Call and thank Paul Chryst

[kma0043]

Despite all the joking about “coach mumbles” blah blah, Narduzzi (and our fan base) needs to call Chryst and thank him for the 2015 and 2016 rosters. Sure the defense had (many) holes, but there was talent there to give Narduzzi back to back 8 win years right off the bat. Now it appears this what Narduzzi’s team is ? Storm clouds have appeared imo.

 

[pitt-girl]

And yet this board eviscerated him while he was here.

 

[Burgh15]

Disappointing. Narduzzi was one of the top assistants available when Pitt made the hire. He hasn't lived up to expectations, especially after Chryst did a good job to stabilize the program.

 

[kma0043]

And yet this board eviscerated him while he was here.

Sure did. Look at him at Wisconsin. Would love that to be us.

 

[DiehardPanther]

Despite all the joking about “coach mumbles” blah blah, Narduzzi (and our fan base) needs to call Chryst and thank him for the 2015 and 2016 rosters. Sure the defense had (many) holes, but there was talent there to give Narduzzi back to back 8 win years right off the bat. Now it appears this what Narduzzi’s team is ? Storm clouds have appeared imo.

A couple things in regards to Chryst.
1) He had the advantage of recruiting against PS during the Penn State scandal. That helped us land Boyd, Dorian Johnson, Holtz, etc.
2) He lost to Youngstown St and Akron
3) People could not stand House and that is when we started losing guys from Aliquippa.
4) He averaged 6 wins here.
5) Wisky is in a much better place to succeed than Pitt.

 

[kma0043]

A couple things in regards to Chryst.
1) He had the advantage of recruiting against PS during the Penn State scandal. That helped us land Boyd, Dorian Johnson, Holtz, etc.
2) He lost to Youngstown St and Akron
3) People could not stand House and that is when we started losing guys from Aliquippa.
4) He averaged 6 wins here.
5) Wisky is in a much better place to succeed than Pitt.

Very true points. It seemed though that Chryst had a program goal in mind though; power football with a big offensive line etc. As for our current staff what’s the identity they’re trying to build? I certainly can’t identify it.

 

[oldpanther]

Disappointing. Narduzzi was one of the top assistants available when Pitt made the hire. He hasn't lived up to expectations, especially after Chryst did a good job to stabilize the program.

I was 100% in favor of Narduzzi and I also was very pleased with the Chryst hire. My disappointment with HCPN begins with the staffs failure to bring high quality recruits on board, I really thought he was capable of obtaining classes within the top 15 to 25 range. Many on his coaching staff in during his first 3 now 4 th year have failed the program and he is directly responsible for that fiasco. Accepting that patchwork of OL in his 4th year is unacceptable and I don,t see not one Fralic, Covert, Brown etc. on the roster waiting their turn. The failure to control or defend the opponents passing game, embarrassing at times. That is but a sample but for now, “that’s all folks”.

 

[rmf05]

Waxing nostalgic about a 12-12 coach. This is like folks on here worshipping Canada. Someone needs to finish off the job Franklin started. Pitt fb needs to be put down.

Seriously though, yes he was a fine coach and despite some of the chatter on Pitt boards, we realized it. It would've taken him a few years but he would've had us in a better spot today. However, Pitt won't approach Wiscy-level success until massive philosophical changes take place within the Pitt program and fan base and even then it will take at least a decade of rebuilding.

 

[revampedpanthers]

Waxing nostalgic about a 12-12 coach. This is like folks on here worshipping Canada. Someone needs to finish off the job Franklin started. Pitt fb needs to be put down.

Seriously though, yes he was a fine coach and despite some of the chatter on Pitt boards, we realized it. It would've taken him a few years but he would've had us in a better spot today. However, Pitt won't approach Wiscy-level success until massive philosophical changes take place within the Pitt program and fan base and even then it will take at least a decade of rebuilding.

He has benefited greatly from BA basically picking his assistants and helping run the program. Add that wisconsin is a really solid program from the start and he has had success. Thing is , he wouldn't have accepted that level of AD meddling at Pitt.

 

[cpc247]

Disappointing. Narduzzi was one of the top assistants available when Pitt made the hire. He hasn't lived up to expectations, especially after Chryst did a good job to stabilize the program.

It's comments like these that are insane. We have beaten multiple top ten teams during his 10 year. The defense has gotten better and overall roster depth has gotten better. Yes Penn State was beyond a nightmare, but if you truly believe this then your not paying any attention to Pitt Football.......

