I said he hasn’t won anything since the 80s when he road others accomplishments. Which is true.
What did he win at Chicago as HC? Or Miami? Or Pitt? I’ll wait.
Heather Lyke
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What did he win at Chicago as HC? Or Miami? Or Pitt? I’ll wait.
I would think it will be difficult to fundraise at MSU now. What corporation wants their brand associated with that mess?
He also coached Pitt in the 2008 Sun Bowl, which is in the conversation for worst college football game ever played.
Pitt fans are cheap. We are dead last in athletic giving because our fans throw quarters around like they are manhole covers.
Off topic here, you all see the attendance for UCLA today, wow, they make Pitt attendance look very good compared
How much of that do you put on her?
Do you think she negotiated with Stallings lawyers personally? Do you think maybe she was instructed to find dirt on Stallings because some big donors were too cheap to pony up a $9 million buyout?
Do you think there is an AD hire that can full Heinz Field and get Pitt near the top in P5 revenues?
Like her or not, I think she's doing a overall good job at what the people that hired want her to do.
Is that due to covid? Because nish seemed to indicate otherwise at least in the way she interacted with boosters
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Just because you go on braying the same nonsense doesn’t make it true. Winning coach of the year in the NFL is a big accomplishment. Winning a Super Bowl as a DC is not him just being along for the ride.
Don’t be such a block head. All of you yinzers hammering DW for years but also getting upset at those criticizing Lyke now, are too blind to see their error. And you fight like crazed animals to say a very successful coach is somehow someone who has won nothing.
Nonetheless you are consistent in expressing one-sided emotional opinions on this board.
Quality commentary from you as always. 🙂
But why does his name make so many on here so apoplectic?
You do know you are talking to someone who saw it from the inside right? Has much more insight and closeness to the programs than most of us , just checking. You love this avg administration and coaches esp DOOZ, it at times blinds you , also the person you are addressing played on the field as well.
Are you confusing Ghost of Pitt Stadium with the Scout poster Ghost of Pitt 40?
I wasn't aware that @Ghost of Pitt Stadium was a former player.
Maybe he could share with us what position he played.
Yes, it is down everywhere due to Covid. In general, philanthropic giving has been way down for everything.
It doesn't help that those sports are in a quagmire, but seating donations were essentially wiped out last season.
There are legit criticisms of Heather, but also legit good things. But a lot of unfair criticisms and undue praise being tossed around too. Not the end of the world no matter her decision. Then there is the usual noisy message board crowd who won't be satisfied until Pitt Stadium is rebuilt, but most of these have self identified as not giving in the first place.
Because there are some people here who are bigger Dave Wannstedt fans than Pitt fans, and they just can't get over his relentless mediocrity.
but it’s different mediocre now.
The better kind of mediocre I suspect.
Yes a non Yinzer, or Youngstown Yinzer lite kind of mediocre, which is better I guess
Well you aren't talking about me, because I think, and have said so on this board more than once in the past, that we are never going to be more than what we are now under Narduzzi. I just don't feel the need to repeat myself, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over like some people do.
The difference between you and I is that I think a mediocre coach isn't good enough, whether he loves him some chip chop or he's from all the way out in Ohio or he thinks we should be in the left lane with the hammer down, and you think that just because one of them is a yinzer he should be exalted, his relentless mediocrity be damned.
H the
You just described the core essence of Pantherlair discourse on any topic. The handful of reasonable and objective posters in the middle are too few to warrant mention.
But a lot of unfair criticisms and undue praise being tossed around too.
You just described the core essence of Pantherlair discourse on any topic. The handful of reasonable and objective posters in the middle are too few to warrant mention.
Wanny & Duzz have both pretty much done as much as can be done at Pitt. I don't think Pitt is a program that can has realistic playoff aspirations.
Pitt doesn't have the booster/donor support or resources to field anything better than a mediocre roster. Until that changes, endless mediocrity is what Pitt will produce, regardless of coach.
