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Chryst

Bryan Anderson
Rob Pettiti
Charles Spencer
Jeff Otah
Jason Pinkston
TJ Clemmings
Bisnowaty
Dorian Johnson
Brian O'Neil

9 Pitt panther offensive linemen have been drafted since 2003, and Chryst is directly responsible for four of them despite being at pitt for only 3 years.

Who are the 4?
 
maybe it is all about fit. Rich Rod tore it up at WVU but was a putz at Michigan. Would you say Rich Rod is a good coach?

In RichRod's case it was more that he invented a devastating new wrinkle to offensive football with the no-huddle zone read spread offense in the late 90s but by the time that he got to Michigan in the late 00s every team had that in their playbook and he had no other tricks.
 
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In RichRod's case it was more that he invented a devastating new wrinkle to offensive football with the no-huddle zone read spread offense in the late 90s but by the time that he got to Michigan in the late 00s every team had that in their playbook and he had no other tricks.

do you honestly think RR lost due to scheme?

RR lost because there was a mass exodus of players either transferring or leaving early for the draft when he arrived. The Henne/Breaston/Long group left the cupboard virtually bare.

He had walkons filling in at certain positions. Hell, 5 star Cullen Christian couldn't beat a walkon at Michigan.

Do you think his zone read was why he was winning big time at WVU?

He had better players ready to play and a scheme that fit is players than anyone else in the league.
 
First it is nice to talk a little bit about actual football here.

Now my.02

I think this all comes down to timing. Chryst was not great or bad at his time at Pitt. Personally I think he helped in areas (Oline) and failed us in others (defense). I think his time was perfect here in the sense that he left at the right time. I feel he would have overstayed his welcome if he continued.

Now him landing at Wicky was perfect timing again for them and him. That is a great fit for both. The record speaks for itself.
 
Clemmings was Wanny recruit.

Biz was Toad Graham recruit.

Johnson was the only Oline recruit to make the NFL.

O'Neil was moved to the Oline under Narduzzi.

Clemmings may have been a wanny recruit, but as i already pointed out, he was languishing away under wanny and graham as a defensive end. There is a zero percent chance he made the NFL without Chryst.

Biz may have committed to Graham but he was one of 9 Toddy's commits that actually stuck around.

If you think O'Neil was recruited by Chryst to with the utlimate idea that ONeil would stay at tight end then I don't know what to say.
 
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I still harbor some mild resentment because he just did not seem to be real into it at Pitt, but I watch them a lot because I still REALLY like his offense. Nothing fancy, but they move the ball on people.
Just had the culture to pick up where he was not strong and it was his alma matter so he just is more comfortable there.
 
Clemmings may have been a wanny recruit, but as i already pointed out, he was languishing away under wanny and graham as a defensive end. There is a zero percent chance he made the NFL without Chryst.

Biz may have committed to Graham but he was one of 9 Toddy's commits that actually stuck around.

If you think O'Neil was recruited by Chryst to with the utlimate idea that ONeil would stay at tight end then I don't know what to say.

You can't give Clemmings to Chryst without giving O'Neill to Narduzzi.

His OL recruiting wasn't great here. It was good enough, but mostly because he took numbers. His TE recruiting was better.

His QB recruiting was as pathetic as his D recruiting.
 
You can't give Clemmings to Chryst without giving O'Neill to Narduzzi.

His OL recruiting wasn't great here. It was good enough, but mostly because he took numbers. His TE recruiting was better.

His QB recruiting was as pathetic as his D recruiting.

He's double dipping to make a point that isn't very strong.

The back end of his oline recruiting was pretty terrible. Narduzzi didn't do a good job recognizing that in his first 2 years.
 
Christ averages 10.4 wins per season at Wisconsin and usually plays 2 games against OSU/Much/PedU ( or all three) so he is at least a decent coach. But he left Pitt so will always suck in the eyes of some.
 