 

[Burgh15]

It's comments like these that are insane. We have beaten multiple top ten teams during his 10 year. The defense has gotten better and overall roster depth has gotten better. Yes Penn State was beyond a nightmare, but if you truly believe this then your not paying any attention to Pitt Football.......

8-5
8-5
5-7

I expected more than 5 wins in year three and a 45-point loss at home to Penn State in year four. Where's the roster depth better at? Offensive line? Wide receiver? Tight end? Worse in each area.

 

[cpc247]

8-5
8-5
5-7

I expected more than 5 wins in year three and a 45-point loss at home to Penn State in year four. Where's the roster depth better at? Offensive line? Wide receiver? Tight end? Worse in each area.

Roster is better. Big difference is missing the best 2 star diamond in the rough in school history (James Conner) and probably the best WR out of PA in 10 years. We have both of them and it completely changes our offense last night. Doesn't mean the rest of the roster as a whole hasn't gotten better. Top end talent is a nice luxury (forgives a lot of errors)

 

[H2P 2003]

Really can’t agree more with this OP. Narduzzi’s first two years were built on the backs of the offense Chryst built. Cheney got peterman in here, but otherwise that wasmostly thanks to PC.

Pitt fans practically celebrated when Chryst left. Just like the celebrated when a certain b-ball coach left. I wish fans would learn their lesson.

 

[jaemoe76]

And yet this board eviscerated him while he was here.

I would love to have Chryst with the support and budget Narduzzi has now..Chryst had to work for Pederson..

 

[pitt-girl]

I would love to have Chryst with the support and budget Narduzzi has now..Chryst had to work for Pederson..

That's fine, I'm just pointing out that this board was merciless while he was here, but now.....

 

[PittPoker]

I'd love to friggin know how a mediocre at best Paul Chryst turned into Nick Saban overnight once he left Pitt. I mean, it's really surreal.

 

[Pittx9]

Chryst didn’t give us Nate peterman. Don’t get me wrong, chryst did a fine job inheriting a complete disaster and putting a nice foundation in place. If voytik were the qb though in ‘15 and ‘16 with the rest of the guys Chryst left, pitt struggles mightily to even make a bowl game either year.

 

[pittman71]

Really can’t agree more with this OP. Narduzzi’s first two years were built on the backs of the offense Chryst built. Cheney got peterman in here, but otherwise that wasmostly thanks to PC.

Pitt fans practically celebrated when Chryst left. Just like the celebrated when a certain b-ball coach left. I wish fans would learn their lesson.

Pitt had no defense the last year of Chryst. Offense was good and would build big leads only to see House and the defense lose the leads repeatedly.

Now Pitt has no offense and a mediocre defense. LOL

 

[pittman71]

I'd love to friggin know how a mediocre at best Paul Chryst turned into Nick Saban overnight once he left Pitt. I mean, it's really surreal.

Paul Chryst is an excellent offensive coach. Wisconsin is recruiting better players on defense and I imagine he has a better defensive coordinator at Wisky than he did here. Also a better game day experience at Wisky, sellout crowds instead of playing in front of an 80% empty stadium.

 

[McKee Place]

And yet this board eviscerated him while he was here.

Because he was mediocre himself. We didn't upgrade after him, as we didn't after Walt, nor after DW, nor after Haywood (to be fair it looked possible then), nor after Graham, nor after Chryst, and won't after Narduzzi is done, nor that guy (or gal) after he moves on. It's institutional failure.

Pointing out a mediocre guy is indeed mediocre may be crass and futile but not inaccurate.

 

[LeftCoastPanther]

Pitt won those games because it had Peterman.

It doesn't matter. Pitt has Pitt issues that have hovered for 35 years. Chryst was .500 here and lost several puzzling games and now look at him at a school that takes football serious and is smart with its program. Heck, Notre Dame fans want Paul to take over when Kelly is done.

On another subject, I read on Twitter late last night Dixon got a verbal from the highest rated player ever to commit to TCU. He couldn't land anyone at the end at Pitt and now is killing it.

It's a Pitt problem that the administration only seems to care when things get really bad (Majors II, Stallings).

 

[MarshallGoldberg]

A couple things in regards to Chryst.
1) He had the advantage of recruiting against PS during the Penn State scandal. That helped us land Boyd, Dorian Johnson, Holtz, etc.
2) He lost to Youngstown St and Akron
3) People could not stand House and that is when we started losing guys from Aliquippa.
4) He averaged 6 wins here.
5) Wisky is in a much better place to succeed than Pitt.

