It has to be realized that some of the great boost the program gave itself with the ACC championship has undoubtedly been challenged by the negativity of the conference garbage that has occurred. I do realize that Uber-fans care more about this stuff than the average citizen, but it can be assured that big time recruits (or at least your higher 3 star types and above) ARE among the subset of humanity that DO pay attention to this stuff.
Joe Lunchbox on the street doesn’t care. But if I’m a four or five star guy (the types we’re hoping would be more serious about us after last season), or certainly the guys’ parents, I’m seeking out and reading all I can find about this stuff. And remember they are being bombarded daily from Pitt’s enemies with the negative spin about it. Yes, even though the likelihood is great that the seasons for these particular students aren’t going to be impacted by whatever happens, perception is important.
It’s a dam shame all this had to finally burst at precisely the time we had a breakout of sorts. While I’m never going to feel too bad for guys making millions of dollars to coach a game, I do feel a bit of regret for our coaches. They’ve literally had little but negative headwinds to face in the months since the great moment of raising that trophy.