PN should've hired Bob Palko to mend the bridges in the wpial. PN is very stubborn/hard headed and he is his own demise. He had plenty of chances to capitalize on success only to undermine it with his ego. H2P!
CB from Cal U visiting us this weekend
- Thread starter TheWerewolfFromTwilight
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Do you really think there is a relationship issue between PITT and the wpial? Or do you think the kids we land are the ones where PITT is their best offer? And, the kids we lose have better options?
In 20 years of coaching, I've never met with a director of hs relations, I've only met with coaches. So I have no idea how Bob Palko would help in recruiting.
This is just wrong.
Portal recruiting is acquiring already scratched lottery tickets.
Probably shouldn’t worry until it’s district 9….
I'm intrigued by this kid. Has good size, and if he's athletic enough, it could work.
Worth rolling the dice. Just cover your guy, not rocket science at CB.
Worth rolling the dice. Just cover your guy, not rocket science at CB.
Yes. Obviously it's just rumors, but word on the street was that Harley damaged this staff's relationships with many local high schools.
I mean, I would love to hear how? I'm not saying he didn't.
Usually when when a school damages a relationship it's when they promise something and don't deliver.
Another way is to be completely disorganized. Case in point, you offer a kid and his family visits and no one knows who this kid is. I've seen that before but not at PITT.
The Palko era of coaches are pretty much gone and retired.
Jack McCurry, Neil Gordon, George Novak, Jim Render, Mike Zmijinac, Matsook Brothers, Ray Reitz, Tom Nola, Terry Smith, George Smith, Guy Montecalvo, etc. Many of these schools have went through multiple HC's since these guys retired. Most of these guys represented the hotbed/blueblood schools of the WPIAL.
Secondly, I would venture to say 90% of HS recruiting now is directly done from the college to the player. The HC/School has become less relevant in today's recruiting due to social media.
Probably because he was a high level administrator who has made a ton of connections over the years with the PFSCA. He's worked with a ton of organizations over the years, too many to list on here. Not to mention, he's friends with JF. I still don't see the value that somehow "mends" relationships in order to pull kids from PCC, PR, Quip, etc... The bottom line is a kid is offered two choices to get to say Disneyworld. #1. He gets to fly first class on a brand new jet. #2. He gets to ride a yellow school bus. Which vehicle are you choosing? It doesn't matter if Bob Palko or Sombrero Man is offering the ticket, you're choosing the 1st class plane ride on a brand new jet.
Speaking of the PFSCA, it's pretty interesting the annual clinic won't be held at PSU this year for the 1st time in a long time. The reason being is the PFSCA was tired of getting veto'd from JF of who could present and who couldn't.
Penn state was always a better offer for players. So was Ohio State or Notre Dame.
Yet we got players like Nix or Baldwin.
There is a real problem with local and Eastern PA recruiting.
The hit rate for players who held PSU and PITT offers has been terrible since the 1980's.
PITT has never been successful at all in landing Eastern PA recruits with kids who held PSU offers.
Could PITT improve it's local recruiting and recruiting in general - for sure. I would expect it with the new HC. The key question is how long does that last after the honeymoon/novelty is over with the new HC. Over the long term will PITT be able to put together packages that are on par with the top 15 schools in the country? I'm not talking just NIL, I'm talking about everything.
You point out a player like Nix or Baldwin and I'd counter with we always seem to land a 4 star type player who is local.
I could be wrong but with my generation it seemed like a really big deal when Brandon Short, Lavar Arrington, and Ron Graham all chose PSU in the mid 90's. These were all the top defensive players in the country and they fell like dominoes to PSU. I think they were such prominent names that had a last effect on the current dads/coaches of the players we are currently recruiting.
The hit rate was never 0%, which it is now. Narduzzi himself has landed like ten locals with PSU offers, before driving that bus off a cliff after the 2021 class.
Whitehead
Hamlin
Pugh (?)
Wheeler (?)
Mathews
Ford
Kradel and/or Zubovic (?)
Hayes (?)
Johnson
Donald
D. Ford (?)
Can't remember if some of them had committable offers. But I also may be forgetting some.
2020-2024 - Western PA guys with listed offers from both Pitt and Ped St. coming out of HS.
Pitt
Hayes
Donald
Johnson
Ford
McMillon
Lindsey
Davis
Ped St
Fisher
Dinkins
Robinson
Payne
Martin
Speca
Pitt
Hayes
Donald
Johnson
Ford
McMillon
Lindsey
Davis
Ped St
Fisher
Dinkins
Robinson
Payne
Martin
Speca
Just last year he got the Lindsey kid from Quip. I'm not saying that's great, but prior to Narduzzi we've seen this before.
https://pittsburgh.rivals.com/commitments/football/2004
https://pittsburgh.rivals.com/commitments/football/2005
https://pittsburgh.rivals.com/commitments/football/2007
https://pittsburgh.rivals.com/commitments/football/2010
https://pittsburgh.rivals.com/commitments/football/2011
https://pittsburgh.rivals.com/commitments/football/2013 (do Boyd/Johnson count due to Sandusky)
https://pittsburgh.rivals.com/commitments/football/2014 (1 with Boosker)
I'm not going back to the Walt era but if I'm not mistaken the only local players in his early years that held a PSU offer were DJ Dinkins, Demond Gibson, Brandon Williams, and Amir Purifoy.
I know for some of these guys, it's still early in their careers but the hit rate in WPA for both schools hasn't been great. McMillon has been solid, who else done much of anything at either school?
None of those guys started for Psu. Dinkins is 2nd or 3rd string TE and that’s the best on their list.
The overall list of players is pretty meh.
All hearsay and rumors, but my understanding is that he approached local kids like Pitt should be the only choice because it's the local D1 school, and didn't really put much effort in it beyond that, no effort in trying to build relationships and gain trust with local high school coaches, just assumed he would get local kids without having to do that sort of work. So call it a sense of entitlement? I also heard he was disorganized -- he would go to a local high school and talking with coaching staff and when asked about kids on the Pitt team from that school, he didn't even know who they were.
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I think Speca is looking good for them and on target to play a fair amount next year, according to my CC guys. Think Gonzalez has been hurt.
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