Wow. I thought both of you were dead, tbh.
Hey Tiger Paul, were you sick? Rumors had it you passed away? Glad to see you back
That is a fair assessment. However, problems started well before Capel. It was starting to flounder as soon as we joined the ACC. Dixon wanted out. Stallings was a failed hire and Capel has recruited the wrong players, COVID, and the Transfer Portal hasn’t helped. Not to mention rampant cheating…
Well all right then! I lied!!!
Not sure anyone here is looking for elite. Competitive within the league and having a chance to make some noise in March would be perfectly acceptable. 15 total conference wins in 3 years with the program leaking oil from every gasket is well below that.
I don’t think anyone’s saying that Pitt was the only team to deal with Covid - but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that it affected every team a little bit differently, and just the nature of it meant that there was a good bit more variance in the results from this season: some programs had their coaches get covid in the offseason, some had their coaches or players get it in the middle of the season, some had nobody get it at all, some had long shutdowns, short shutdowns, or no shutdowns at all. Some, like us, got lucky enough to have its only game against the worst team in the league get cancelled.
I think the latest award he won was for Best use of Hyperbole to Remain Relevant. He should get kudos for this one. There's a lot of competition for that honor each year in this town.
Smizik is a has been. He was a has been ten years ago. Now he just an angry old man looking to lift his leg onto someone’s tree.
This is a worthwhile quote because it shows how selective data can be exagerrated.
This is what I have always conjured up in my own mind:
He was adamant about staying in Pgh. His kids were born here. Apparently, the mess with SP, who insisted he re-hire slice (Tyrone Haughton!!!) and Barnes refusing to provide extra $$$ for new staff to replace Smoke & Barton, then pushing him out so his pal agent could deliver Stallings (While he was already scheming to head to OSU) , Dixon had enough. Barnes then WAIVED the millions in buyout that TCU didn't want to pay....screwing Pitt yet again. At the same time, Gallagher was extorted by a wealthy alum to get Dixon out. When your bosses don't want you....anyone with pride would leave.
Yes. thanks for the insight, sad days are ahead when those with pride leave and the others stay, as we witnessed.
this statement from Smizik makes me MUCH more optimistic about Pitt hoops. the last time he wrote about the permanent decline of Pitt hoops was right before they made the elite 8 run and within a whisker of the Final 4.
It's all about expectations, there is nothing to lose by playing WVU. If you lose its because they are a well coached team that has had their system in place for awhile, if you lose in a close game, you get accolades for competing at such a high level, if you happen to win, wow, you achieved something. The complete opposite is true with the Dukes, if you win, you are supposed to, if you win a close one, wow, pretty sad to beat Duquesne by only 4, if you lose, wow, to what depths has Pitt fallen!
