Imagine Pantherlair 40 years ago

[ThePanthers]

PGH Sports History‏@PGH_Sports_Date 4h4 hours ago




40 years ago (10/4/79): #Pitt fan morale declining under Sherrill. #H2Ppic.twitter.com/JBhJJN4YYR

2:37 AM - 4 Oct 2019

• 

Pitt Football and EJ Borghetti

 

[pittman71]

Worthless media

 

[DiehardPanther]

Another example of a bandwagon fan. The single biggest obstacle to our success right now is lack of fan support.

 

[Slick Manager of Champs]

Another example of a bandwagon fan. The single biggest obstacle to our success right now is lack of fan support.

I get on Pitt79 for his attending one game a year mentality but I have friends who both husband and wife are grads and live within 20 minutes of Heinz field and they attend maybe one game a year, sometimes none. Another local pair went to their first game since Pitt stadium and that was only because their kid was in the opponents band. So not sure what the issue is. I kind of lean towards Pittsburgh is a pro town and will only jump aboard when a team is on top. I think if the Pens or Steelers ever had an extended mediocre streak like us they would see similar attendance woes. And there is only so much budget available for the sports dollar. A Pitt grad who isn't a die hard when given the choice between a Pens mini package or a Pitt season ticket would probably pick Pens since they are on top now.

 

[Panthertag]

He needed a legit slap for that 48-14 loss.

 

[9nationalchampionships]

We were a little spoiled at this time!

 

[HopeandChangeforAntoons]

Pitt fans after watching Oklahoma and J.C. Watts run the Wishbone in the Orange Bowl:
"Why doesn't Pitt recruit one of those mobile black QBs?"

:
:
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Edit: Sorry, I'm told that was actually just from Pantherlair a couple of months ago.

 

[RingDinger]

I get ragged on for being negative, but it's been a long time since I've missed a Pitt home game. Unfortunately, I don't know how you get the casuals to show up. It's not easy to tell someone to give up their Fall Saturdays... especially if they're already devoting their Sundays to football.

However, as we all know, they'll come if we win. I see a lot of new Pitt gear just about every time I venture into public nowadays. They may be hiding under rocks, but these fans do exist.

 

[Hailpitt]

At one time I had a Ralph Still Jersey. I should look in my closet— it may be worth something. I have nothing else to comment.

 

[ratking17]

I actually see both sides. When I factor my 3.5 hr drive, I have to devote about 13 total hours to the gameday experience. Now I enjoy that. To me its relaxing and because its only 7 weekends or so a year, it doesn't seem that bad.

Yet, after 5 straight games in a row, I am really looking forward to grabbing some brews and grub, parking my ass on the couch tomorrow, and watching 12 hours of football.

 

[TempleBAPittMPA]

10-9 over Temple and the sky was falling. That happened to be the highest nationally-ranked Temple team (yes, that does occasionally belong in the same sentence) since Pop Warner coached the Owls to the inaugural Sugar Bowl.

 

[HailtoPitt]

This article was 4 years too early.

 

[Zeldas Open Roof]

imagine if the pat signal existed when majors brought in like 90 players in that one class in early 70's. that'd be sweet. 90+ pat signals..

 

[upj87]

PGH Sports History‏@PGH_Sports_Date 4h4 hours ago




40 years ago (10/4/79): #Pitt fan morale declining under Sherrill. #H2Ppic.twitter.com/JBhJJN4YYR

2:37 AM - 4 Oct 2019

• 

Pitt Football and EJ Borghetti

a coach of a team of future NFL stars and hall of famers should lose to no one...just criticism...

 

[TempleBAPittMPA]

This article was 4 years too early.

Yep. When Foge LOST to Temple, THAT was the indicator.

 

[MarshallGoldberg]

Yep. When Foge LOST to Temple, THAT was the indicator.

Was that one of the greatest statistical collapses in NCAA history?
Meaning Pitt was pre-season #3 in the country in 1984 and started the year 1-7-1.

Amazing part was Foge was then brought back in 1985!

 

[MajorMajors]

PGH Sports History‏@PGH_Sports_Date 4h4 hours ago

A must read...

Go Pitt.


