than before.

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.

It would appear the MAC is the biggest beneficiary/victim of ESPN no longer having the Mountain West to plug in during the fall on just about any day they need to fill program space. Miami (Ohio) has found itself playing on Sunday evening — it’s homecoming game this year. This is a Dayton/Cinci area story so the high school coaches aren’t worried. In fact it isn’t their problem.

To many, though, Sundays aren’t the main concern. The idea of playing on Friday night — the customary bastion of high school football — is the big worry.

And that concern continues, as 10 Friday-night college football games will appear on ESPN channels this season. The American Football Coaches Association has gone as far as taking an official stand against college football on Friday nights, said Grant Teaff, the AFCA executive director.

If his membership had its way, he said, college football would be restricted to Saturdays.

“I’ve not talked to one coach who really likes it,” Teaff said of non-Saturday games.

Steve Specht, who coached Cincinnati St. Xavier to the Division I state championship last season, isn’t bothered much by the University of Cincinnati hosting Pittsburgh on Friday, Sept. 8 for an ESPN2 audience. His team plays on Saturday, Sept. 9, against Lakewood St. Edward at Paul Brown Stadium.

For the teams playing on Friday night, though, Specht said there shouldn’t be concern in Cincinnati about falling attendance. “I honestly believe in this area people care a hell of a lot more about high school football than they do about college football,” Specht said. “I think it hurts the college game playing on Friday nights around here.”

You know, Cinci better do its best to make sure the Friday game is a sellout. You would hate to be outdrawn by a high school game.

While inching closer and closer to full-fledged Friday night football, some athletic directors are still drawing lines, they say. Pitt’s Jeff Long has given the Big East Conference his position on putting a Friday-night game at Heinz Field.

“My commitment has been we would not play a home game on a Friday night, and our conference has respected that,” said Long, a Kettering native. “The conference does have the ability to say, ‘You’re going to play on Friday night, and you’re going to play at home.’ But they haven’t done that.”

…Yet.

Sooner or later it will happen. The other BE football programs are not going to say, that Pitt should be given special treatment to never have to host a Friday night game. This year Cinci, UConn and USF will all host Friday night games. Last year Rutgers, Louisville and UConn hosted them. Sooner or later the Big East will go to Syracuse, WVU and Pitt and tell them it’s their turn.

As AD Long pointed out, the conference can compel them. So he can say that the school won’t but if ESPN and the Big East say otherwise, Pitt will find itself hosting a home game. Whether it’s “under protest” or not.

Friday games don’t just “compete” with the high schools, it hurts the hosting team with local recruits. They won’t be at the games or seeing the team play because they have their own games to play that night. It’s one less opportunity to get them to see a game.

Today is the local media day for Pitt. It is also time for the free preview of Panthers All-Access. It runs to the 15th before payment will be required. Right now there are 4 clips for viewing. A profile/interview with H.B. Blades and three with Coach Wannstedt talking about the team overall and expectations and the offense and defensive units.

Coach Wannstedt’s press conference will be carried live on the All-access at 9:15 am.

All-Access uses Windows Media Player, so Apple owners will feel discriminated and persecuted.

Story today focuses on how many players came from successful high school programs and never experienced a losing season until last year.

Given the pedigree of three of Pitt’s most important players, it is easy to understand why all three gave a puzzled look when they were recently asked at Big East media day what’s the best way to recover from a losing season. The Panthers were 5-6 last season, which marked their first losing campaign since 1999 — the same year Palko led West Allegheny to the first of three consecutive WPIAL crowns.

There’s some stuff about how last year with a couple good bounces the team could have been 8-3 and how the prior year the 8-3 regular season could have been 5-6. Which is essentially rebutted as an acceptable excuse.

Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt understands better than any of his players. Good teams might be a couple of bounces from a losing record, but great teams, the kind Wannstedt is trying to build, dominate most of their opponents and leave little to luck or chance.

“We are just starting to try and reload and build enough depth at every position that we can compete regardless of our injuries or whatever,” Wannstedt said. “I need to find the 22 best football players very quickly in camp this year, the 22 guys who give us the best chance to win, then fill in the spots behind them and go from there. We need to get to the point where we line up and beat people because we are better than they are.”