1. True but he deserves credit for helping land them.
2. Yep, he was learning on the job. He wouldn't lose those games now, but he was a first time head coach with some first time coordinators and it showed.
3. House didn't have the best athletes to work with. Fans always hate the coordinators.
4. Yes and I think that would have trended up because he left as his best recruits became Juniors and Seniors. The thread concept is "Thanks Chryst!" for bringing in the guys that Narduzzi won with, with the notable exception of key-transfer Nate Peterman. Our offensive line, running backs, tight ends, and wide receivers were all better with Chryst's recruiting than Narduzzi's.
5. True but he's also won more than several other Wisconsin coaches. It's been more consistent. It's his dream job so good for him I guess.

 

[revampedpanthers]

Paul Chryst is an excellent offensive coach. Wisconsin is recruiting better players on defense and I imagine he has a better defensive coordinator at Wisky than he did here. Also a better game day experience at Wisky, sellout crowds instead of playing in front of an 80% empty stadium.

Wisky also plays a crap schedule. The main difference is BA basically picked PC's first DC Aranda who is one of the better DC in the country. Then when Aranda left PC considered House and Wisconsin said no way. Thats the difference at Pitt he was given a shitty budget for assistants and hired people he knew at wisconsin his budget was basically uncapped and BA picked his assistants.

 

[Gunga_Galunga]

Paul Chryst left on his own. Nobody chased him out. He had no intention of staying at Pitt. If anything he create additional coaching turmoil only being here 3 years.

You want to thank him, I say screw Paul Chryst and the bratwurst he rode in on.

 

[Darth_VadEER]

One thing Chryst gave Pitt was a clear identity on offense resembling Wisconsin's big lines and running game. I thought that was something that could work long term for Pitt, but I wasn't sure Chryst was going to last. He had terrible losses and I really questioned if he had a Head Coach personality. He's doing well at Wisconsin and it's clear that is where he's meant to be. I'm not sure he's a fit anywhere else as a Head Coach.

Thinking back after you fired Wanny, and the Haywood situation when Pitt and WVU where both looking for the next guy to stabilize the programs and WVU got Holgorsen and you guys got Graham. At the time, I had thought Pitt hired the better coach. I liked Holgorsen a great deal but he was just so rough around the edges. It amazes me that he's still at WVU with a quality team and Pitt hasn't recovered. It was a very pivotal time for both programs.

I think the important factor is Holgorsen is a good fit at WVU. He's quirky and different and so is WVU. Haywood, Graham and Chryst didn't feel like good fits for Pitt, imo. Narduzzi might be, but he needs to win. Wanny was your fit. He was that Pitt guy that worked.

 

[cpc247]

Really can’t agree more with this OP. Narduzzi’s first two years were built on the backs of the offense Chryst built. Cheney got peterman in here, but otherwise that wasmostly thanks to PC.

Pitt fans practically celebrated when Chryst left. Just like the celebrated when a certain b-ball coach left. I wish fans would learn their lesson.

We will be saying the same thing about the new coach if we change now. I will agree HCPC brought in better OL recruits which helped cover a lot of other things. Boyd, Connor, Dojo, Help too

 

[wbrpanther]

Despite all the joking about “coach mumbles” blah blah, Narduzzi (and our fan base) needs to call Chryst and thank him for the 2015 and 2016 rosters. Sure the defense had (many) holes, but there was talent there to give Narduzzi back to back 8 win years right off the bat. Now it appears this what Narduzzi’s team is ? Storm clouds have appeared imo.

Our yinzer Pitt fans wanted Chryst out basically because he wasn’t a good interview. In the subsequent 3 plus years he has more than proven to be a good coach. That’s where we are at.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

Our yinzer Pitt fans wanted Chryst out basically because he wasn’t a good interview. In the subsequent 3 plus years he has more than proven to be a good coach. That’s where we are at.

no, interview skills had nothing to do with it. I wanted him out since after a 3-0 start in his 3rd year, he lost to an average Big10 team and then to a MAC team that got its coach fired after the season. Snatched defeat from the jaws of victory against Duke. The most conducive schedule to winning we have had in recent memory yet still finished 6-6 in his 3rd year.

That's why I wanted him out.

And still not sold on him....the nits boat raced him in 2016 and he had the all too familiar deer in the headlights look with supposedly a top 10 defense behind him and a 21 point lead.

EDIT: let me rephrase.....I wasn't calling for him to be fired after year 3, but wasn't sorry to see him leave on his own accord.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

And yet this board eviscerated him while he was here.

rightfully so.

 

[MarshallGoldberg]

rightfully so.

He brought us three years of stability after the Graham/Haywood debacles and recruited well enough in the trenches to hand over a reasonable roster to Narduzzi with no complaints. The team was finally more scandal free (especially after the Wanny era arrests) and refusing to bring back Rushel Shell showed we were going to emphasize building the right sort of program.

