AD names emerge

[Sean Miller Fan]

Except those numbers are miserable compared to our peers in power 5. As Paco showed, we are awful in comparison and it isn't an opinion or someone being a "whiney bitch" when it is true and right in front of you.

With the size of our athletic department, we'll seldom be in the top 20, but we shouldn't be hovering in the 80 & 90s either.

Nobody gives a crap about olympic sports or the Director's Cup. In fact, if Pitt started to get really good at Olympic sports but continued mediocrity in the only 2 sports that matter, I'd think we should take resources from Olympic sports and divert it.

At Pitt, an AD's job is to raise money for football and bball and to ensure those programs win. Way down on the list is anything regarding Olympic sports. I hope our new AD doesn't even care to learn which Olympic sports we offer.

"Hey AD, our Gymanstics team just won a National Championship."

AD: "We have a Gymnastics team?:

That's the kind of AD we want.

 

[Jpripper88]

Nobody gives a crap about olympic sports or the Director's Cup. In fact, if Pitt started to get really good at Olympic sports but continued mediocrity in the only 2 sports that matter, I'd think we should take resources from Olympic sports and divert it.

At Pitt, an AD's job is to raise money for football and bball and to ensure those programs win. Way down on the list is anything regarding Olympic sports. I hope our new AD doesn't even care to learn which Olympic sports we offer.

"Hey AD, our Gymanstics team just won a National Championship."

AD: "We have a Gymnastics team?:

That's the kind of AD we want.

I agree with this, but I don't think Pitt would ever commit to that strategy, so I expect to at least be somewhat competitive in some other sports.

 

[CrazyPaco]

I agree with this, but I don't think Pitt would ever commit to that strategy, so I expect to at least be somewhat competitive in some other sports.

Pitt has been using that strategy for 40 years. It has had one of the worst overall athletic departments among "power" schools for decades. It didn't even provide a full complement of scholarships to many of these sports until recently, and it didn't even have that many sports to begin with. It's only now putting some more money in them because the ACC has allowed it do so and the condition of many of these programs was flat out embarrassing.

ADs, and people that make their living in athletics, pay attention to these things, whether fans do or not.

 

[Panther_in_Kentucky]

Men's basketball

And all from a fan base that doesn't support well.

.

"ThePanthers" is clearly an Administration Lacky spewing the "Company" Narrative.

 

[Gunga_Galunga]

The athletic administration has been bad for a long time. Pitt's been pretty terrible at hiring coaches, the ADs have been meh, the fundraising organization is a joke, and people want to promote the media relations guy to AD.

Pitt athletics is $70m a year business. These AD hires are important, and unfortunately they haven't been good.

 

[Jpripper88]

Pitt has been using that strategy for 40 years. It has had one of the worst overall athletic departments among "power" schools for decades. It didn't even provide a full complement of scholarships to many of these sports until recently, and it didn't even have that many sports to begin with. It's only now putting some more money in them because the ACC has allowed it do so and the condition of many of these programs was flat out embarrassing.

ADs, and people that make their living in athletics, pay attention to these things, whether fans do or not.

Yeah, I don't agree with that because Pitt wasn't actually going all out for football and/or basketball either. Hell, they essentially shut down the football program and the machine helping power it.

 

[Somerset Panther]

Men's basketball
13 tourney appearances
5 sweet 16s
1 elite 8
2 big East tourney championships
4 big East regular season titles

Womens basketball
4 tourney appearances
2 sweet sixteens
(None ever before 2007)

Softball
2015 tourney and regional final visit
(None ever before)

Wrestling
4 conference championships
3 conference tournament championships
1 individual national champion

Volleyball
1 regular season conference championship
1 conference tourney championships
3 ncaa tourney visits

Football
2 shared conference titles
1 Bcs appearance

I didn't even look up track and swimming/diving.

This is all in the last 15 years. And that doesn't include all Americans and other individual awards.

And all from a fan base that doesn't support well.

Again. Can the administrative do better? Absolutely. Is it miserable. No. Just some fans are.

