Rocky - Thanks for being a voice of common sense and reason.
The late, great Beano Cook - the "Pope" of College Football and arguably the most knowledgeable source ever pertaining to Pitt athletics, said this of the AD hired 20 years ago: "Steve Pederson SAVED Pitt football"
Nothing less. A thousand and one revisionist experts on this board who think they could have done better rip this guy to shreds. NONE have a clue as to the state that Pitt athletics, football in particular, were in when Steve took over. Extreme circumstances require extreme measures. He took them... created a new image for Pitt, moved the football program into new and better digs. Set the foundation for a hoops program that was a Top 10 entity via the Petersen Center.
But the SCRIPT! He stole our SCRIPT! And Pitt Stadium (which I loved, btw)... he stole our on-campus gem of a football facility. Which, quoting Beano again, "was a dump... it was built for an era when the public got around via street cars"
But he called us "PITTSBURGH"!! (Ahh, that's what it says on my diploma. That's what we're cited as in virtually every listing of our team in print, on TV, in rankings, etc. Pittsburgh is much more widely identified word than the colloquial "Pitt". And!! Steve never banned PITT. He simply used the full name of city who is the namesake of our university more frequently and had the temerity to put that on the uniforms.
The dude was TRYING to breathe some life into Pitt.
Very few city-based universities even try to have big time sports... let along a football program that coexists in the smallest metro area in the USA that supports (3) pro sports franchises; one of which (Steelers) is clearly one of the Top 5 iconic sports teams in the nation and the other of which (Pens) has been a tremendous success over most of the last 15 years.
It ain't easy being a success in sports at Pitt... Steve P guaranteed the existence of Pitt Athletics via our move into the ACC. Survival can be success. For that Panther fans should be grateful. But... this being Pitt, they're world class moaners instead.