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Christ averages 10.4 wins per season at Wisconsin. He is a lot least a decent coach. But he left Pitt so will always suck in the eyes of some.

you're happy with 19-19 as a record? May not suck, but closer to the "suck" end of the spectrum than not during his time here.
 
do you honestly think RR lost due to scheme?

RR lost because there was a mass exodus of players either transferring or leaving early for the draft when he arrived. The Henne/Breaston/Long group left the cupboard virtually bare.

He had walkons filling in at certain positions. Hell, 5 star Cullen Christian couldn't beat a walkon at Michigan.

Do you think his zone read was why he was winning big time at WVU?

He had better players ready to play and a scheme that fit is players than anyone else in the league.

Yeah, honestly I do think that it was the scheme. Hell, he was the OC for an undefeated Tulane team with their best record since 1939 and that certainly wasn't because Tulane was loaded with players that fit the scheme. It was because he invented an up tempo run game from the spread that pulled players out of the box and forced them to account for very mobile qbs in space. At WVU they had so much speed and such a systems advantage that they could take relatively one dimensional players and dominate with them because they just ran around and over gassed defenses who didn't know how to scheme against the read option.

Now, Rich Rod didn't lead Michigan to their worst record ever just because people figured out ways to defend the spread option, that was because of the player revolt as you point out, but the ensuing two years he reloaded well enough with good recruiting classes and had Denard Robinson at qb which was again, a good scheme fit. But his best year of his three in Ann Arbor was still only 7-6. At Michigan. You'd get fired at Pitt for that too.

There's a reason that his career record at Michigan and Arizona was 58-57 over nine years and it's because his offense was relatively solved and he was devoid of new ideas. Not there's anything wrong with having one really good idea and making millions off of it, mind you.
 
Good point
We’ll ignore 3 coaches over 4 years and call that stability do it fits a narrative

Ok. Let's use a two year window. Then all programs have a new coach every year at some point. So all schools have instability with their football coaches.
 
In RichRod's case it was more that he invented a devastating new wrinkle to offensive football with the no-huddle zone read spread offense in the late 90s but by the time that he got to Michigan in the late 00s every team had that in their playbook and he had no other tricks.

It’s not as if people have figured out that offense. It seems like about a third of all college football teams are running it precisely because it is so successful still and hasn’t been figured out.
 
It’s not as if people have figured out that offense. It seems like about a third of all college football teams are running it precisely because it is so successful still and hasn’t been figured out.

Exactly, I'd be willing to bet it's more like 75% use zone read as a base concept.

And, the concept of the zone read was to hold the backside edge player vs the run so you can create the #'s advantage.

However, that is an ancient concept. Alex Gibbs was teaching the same concept when RR was cutting up film at Salem College. The only difference was the QB was under center and they were booting off of their zone runs and when the edge guy or backside safety wanted to get greedy they booted backside.
 
Regarding Rich Rod, he caught lightning in a bottle at WVU with Pat White and Steve Slaton, while playing in a depleted league.

I think the Slaton era was possibly the most talented the league ever was. Louisville was loaded. Rutgers was at their best and pumping out NFL talent. USF was at their best and was a top 25 type team. Cincy was solid.

2006 Big East Conference football standings
Team
W L W L
No. 6 Louisville $ 6 – 1 12 – 1
No. 10 West Virginia 5 – 2 11 – 2
No. 12 Rutgers 5 – 2 11 – 2
South Florida 4 – 3 9 – 4
Cincinnati 4 – 3 8 – 5
Pittsburgh 2 – 5 6 – 6
Connecticut 1 – 6 4 – 8
Syracuse 0 – 6 0 – 8
  • $ – BCS representative as conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll
 
On the original topic, Chryst's recruiting is definitely improving:
Rankings
2018 - #40
2019 - #27
2020 - #27
2021 - #13

He isn't "just" winning 10-11 games a year by having an easy schedule, he's also a better game day coach as he gets more experience, they're winning their bowl games, and bringing in better players. With Graham Mertz as arguably the #1 QB recruit in the country, they may have a shot at a playoff game in the next few years.