That's a nice list. None of which has occurred in their present conference. We had great success in BE hoops. Missed out on opportunities to win BE football (in the watered down years) outright. Best we have right now is volleyball in 5th place overall out of 15 teams and football tied for third in coastal. At this moment girls softball is in last place, baseball is in last place, men's hoops next to last place, men's soccer last place 0 wins in conference maybe for ever. Girls soccer last place 1-9 in conference. Wrestling 3rd place in six team conference in a state that has the best HS wrestling in the nation and we get none of the best local recruits. Womens hoops is bottom third of conference and womens tennis is next to last. Out of Pitt's ten teams in ACC, Pitt teams are in last place in 4 of them, next to last in 2, top third in 1 (VB), Bottom third in 1 (WB) and middle of pack in FB and wrestling. T&F and swimming are listed in ACC site, but no standings listed. That's not too good.

 

[CrazyPaco]

Yeah, I don't agree with that because Pitt wasn't actually going all out for football and/or basketball either. Hell, they essentially shut down the football program and the machine helping power it.

You have to define what "all out" is. I don't know what that means. Everyone seems to have their own definition. Many appear to be very unrealistic definitions or stem from an unwillingness to understand the overall circumstances of the university and its financial capabilities over the years.

And people also never seem to grasp how financially troubled the athletic department has historically been. Almost every resource available to the athletic department has been thrown at trying to keep football and men's basketball relevant in a world where Pitt competes with schools that have alumni, booster bases, and gate revenue 2 to 3 times its size. Because of the focus on its two major sports, Pitt's Olympic sports have suffered the consequence. For most of the last half century, the athletic department often appeared more like one that belonged in Division II for all but the two main revenue sports, and all you have to do to realize this is actually be familiar with what goes on in other athletic departments (and not just in the major conferences). And I'm not suggesting for a second that the reality of Pitt's financial situation allowed for it to operate in any other way, but it is what it is and it places the context for our starting point in a new conference that isn't peppered with Providence Colleges and Seton Halls.

 

[CrazyPaco]

That's a nice list. None of which has occurred in their present conference. We had great success in BE hoops. Missed out on opportunities to win BE football (in the watered down years) outright. Best we have right now is volleyball in 5th place overall out of 15 teams and football tied for third in coastal. At this moment girls softball is in last place, baseball is in last place, men's hoops next to last place, men's soccer last place 0 wins in conference maybe for ever. Girls soccer last place 1-9 in conference. Wrestling 3rd place in six team conference in a state that has the best HS wrestling in the nation and we get none of the best local recruits. Womens hoops is bottom third of conference and womens tennis is next to last. Out of Pitt's ten teams in ACC, Pitt teams are in last place in 4 of them, next to last in 2, top third in 1 (VB), Bottom third in 1 (WB) and middle of pack in FB and wrestling. T&F and swimming are listed in ACC site, but no standings listed. That's not too good.

The ACC's website really does suck IMO. Here's how all of Pitt's sports have fared so far this year.

Baseball 0-4-0 (early, but only winless team in the conference), 7-8 overall, NCAA TBD
Men's Basketball 4-14 (tied for next to last), 16-17 overall, no NCAA finish
Women's Basketball 4-11 (tied for 11th), 13-17 overall, no NCAA finish
Men's Cross Country Finished 9th at ACC Championships, no NCAA finish
Women's Cross Country Finished 7th at ACCs, no NCAA finish
Football 5-3 (tied for 2nd, in Division), 8-5 overall, bowl loss, AP ORV #31
Gymnastics 1-4 in dual meets, 5th (out of 6) at EAGL Championships, no NCAA finish
Men's soccer 0-6-2 (only winless team) 2-13-3 overall, no NCAA finish
Women's soccer 1-9-0 (dead last) 2-15-1 overall, no NCAA finish
Softball 0-5-0 (early, but only winless team), 14-10 overall, NCAA TBD
Men's swimming & diving Finished 10th (out of 12) at ACCs, 1-5 in conference, 5-6 overall, NCAA TBD
Women's swimming & diving Finished 6th (out of 11) at ACCs, 2-4 in conf, 9-6 overall, NCAA finish 41st
Tennis 0-4 (currently .5 out of last place), 3-5 overall, NCAA TBD
Men's indoor track & field Finished 12th (out of 14) at ACCs, no NCAA finish
Women's indoor track & field Finished 12th (out of 15) at ACCs, no NCAA finish
Men's outdoor track & field ACC & NCAA TBD
Women's outdoor track & field ACC & NCAA TBD
Volleyball 15-5 (tied for 4th), 25-9 overall, NCAA 2nd Rnd (tied 32nd)
Wrestling 2-3 (tied for 3rd with 3 other team), 11-5 overall, NCAA finish 32nd (currently)