3 1/2 weeks to opening night kickoff.

Recently TWC took over from Comcast as our cable provider in the area. This was fantastic news. Not because one monopoly cable provider is better than the other in the area as far as selection, prices and such. It has to do with the whole “On Demand” shows. Not the movies you pay for, but the free programming. Comcast had a surprisingly large selection of kids stuff. TWC apparently does not. It has saved us a decent amount of coin in renting or buying DVDs for the kid.

So why am I happy? Because it was the final straw for the wife, and we will be switching to DirecTV. She had been resisting the move despite the chance to get more of the channels she liked (history, documentaries, biographies and stuff), and getting the DVR. All because of the stupid On Demand. The difference in the price between cable and satellite for the packages we have are maybe $1. This includes getting the sports package which includes ESPNU, FSN-Pittsburgh, the YES network and a slew of other regional sports channels.

I will now not only be able to catch a lot more games on TV, but be able to easily record them and rewatch them on the DVR (which I’m hoping she won’t realize I will be doing until it’s too late). Including the games I go to.

Happy, happy. Joy, joy.

Far be it from me to mock another school for having a decrepit football program, but…

Here’s how bad it is for Kentucky? Jim Beam, a personal favorite choice of mine, doesn’t even bother providing a “football” screen saver for the state in which the bourbon lives. Even more insulting, they provide one for Tennessee (no, they don’t have one for Pitt, but then they don’t have any for PSU, ND, and a host of others). Limited choices really — Florida, Texas, Ohio (St.), Michigan, and Georgia.
Just seems sad. Very sad.

Sorry, on top of some of the server issues this morning, I had other things to distract.

Not that it’s exactly a big news day.

I used to rag on BC for being in a city that ignores it worse than Pittsburgh does the Panthers. At least Boston has the excuse of having all 4 major pro sports in the city. Cinci gets it even worse when it comes to football, and everyone knows it.

During last month’s Big East media day in Newport, R.I., University of Cincinnati football coach Mark Dantonio looked around the room and didn’t see too many familiar faces.

“I didn’t see either newspaper from Cincinnati, I didn’t see one TV camera from Cincinnati or one radio microphone,” Dantonio said. “I saw people there for the other seven schools, but not Cincinnati.”

In the Queen City, the UC football program is but a pawn in the pecking order of attention, definitely behind the UC basketball program and the two major professional sports franchises, the Reds and the Bengals. The Bearcat football team is also arguably behind Xavier University basketball, auto racing and even high school football.

“Nobody’s talking about us,” Dantonio said, just days before the Bearcats open their fall camp on Monday. “It sends a message to our players. It’s personal. That’s what you want to make it.”

The media organizations all claimed it wasn’t worth the expense to go to Media day. And even when the coach is making the rounds on local media, the reaction is, uh, muted.

Dantonio appeared on McAlister’s show midway through the three-hour show. McAlister had solicited fans for questions on his blog and on the air, but received only one e-mail prior to Dantonio’s appearance. After Dantonio’s nearly 11-minute interview, McAlister didn’t receive a single call on UC football. Piecoro did have one call following up on Dantonio’s appearance on Thursday.

Well, uh, maybe the interviews were just so complete there was no need to ask any other questions?

Then there was this story on the Div. 1-AA Panthers of Northern Iowa. They have a new player on the team.

Lindgren, Curt Bradley, Ross Hannam and Johnny Gray look to provide an experienced foundation at wide receiver, but newcomers such as Pitt transfer Terrell Allen will deepen the diverse talent pool at his arm’s disposal.

With a priceless quote from a guy kicked off the Pitt team for “chronic disciplinary problems.”

“I’ve never been the go-to guy so that really doesn’t matter to me,” said Allen, who once was rated the nation’s 22nd-best receiver prospect by SuperPrep. “If we run the ball, I’m going to block. If we pass, I’m going to catch it, but if I don’t get it, I’m going to help whoever else has the ball. It’s about team unity and winning, and this is a winning (program).”

Allen was originally heading back to his home state — South Carolina — to play 1-AA football. Not sure when he made that left turn at Albuquerque.