Really the only problems with the guy is he had to learn on the job here so he could return to Wisconsin, but blame Pedersen for that, not Chryst. He clearly was going to take the Wisconsin job if it ever came up and we had to know that.

 

[djbpitt]

I was 100% in favor of Narduzzi and I also was very pleased with the Chryst hire. My disappointment with HCPN begins with the staffs failure to bring high quality recruits on board, I really thought he was capable of obtaining classes within the top 15 to 25 range. Many on his coaching staff in during his first 3 now 4 th year have failed the program and he is directly responsible for that fiasco. Accepting that patchwork of OL in his 4th year is unacceptable and I don,t see not one Fralic, Covert, Brown etc. on the roster waiting their turn. The failure to control or defend the opponents passing game, embarrassing at times. That is but a sample but for now, “that’s all folks”.

You could wait a lifetime and not see another Fralic or Covert. That's a ridiculous statement.

 

[sappycrease]

I would drag my balls for a mile on broken glass to have Chryst instead of Narduzzi.

 

[BuffetParrothead]

And yet this board eviscerated him while he was here.

True but realize this board is probably one of the worst indicators of whats good or bad for PITT football and basketball, it's coaches, players and fans.

A significant number of people who post on this board don't buy tickets or attend games for either sport.

Many buy tickets on stub hub rather than play full price using the "official" PITT ticket office.

Alot don't donate money to PITT athletics, attend games or donate.

Some are soccer fans and would rather see soccer replace PITT football as the fall sport.

A few aren't interested in PITT doing well since they're trolls from other colleges who compete with PITT.

Others are just plain unhappy people, who want to make others unhappy, and this board is free.

The pay board had a much different opinion of Chryst.

"it's five o'clock somewhere"
Signed: Mr Buffett
Go PITT & CSU Rams!

 

[Jakey_John]

Paul couldn’t break 6-6 with his own recruits. Who’s to say he could have done any better had he stayed? Peterman was not PC’s recruit and one could make the argument that he was responsible for the two extra wins.

We could then get into the argument that had he stayed PC would have had another year with his guys but he left.

 

[DiehardPanther]

Our yinzer Pitt fans wanted Chryst out basically because he wasn’t a good interview. In the subsequent 3 plus years he has more than proven to be a good coach. That’s where we are at.

People were unhappy because he was .500, the recruiting class ranking dropped dramatically after he did well initially, and he had lost to YSU and Akron. The fans thought Pitt could do better.

 

[pittdan77]

I would drag my balls for a mile on broken glass to have Chryst instead of Narduzzi.

 

[TD_6082]

Bret Bielema won 3 B1G titles at Wisky. Is he a great coach?

Chryst took over a good program there, where he is a great fit. Let's not pretend their program didn't greatly benefit from realignment. Their side of the Big 10 is garbage. He wasn't going to win at Pitt.

 

[sappycrease]

Bret Bielema won 3 B1G titles at Wisky. Is he a great coach?

Chryst took over a good program there, where he is a great fit. Let's not pretend their program didn't greatly benefit from realignment. Their side of the Big 10 is garbage. He wasn't going to win at Pitt.

Are you pretending that we don't play in the ACC Coastal? The easiest division in P5? What has Narduzzi accomplished besides making us a laughing stock.

 

[TD_6082]

Are you pretending that we don't play in the ACC Coastal? The easiest division in P5? What has Narduzzi accomplished besides making us a laughing stock.

A little more than Chryst did.

I'm not sure the Coastal is as bad as the B1G West. They are both bad. I'm just saying it's not hard to win at Wisconsin right now. Chryst walked into a good situation. Gary Anderson won 20 games in two years there too.

 

[joeydavid]

A couple things in regards to Chryst.
1) He had the advantage of recruiting against PS during the Penn State scandal. That helped us land Boyd, Dorian Johnson, Holtz, etc.
2) He lost to Youngstown St and Akron
3) People could not stand House and that is when we started losing guys from Aliquippa.
4) He averaged 6 wins here.
5) Wisky is in a much better place to succeed than Pitt.

6) Peterman was the best offensive player and not on the roster.
7) Price was the best defensive player again not a Chryst recruit.
8) Wisconsin plays 2 maybe 3 games a year where they have a chance to lose.
9)PN won 8 games playing a difficult schedule without a healthy Connor.
10) Other than DoJo and Bookser the oline recruits have been average to poor.

All that said, this is PN's team now and he needs to figure out how to win with them.