20 years ago today...

[CrazyPaco]

Or he kept Pitt in the BE too long. The story just depends on which way the wind is blowing on this board.

There was no actual real alternative to being in the Big East before 2011. There is absolutely no truth to the "wind blowing" in any other direction prior to that unless you are counting Joe Paterno's proposed league in the late 70s/early 80s.

 

[RaleighPittFan]

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.

I stopped reading when I came to, " And!! Steve never banned PITT."

He did ban the use of Pitt. Not only to the athletic administration, but also to anyone broadcasting Pitt games. He also "requested" that those in print media only refer to the school's sports teams as "Pittsburgh." All fact.

I'm not debating what he was trying to do. I'm of the opinion that he didn't do a very good job doing it.

 

[CrazyPaco]

I stopped reading when I came to, " And!! Steve never banned PITT."

He did ban the use of Pitt. Not only to the athletic administration, but also to anyone broadcasting Pitt games. He also "requested" that those in print media only refer to the school's sports teams as "Pittsburgh." All fact.

I'm not debating what he was trying to do. I'm of the opinion that he didn't do a very good job doing it.

 

[pittiswhereiamfrom2]

The entire re-branding, and everything associated with it (Dinocat, eliminating "Pitt", Torch cut numbers, Vegas gold) were nothing short of disastrous.

Pitt had very little going for it in the late 90's, and Pederson took the one last point of pride and threw it away. Banished from the land. For no other reason than he could.

Neither I, nor anyone I know bought any of the Dinocat or Torch Cut stuff.

Game announcers would chuckle when they would "mistakenly" call the team "Pitt" during a game, and announce that the new AD isn't going to be happy with them, because he forbade the use of "Pitt" during a broadcast.

The whole "Torch Cut" number combined with "Pittsburgh only" fiasco was the result of a Marketing firm trying way too hard. Forcing something never works. The only reason I can think of for a professional Marketing firm to ever make a decision that bad is if someone like Pederson forced them to.

I agree. Professional marketing firms have a perfect record of success.

 

[RaleighPittFan]

That logo came out in 2003?
That was not available in 1997. Which is what I'm referring to.

 

[Revenge Of The Noise]

That logo came out in 2003?
That was not available in 1997. Which is what I'm referring to.

I had a tan cap with that on it before then. Pretty sure I got it at some pre-season event they had on the field at Pitt Stadium.

 

[RaleighPittFan]

I had a tan cap with that on it before then. Pretty sure I got it at some pre-season event they had on the field at Pitt Stadium.

I bought a blue hat with that logo on it. I remember it was the first thing I bought after the logo change. I don't remember it being available until well after 2000.

 

[CrazyPaco]

That logo came out in 2003?
That was not available in 1997. Which is what I'm referring to.

Came out in 1997 with all the other torch-cut logos and dinocat. You can find it all throughout the 1997 media guide.

They requested media use "Pittsburgh" to go with the rebranding, and pushed its use, but there was never a "ban."

 

[HailtoPitt]

I remember pretty vividly during one of the televised Pitt games one of the commentators saying "we're supposed to say Pittsburgh now instead of Pitt" and I knew right then that the whole brand change wasn't going to work. The execution didn't made that much, the idea was flawed.

 

[pittdan77]

There was no actual real alternative to being in the Big East before 2011. There is absolutely no truth to the "wind blowing" in any other direction prior to that unless you are counting Joe Paterno's proposed league in the late 70s/early 80s.

Depends on who you ask and when. Today the board loves Steve so we'll keep it this way.

 

[CrazyPaco]

Depends on who you ask and when. Today the board loves Steve so we'll keep it this way.

People that say differently don't know what they are talking about or are just making things up.

 

[California Gold]

FACT/FICTION: SteveP's initial rebranding plans also included changing the school colors to "black & gold"

 

[pittdan77]

People that say differently don't know what they are talking about or are just making things up.

I don't take issue with that. But that's what happens on here.

 

[SoufOaklin4Life]

You guys are still mental about completely inconsequential things