40 years ago (10/4/79): #Pitt fan morale declining under Sherrill. #H2Ppic.twitter.com/JBhJJN4YYR

2:37 AM - 4 Oct 2019

• 

Pitt Football and EJ Borghetti

 

[Gep Dawg]

For an inner city school I think Pitts fan base is pretty good. We play in a huge NFL stadium and and can draw anywhere from high 30k to high 50k. I think the alumni and hardcore base does great. Especially in a city where the professional fan base tends to be pretty fair weathered. It’s not like Miami and even USC sell out when they are in down periods. They struggle to be more than half the stadium filled when they are struggling to make Bowl games

 

[ChazzMo]

Editorial comment of no real import: I always find it interesting to read the local news sports page of an opponent AFTER we beat them. Probably because I have a double dose of inferiority complex (I’m an Appalachian, but raised and schooled in western PA - a real double whammy) I always conclude that other city sports news writers are less critical and more “rah-rah” about their local teams than western PA writers traditionally are in regard to Pitt. And yes - that goes back as far as 40 years or more. I’m a class of ‘75.

 

[pittmeister]

PGH Sports History‏@PGH_Sports_Date 4h4 hours ago




40 years ago (10/4/79): #Pitt fan morale declining under Sherrill. #H2Ppic.twitter.com/JBhJJN4YYR

2:37 AM - 4 Oct 2019

• 

Pitt Football and EJ Borghetti

Bingo! I can only image the wisdom we'd be hearing today from the brain dead negative posters on this message board...

Before the Temple game, Sherrill's teams were 1-6 against teams that finished the season ranked...

After the Temple game, you would have heard:

"Why in the hell did Pitt hire Sherrill??!! He coached only one season and finished 3-8??!!! He was a great recruiter and defensive coordinator, but he's not head coaching material!!!"

"We're getting worse, not better!"

"I knew it was a mistake to hire him after his very first game two years ago (1977)! Your first string QB goes down (Cavanaugh), and there was nobody ready to step in! That's incompetence!!!"

"Finishing 9-2-1 and 8-4 and now struggling to beat Temple is not improvement"

"We're 1-6 against ranked teams! We need to schedule tougher opponents!!!!"

"Sherrill is the worse coach in Pitt history!"

 

[PittPanther44]

Lol at the dread of possibly losing 4 games.

Also lol at the that it was the best team in college football within 12 months of that article

But interesting nonetheless...as someone not really old enough to remember those years, my perception was that it was clear sailing for 8 or 10 years. Guess there were a few bumps

 

[pittmeister]

Lol at the dread of possibly losing 4 games.

Also lol at the that it was the best team in college football within 12 months of that article

But interesting nonetheless...as someone not really old enough to remember those years, my perception was that it was clear sailing for 8 or 10 years. Guess there were a few bumps

If you think that was funny, imagine what it would have been like on this board after they hired Johnny Majors!

When they hired Majors, He was head coach at Iowa State for five years... His career coaching record at Iowa State was 24–30–1. He had only one winning season and lost both bowl games he coached.

We would have heard:

“Terrible hire...Same old Pitt!”

“Of all the coaches out there and we hired this guy?”

“Pitt is too cheap to hire a real coach”

“Why couldn’t they hire a Pittsburgh guy who knows Western PA? Jerry Sandusky is from Washington, PA, why not hire him?”

 

[Soulcitywalker]

Temple finished 10-2 that year, losing by only one point to Pitt and two touchdowns to Penn State. Beat California in one of only 15 bowl games that year and also beat another bowl team, Syracuse, 49-17. Finished No. 17 in both polls.

 

[DiehardPanther]

Temple finished 10-2 that year, losing by only one point to Pitt and two touchdowns to Penn State. Beat California in one of only 15 bowl games that year and also beat another bowl team, Syracuse, 49-17. Finished No. 17 in both polls.

Yup...just shows you how stupid some bandwagon fans are.

 

[Black_Man_Panther]

Remember it well. They had a rough start to the '79 season (lack of offense... big shocker... had another erratic #8 playing QB). It all started, though, in 1978. You should have seen the Smizucks columns in 1978 if you think that was bad. Smizik of course, knew football better than Jackie Sherrill and was ranting about lack of a fullback on the '78 team. Getting blown out by Navy and then barely beating a hapless Syracuse game - they were going ballistic. You would have thought only a blow-out win against WVU "saved" Sherrill's job. Funny how 40 years later... nothing has really changed in Pittsburgh media.