Marino's senior year?
- Thread starter HailtoPitt
- Start date
That was cignettis first year at pitt calling plays.
Well there were a lot of rumors on campus about powdery substances and western psych.
Marino's then-girlfriend lived one floor above my now-wife his senior year... I was finishing out a 4.5 year engineering degree (not bad, IMHO, for a right-side thinking dude).
Anyways, plenty of time in the elevator with Dan the Man at the Forbes dorm... which was new-ish for Pitt back then. Entered dorm from Forbes Ave on a cross-street... Halket? On Forbes toward downtown from the Cathedral.
I was no stranger to a party in 1982... and likely rode the elevator nearly as glassy-eyed as #13 back then. But I pretty much like the Okie from Muskogee back then... I didn't get my highs from anything but beer or a couple shots.
I totally love Marino as a Pitt man... easily one of the best. And a great Pittsburgh man, too. But them eyes were pretty glassy back then... pretty often. I think that had sumpin' to do with the performance.
Still the greatest thrower of a football... ever.
Anyways, plenty of time in the elevator with Dan the Man at the Forbes dorm... which was new-ish for Pitt back then. Entered dorm from Forbes Ave on a cross-street... Halket? On Forbes toward downtown from the Cathedral.
I was no stranger to a party in 1982... and likely rode the elevator nearly as glassy-eyed as #13 back then. But I pretty much like the Okie from Muskogee back then... I didn't get my highs from anything but beer or a couple shots.
I totally love Marino as a Pitt man... easily one of the best. And a great Pittsburgh man, too. But them eyes were pretty glassy back then... pretty often. I think that had sumpin' to do with the performance.
Still the greatest thrower of a football... ever.
Jordan Belfort Not Pleased!!
Same boat . But I was also in the boat of Cheech Maron who best described it.
"The doctor advised me to stop using cocaine because it is shrinking the membranes in my wallet " ...
I’m not wealthy enough for it to ruin my life. Not sure if that’s good or bad.
All I know is I’ve done both in excess and one of them and I am fine in the morning and the other one, I can’t move off the couch for a day.
Jackie Sherrill gone, assistants took over, very similar staff but still different roles and dynamics, as history proved all things were inferior after JS departure, not just Marino's play.
It was an odd year. Pitt and everyone else thought that they could sleepwalk to a title. We were like Bama is today with talent, maybe even better. The problem was that they did sleep walk for several weeks and they did keep on winning......until they didn't and once they lost, much of the team just packed it in. Every player seemed disinterested including Marino.
My theory is that many of those kids grew up with the great Steeler teams and that ridiculous swagger that those guys had and they tried to bring that to the college game. Those Pitt teams brought a different attitude to the sport before Miami copied it and actually backed it up. Just my opinion.
My theory is that many of those kids grew up with the great Steeler teams and that ridiculous swagger that those guys had and they tried to bring that to the college game. Those Pitt teams brought a different attitude to the sport before Miami copied it and actually backed it up. Just my opinion.
As a high school junior who was already set on attending Pitt and has been a huge fan for years, I was so excited for that season and the prospect that they were going to ‘finish the job’ after coming so close before. One of my first of many sports disappointments.
I say this as someone who is by no means a straight edge or teetotaler or anything. But am I the only person who’s never had the desire to try cocaine?
Foge was the beginning of the downfall. Great guy… crappy coach.
82 Panthers set the bar for underachieving Pitt teams. From the opener, a 7-6 snoozer over NC, until the epic fold vs a very average Notre Dame, Pitt had to overcome continually sloppy, undisciplined play. Marino sucked, and he had lots of company.
Any desire I might have had got wiped away by what happened to Len Bias.
I think the vast majority of people feel this way. You're not missing out on too much, honestly. It's fun and you feel like you are on top of the world for a little bit and then the rest of the night you just want to do more cocaine.
I was at the games. Danny’s receivers frequently let him down; they couldn’t catch a cold.
No sir . In fact that desire was/is an intelligent one .