I think the only problem with hiring Chryst at Pitt was he and his staff were learning on the job. That's why we lost to Youngstown State game one. It was still better than the Haywood/Graham debacle.
 
Yeah, honestly I do think that it was the scheme. Hell, he was the OC for an undefeated Tulane team with their best record since 1939 and that certainly wasn't because Tulane was loaded with players that fit the scheme. It was because he invented an up tempo run game from the spread that pulled players out of the box and forced them to account for very mobile qbs in space. At WVU they had so much speed and such a systems advantage that they could take relatively one dimensional players and dominate with them because they just ran around and over gassed defenses who didn't know how to scheme against the read option.

Now, Rich Rod didn't lead Michigan to their worst record ever just because people figured out ways to defend the spread option, that was because of the player revolt as you point out, but the ensuing two years he reloaded well enough with good recruiting classes and had Denard Robinson at qb which was again, a good scheme fit. But his best year of his three in Ann Arbor was still only 7-6. At Michigan. You'd get fired at Pitt for that too.

There's a reason that his career record at Michigan and Arizona was 58-57 over nine years and it's because his offense was relatively solved and he was devoid of new ideas. Not there's anything wrong with having one really good idea and making millions off of it, mind you.
I liked Rich Rod as a coach a bit, and you are right he had a unique system at that time that helped him to be successful.
But, that was just really bad decision making for Michigan to hire him because that system was completely different from what they had been doing basically forever. Pretty much every player on offense was a square peg in a round hole for the offense.
 
I liked Rich Rod as a coach a bit, and you are right he had a unique system at that time that helped him to be successful.
But, that was just really bad decision making for Michigan to hire him because that system was completely different from what they had been doing basically forever. Pretty much every player on offense was a square peg in a round hole for the offense.

Much like Fraud was a bad fit when he came here. That is the part of coaching I do not understand. They are so married to their system they do not adjust it to fit the talent. Instead of gradually implementing their system over 2 to 3 seasons (of getting their players in the program) they just go full steam ahead with their system and in the process they leave wins on the field. Hell Duzz even did that with his Defense system. They should always tailor the system to the talent and recruit to what they want to run.
 
On the original topic, Chryst's recruiting is definitely improving:
Rankings
2018 - #40
2019 - #27
2020 - #27
2021 - #13

He isn't "just" winning 10-11 games a year by having an easy schedule, he's also a better game day coach as he gets more experience, they're winning their bowl games, and bringing in better players. With Graham Mertz as arguably the #1 QB recruit in the country, they may have a shot at a playoff game in the next few years.

I think the only problem with hiring Chryst at Pitt was he and his staff were learning on the job. That's why we lost to Youngstown State game one. It was still better than the Haywood/Graham debacle.

There's also been more in state talent to pull in WI. Those are usually lay-ups at UW.
 
On the original topic, Chryst's recruiting is definitely improving:
Rankings
2018 - #40
2019 - #27
2020 - #27
2021 - #13

He isn't "just" winning 10-11 games a year by having an easy schedule, he's also a better game day coach as he gets more experience, they're winning their bowl games, and bringing in better players. With Graham Mertz as arguably the #1 QB recruit in the country, they may have a shot at a playoff game in the next few years.

I think the only problem with hiring Chryst at Pitt was he and his staff were learning on the job. That's why we lost to Youngstown State game one. It was still better than the Haywood/Graham debacle.

Wisconsin isn’t on some playoff trajectory because they brought in the 27th ranked recruiting class. Just stop.
 
I think the Slaton era was possibly the most talented the league ever was. Louisville was loaded. Rutgers was at their best and pumping out NFL talent. USF was at their best and was a top 25 type team. Cincy was solid.