I disagree entirely with your first sentence. Better coaching certainly would have produced better results in at least a couple of seasons of each coaches’ respective tenures. There is no question about that. Narduzzi in particular with no prior head coaching experience has been learning on the job and it has shown repeatedly on Saturdays over the past 6 years. This idea that Pitt football has been performing at or near its theoretical ceiling during all these decades of poor to mediocre seasons is nonsense. The biggest falsehood of that premise is suggesting that if Narduzzi or Wanny couldn’t get it done, nobody could, or at least nobody that Pitt could realistically hire. That’s laughable. Wanny was a chump as a pro coach and at Pitt. Narduzzi was never a head coach before, and has not acquitted himself very well as one to date. Offensively his teams have been atrocious since Canada left after 2016.
Now, could Pitt football ever be great again, like a consistent top 10 program? That’s a different issue. No it couldn’t. Could it be a regular top 20 program that wins its own division regularly and earns some national relevance and respectability? Absolutely it could be, and should be. It’s there for the taking, it just needs somebody that knows how to get it done. .
You get it and are very level headed, I am done level with this staff I have to admit. I also admit I once supported Duzz, no more, he is a bumbling fool on Saturdays and Salem is a moron on the recruiting trail. Just how I feel since 2018
It was down before Covid. They just haven’t been able to replace the major donors who’ve passed away.
Perhaps a couple of years each could have won a couple more games. That still wouldn't make those teams anything more than mediocre.
Totally disagree with your second paragraph. Pitt can't recruit to the level to be a top 20 program and win their division regularly. Unless they can consistently recruit Top 15 type classes, that level is unattainable.
Respectably is subjective.
National relevance is totally out of the question. There are maybe somewhere around 15 to 18 programs in college football that are relevant. All the rest are just window dressing.
I love Wanny, realize he's mediocre but he was bringing in enough ballers (during a very very tough recruiting situation where Pitt wasnt in a P5 league) to make me have hope that eventually we will lose 2 or fewer games despite his mediocre coaching. We haven't had that hope since he left
How does one determine who the "best" is??? As I said, she has done a nice job with Pitt's Olympic sports, BUT...she is responsible for the ENTIRE Athletic Department and Pitt's #1 issue is they do not have their OWN home football field. We all know that the football programs literally pay for most of the other sports teams at their schools, why is she doing it backwards??? I bet of you asked every recruit that Pitt was interested in, they would tell you that the lack of Pitt not having their own home field was used against them by most other coaches during their recruiting visits. Sadly pittmeister, it is you and those who think like you, that have kept the Pitt football program from trying to achieve the success that we all want to see.
So even though she has been able to increase the funds for coaching, recruiting, facility improvements, etc for football, not being able to build an on campus stadium is your only measuring stick?
Prepare to be disappointed for the rest of your life then. Because whoever is ad is not going to get an on campus stadium in our lifetimes.
No point , both sides are dug in, Pitt can do no wrong or hire no wrong, until they are gone , then the same people pile on.
And the last paragraph is spot on, sort of the same Pirate fan that shows up for bobbleheads and fireworks
Well, Pitt's #1 issus is that the 2 main sports are subpar. If the football team could break its 40 year streak of mediocrity, its home field wouldn't be as much of an issue. But they cant. They are forever 6-6/7-5 and nothing has been attempted to break them of this. Her 2 main coaches are both either on the hot seat or close to it. Duzz is probably 2 more 6-6's from getting canned and Capel probably only has 2 more left if we continue to finish near the bottom of the league.
We're talking about an AD whose biggest accomplishment in the 2 sports that matter are firing a coach who went 0-19. That's it. That's the list. And she was cheered and celebrated for making the easiest decision in the history of college sports.
The olympic sports upgrades and new seats that no one will sit in at the Pete are nice but in the end wins in football and basketball are all that matters and those teams haven't done nearly enough of that and she is ultimately responsible
