Coach preference.
- Thread starter Dallas Burgher
- Start date
Flynn is a 13 Time PSAC Coach of the Year, and 7 Time EWL Coach of the Year. He has accomplished more than Santoro you fool. They are both good choices, but many unbiased people in the wrestling community would choose Flynn.
Call me all the names you want. You are attempting to deny the reality of what happened here.
I already argued it with Del for a day on the premium board. Your opinion won't convince me otherwise. I'm over arguing her hire, and you should too because it won't magically change the hire.
You can do whatever you want. There's posts by two informed posters on this board revealing who was correct. All of this reveals that Pitt isn't serious about athletics.
Where does Pitt rank in comparison to its peers in regards to donations to athletics? Pitt's boosters are not serious about athletics.
Pitt's donation levels stink. But we have more money to spend than Lehigh.
Wrestling is their primary sport. Lehigh or Pitt - Which group of boosters donate more to their wrestling program? Answer - It isn't Pitt.
Which school gets more than 20 million in revenue per year from their conference? Answer it isn't Lehigh.
They have more wrestling donors. But we get more athletics revenue on orders of magnitude even factoring in the cost of football. It isn't even close. There's no excuse for this debacle.
He has it correct on the debacle. From a couple of horses mouths, no offer was made. Pat was left hanging while the new AD tried to impress everyone with an even bigger hire. All you fishermen out there know you don't leave the big one on the line too long, you end up empty handed. This was her debacle and hers alone.
This is all well and good, but if we hire Tim Flynn, that's a win. I have never met Pat, but I have met Tim and he is excellent. If we end up with Tim Flynn I will be ecstatic. And I will up my donation. But if they blow it, I will puke. I have my doubts about Heather Lyke. Trust me on this, though, you will love Tim Flynn if he is the next coach.
Whatever happens, I am very unimpressed by Lyke. And the rest of Pitt admin,because they took too long to hire an AD. Sure, she will kiss Pat Narduzzi's butt, but if he wins he will leave for a better job. She should have been here last week to get this right. I don't care about EMU at all. She can prove me wrong, but I do believe that she was a bad hire.
She is on the job for a week and you can already tell she is doing a bad job. Wonderful! That is a typical Pitt fan response. You know why Narduzzi might leave if he does well - 30k empty seats and a cheap fanbase that bitches all the time.
13-time PSAC Coach of the Year
7-time EWL Coach of the Year
89 PSAC Champions
55 EWL Champions
140 National Qualifiers
37 All-Americans
3 National Champions
2013-14:
NWCA Division I Coach of the Year
EWL Coach of the Year
PSAC Coach of the Year
InterMat Co-Coach of the Year
Win’s Dan Gable Coach of the Year
Not sure why so many are dumping on Flynn. Take the handling of Santoro out of the mix for a second - Tim Flynn would be a great hire. When Lyke was at Ohio State they hired Tom Ryan (some say she spearheaded that hire) - and he wasn't who everyone was talking about (Terry and Tom Brands was on everyone's minds, but they obviously went to Iowa that spring with Terry choosing to be an assistant rather than take a head job). He was a good coach from a small school - and look at what he's been able to do.
I'm not saying Flynn was the first choice or that Pitt didn't screw the Santoro thing up big time - I'm just saying that Santoro is lost, so let's focus on what's in front of us - and Tim Flynn is a damn good choice too.
7-time EWL Coach of the Year
89 PSAC Champions
55 EWL Champions
140 National Qualifiers
37 All-Americans
3 National Champions
2013-14:
NWCA Division I Coach of the Year
EWL Coach of the Year
PSAC Coach of the Year
InterMat Co-Coach of the Year
Win’s Dan Gable Coach of the Year
Not sure why so many are dumping on Flynn. Take the handling of Santoro out of the mix for a second - Tim Flynn would be a great hire. When Lyke was at Ohio State they hired Tom Ryan (some say she spearheaded that hire) - and he wasn't who everyone was talking about (Terry and Tom Brands was on everyone's minds, but they obviously went to Iowa that spring with Terry choosing to be an assistant rather than take a head job). He was a good coach from a small school - and look at what he's been able to do.
I'm not saying Flynn was the first choice or that Pitt didn't screw the Santoro thing up big time - I'm just saying that Santoro is lost, so let's focus on what's in front of us - and Tim Flynn is a damn good choice too.