2006 Big East Conference football standings
Team
W L W L
No. 6 Louisville $ 6 – 1 12 – 1
No. 10 West Virginia 5 – 2 11 – 2
No. 12 Rutgers 5 – 2 11 – 2
South Florida 4 – 3 9 – 4
Cincinnati 4 – 3 8 – 5
Pittsburgh 2 – 5 6 – 6
Connecticut 1 – 6 4 – 8
Syracuse 0 – 6 0 – 8
  • $ – BCS representative as conference champion
Rankings from AP Poll

2006, the golden year of the Big East. I thought there was hope for the conference. Turns out it was still every man for themselves as the marques coaches all bolted at the first chance. Funny, who was the "1" for the one win for UCONN that year?
 
do you honestly think RR lost due to scheme?

RR lost because there was a mass exodus of players either transferring or leaving early for the draft when he arrived. The Henne/Breaston/Long group left the cupboard virtually bare.

He had walkons filling in at certain positions. Hell, 5 star Cullen Christian couldn't beat a walkon at Michigan.

Do you think his zone read was why he was winning big time at WVU?

He had better players ready to play and a scheme that fit is players than anyone else in the league.

Have to wonder how different Rich Rod’s tenure at UM would have been if Pryor had gone there to play QB instead of Ohio State.
 
I was never in the "He brought stability" camp or he was a "good guy". I thought he was incredibly average here (you are what your record says you are) and the way he left was every bit as bad as Graham. That said, I have to admit I am still surprised at the amount of success he has had at Wisconsin (once again you are what your record says you are, and it says he is pretty good). But now even the recruiting is going into overdrive according to the linked article.

Is Wisky that much of a "plug & play" system? Is their infrastructure that good that someone so average here can have such great success?


Competing against MAC schools for recruits was acceptable for him at Pitt. It is not at Wisky. He walked into a stable, well funded program in a monopoly market that plays in a weak division. All he has managed to do is not screw that up.
 
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Competing against MAC schools for recruits was acceptable for him at Pitt. It is not at Wisky. He walked into a stable, well funded program in a monopoly market that plays in a weak division. All he has managed to do is not screw that up.

I do not buy that weak division/schedule argument. It is still a P5 conference and to win 10/11 games season after season still requires great competency I guess is the best word.
 
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Comparing urban to royal campus football attendance figures is ridiculous. Also Barry Alvarez is behind alot of their success. H2P!
Madison WI ain’t exact rural bro.

The BA Way and the football culture and program identity he built and maintained there for the past 20 years is real though.

Chryst was plug and play there. He already knew everything he needed to know to keep the BA train on the tracks.
 
I do not buy that weak division/schedule argument. It is still a P5 conference and to win 10/11 games season after season still requires great competency I guess is the best word.

Incredibly impressive.
But you aren’t taking weak recruiting classes and doing that in the SEC West.

Wisconsin has been very fortunate that the SEC West doesn’t have any teams with much of a recruiting pulse.
 
No, the missing ingredient has been Top 10 recruiting classes.
They aren’t a QB away from making a run with good classes. No team is.

I sat in on a Joe Tiller clinic years ago. He said having Drew Brees instantly allowed them to compete offensively with anyone. To your point, he also said the thing that separates the blue bloods and everyone else is having guys in the front 7 can run and having depth behind them. But, there is no doubt the QB is THE most impactful position on the field.
 
Incredibly impressive.
But you aren’t taking weak recruiting classes and doing that in the SEC West.

Wisconsin has been very fortunate that the SEC West doesn’t have any teams with much of a recruiting pulse.

I never made the argument that they could accomplish their feat in the SEC West. I am just saying to string together numerous 10/11 win seasons together is an accomplishment for any P5 hell even G5 team. Pitt has had exactly 1 10 win season in 35 years. Wisky/Chryst have had 4 in the past 5 years.
 
No, the missing ingredient has been Top 10 recruiting classes.
They aren’t a QB away from making a run with good classes. No team is.

They were 13-1 and six points away from a playoff birth under Chryst with Hornbrook as a sophomore. It's not like this is a 7-5 program. Yes a top QB plus their usual team could get to a playoff! I'm not saying they'd beat Alabama or Clemson if they got there.
 
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