There is some hope in some of these sports, but that is pretty sobering. That is one of the worst athletic department performances this year in all of major college sports.

 

[ThePanthers]

Typical pitt fans. Minimize any success

 

[4Mark_Marty]

What is a 100% effort for athletics? What is a 100% effort for academics?

Does your statement account for cutting 100+ year old graduate humanities programs in German, Religious Studies, and Classics? Does that mean having a 120+ year old law school that has plummeted to a ranking outside the top 80? How about 4 straight years in US News' undergrad rankings with either a drop or no improvement in ranking?

Slogans are cheap. Funding excellence takes money. Where is all this money coming from?

There is money available to be donated given the 3billion generated for the academic endowment. We have to Invest a bigger fraction of energy, effort and resources in mining/developing possible people, companies, organizations to building the athletic coffers(donations) that they do academics endowments or alumni associations. More of a concerted effort is needed throughout, however too many splintered efforts.

 

[HailtoPitt]

You have to define what "all out" is. I don't know what that means.

Let's define it then. Allowing two greatly successful football coaches to leave when the program was hugely successful is certainly not going all in. 20 years later the AD wouldn't replace the carpet in the practice facility out if spite. That's not going all out either.

 

[TIGER-PAUL]

I see it as inching forward the last 10 yrs but mostly from a perspective of starting basically from nothing.
It took literally a 100 years for Pitt to have its own soccer field. Still doesn't have a track or tennis court or etc. At least a few are seeming to get close to competitive now.

 

[CrazyPaco]

Let's define it then. Allowing two greatly successful football coaches to leave when the program was hugely successful is certainly not going all in. 20 years later the AD wouldn't replace the carpet in the practice facility out if spite. That's not going all out either.

You didn't define it. You provided anecdotal examples of what it is not.

Which two highly successful coaches are you talking about? Johnny Majors and Jackie Sherrill? Was Johnny Majors leaving an issue of money?

What does "all-in" mean? Is it money or flagrant circumvention of NCAA rules, or both, or something additional? How many millions per year do you subsidize the athletic department from the university's general operations beyond what the athletic department brings in on its own if one is "all-in"?

 

[HailtoPitt]

You didn't define it. You provided anecdotal examples of what it is not.

Which two highly successful coaches are you talking about? Johnny Majors and Jackie Sherrill? Was Johnny Majors leaving an issue of money?

What does "all-in" mean? Is it money or flagrant circumvention of NCAA rules, or both, or something additional? How many millions per year do you subsidize the athletic department from the university's general operations beyond what the athletic department brings in on its own if one is "all-in"?

We can define it as a group, because I don't know how to... But I know what it isn't.

 

[Jpripper88]

You didn't define it. You provided anecdotal examples of what it is not.

Which two highly successful coaches are you talking about? Johnny Majors and Jackie Sherrill? Was Johnny Majors leaving an issue of money?

What does "all-in" mean? Is it money or flagrant circumvention of NCAA rules, or both, or something additional? How many millions per year do you subsidize the athletic department from the university's general operations beyond what the athletic department brings in on its own if one is "all-in"?

Our new AD subsidized about 80% of their AD and contemplated dropping football.