Pitt Law, I do believe your correct on the Diversity hire angle. It didn't take long to figure that out when you looked at the candidate pool for AD. I do not want to make this political, but with Gallagher, this did not shock me. That said, I'm all about getting the best individual, regardless. Santoro would have been a tremendous hire, and I'm not in the loop as to where this is headed. You seem like a pretty knowledgeable as do a few others on this thread. I prepared myself for being disappointed on this hire and said Lykes credibility could be defined by this hire. Flynn will do a very good job, was he the best choice and what who were the candidates. In the dark on that. Pitt Wrestling should be made to attract and elite level hire. Is the commitment there? Was never confident of that.
I know the university has been emphasizing diversity in hiring at all levels, which isn't necessarily a bad thing because universities are judged somewhat on their diversity and Pitt was underrepresented some places. That doesn't mean, at all, that you shouldn't hire the best available candidate, each and every time, regardless. With that said, there is no reason to believe Lyke wasn't the best realistic candidate based on her prior experience which seemed to fit Pitt's unique attributes fairly well. There's no way to know without being in her interviews or without knowing what kind of instructions were actually given to the search committee and the recruitment firm. But if the best person wasn't hired because he or she didn't fit the diversity philosophy of some higher university administrators, it is absolutely damning on Pitt, overall as a institution, moving forward under the current leadership. But you have to keep in mind that other than complete speculation, there is absolutely no actual information out there that suggest that my immediately prior sentence is actually true.
I'm willing to give a mulligan on this one because she's been on the job for what, a whole week, and it is doubtful she was ever in a position to pull candidates from lateral or superior circumstances at EMU. Hopefully it still works out with a great hire, and lessons are learned, but it absolutely does raise a few eyebrows right off the bat.
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Your comment (above) says a lot, and it's shared by many people.
When it comes to Pitt and their hiring of coaches (and unfortunately, AD's), past experiences have conditioned Pitt fans to be disappointed.
I spent the past 24 hours venting the same as many of you. Remember I'm the guy who started the thread to try and get some of you to commit money if we were to hire the right coach. I thought my lead of committing $50,000/year over the life of the new coach's contract would get the action going. The reaction wasn't what I had hoped. Regardless, let me say that Santoro was at the top of my list too. The staff did everything right in setting this up to happen. We were primed to meet everyone's hopes on this hire. Yes, the timing of the AD hiring caused things to fall apart. Getting into the weeds here does no one any good. My wish list included more than just Santoro. Terry Brands and Flynn were on it as well. So, even though I'm disappointed with how things went, I agree with Paco that we need to focus on who we may get. If it is Flynn, my commitment stands. That's the best I can do. I hope many of you are with me.
I figured she was chosen because her parents live only 90 miles away-after getting burned by Barnes needing to go back west to be with family.
Impossible to know all the reasons that added up to the hire unless you are in on the decision.
I to am in that "wait and see" mode. Santoro, would have been an excellent choice but without having the specifics of the interview( was it $$, commitment, AD comfortability) that pushed Pat away, we may never know. Would love to know that answer, but the door is still open to get it right. So we wait. Wrestling and bringing a top 10 program is so doable and it could be a tremendous PR opportunity and boost to the whole athletic Dept. How committed are We??? I'm willing to up my donation but have to see proof positive of a commitment.
Paco, I looked at the four candidates and saw the trend immediately(Pitt Law 04). Lyke may very well be a fine choice, but the pool of candidates was a bit underwhelming and appeared geared toward a specific outcome-Diversity). Pitt fans have a right to be skeptical of just about everything, given the track record. We are one coach away, from looking at a dumpster fire, it we don't start hiring more elite talent in the AD and sports programs. In my mind...Football, BB. Wrestling(especially since PA is a Hotbed) need to be the focus and it starts with funding, commitment, and hiring the right coaches. Narduzzi is it, and thats not acceptable. You get all 3 sports programs rolling and watch the donations/attendance improve.
lrts be honest with each other. did anyone think pitt was going to hire a big name wrestling coach. most of our Olympic sports are a joke.
My knowledge of wrestling could fit in a thimble. But a friend of mine who is in the national wrestling hall of fame and well connected due to Santoro being at MD previously. Says he feels Santoro was the second best coach in country behind the PSU coach and was told he wanted to come to Pitt. Feels Flynn is a good coach as well but not in same class as Santoro. Feels the AD dropped the ball on this one.
I love Pat - but second best coach in the country? That's a pretty big claim.
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