For multiple reasons ...
No sir, you are not alone.
For anyone who is tempted to try it, I’d suggest watching one of those documentaries on how it’s made, including what it is “cut” with.
Foge was the wrong coach, but as I learned this week on the pay board where someone posted a newspaper link from 1993 that glossed over the Foge, Gottfried and Hackett’s years, Pitt football was f&cked after Sherrill left and Posvar-Bozik were calling the shots.
Foge was hired and told by the eggheads that they just want a clean program. Admissions were being raised and Foge mentioned many kids were turned away, with Jerome Brown as the lone kid mentioned.
Foge gave a veteran team too much rope and they pulled on it. Marino may have played better in 1982 if Joe Moore called the plays, as he did in 1981. Moore was promoted to assistant head coach and Daniels the OC. I guess the players weren’t scared of Moore either as the assistant head coach has authority too. Dawkins and Collins sure weren’t scared of the staff as the two played like crap that season for Danny. Losing John Brown for most of the season with a knee injury didn’t help.
A lot of egghead talk in the article and Posvar must’ve been so proud of himself by making Pitt a power then deciding it is getting too big and expensive so best thing is to take a wrecking ball three times in one decade by hiring Foge, firing Gottfried and hiring Hackett. Had they kept the Pitt Guy longer, Major Harris matriculates to Oakland and was good enough to make Foge a 9-win coach and the eggheads may not have destroyed the program entering the 90s.
Of course, Mary Brasco and other administrative jerks probably would’ve killed it anyway.
Foge was hired and told by the eggheads that they just want a clean program. Admissions were being raised and Foge mentioned many kids were turned away, with Jerome Brown as the lone kid mentioned.
Foge gave a veteran team too much rope and they pulled on it. Marino may have played better in 1982 if Joe Moore called the plays, as he did in 1981. Moore was promoted to assistant head coach and Daniels the OC. I guess the players weren’t scared of Moore either as the assistant head coach has authority too. Dawkins and Collins sure weren’t scared of the staff as the two played like crap that season for Danny. Losing John Brown for most of the season with a knee injury didn’t help.
A lot of egghead talk in the article and Posvar must’ve been so proud of himself by making Pitt a power then deciding it is getting too big and expensive so best thing is to take a wrecking ball three times in one decade by hiring Foge, firing Gottfried and hiring Hackett. Had they kept the Pitt Guy longer, Major Harris matriculates to Oakland and was good enough to make Foge a 9-win coach and the eggheads may not have destroyed the program entering the 90s.
Of course, Mary Brasco and other administrative jerks probably would’ve killed it anyway.
This is Totally incorrect. The crack down on admissions standards did not come until the NCAA implemented Proposition 48 in 1986 which set new standards for D 1 NCAA eligibility AND after Mike Gottfried refused to understand how you couldn't just recruit anybody anymore because players were being declared ineligible for not meeting these standards. Also, we had a freshman class of basketball players recruited by Cal who were all ineligible. All of this forced the Administration to take a hard look at who the coaches were signing. And Hackett was hired cause he promised to win with scholar athletes which we all know was not possible.
But Foge never had any problems with getting most of his players accepted. His problem was he was not able to become the bad cop and dole out discipline as a head coach.
I’m going to believe the newspaper article from Smizik and the quotes there regarding admissions.
Well you can go ahead and do that. But I actually worked at the University at the time and part of my responsibilities was to review transcripts of all athletes being recruited and make an early determination if the kid had any chance of meeting prop 48 guidelines and report back to the head coach. This was done before the kid made any kind of verbal commitment before their senior year. And back before kids gave verbal commitments in 9th grade like they do now. The coaches then knew full well if whoever they were recruiting was going to be academically eligible as a frosh. Also, I received regular calls from Smizik, Dulac, Halvonik and all those guys trying to get academic information on athletes, which of course, I could not comment on. By the way, part of the reason Gottfried was fired was cause he would not accept facts about kids who were not, in any way, going to be able to cut it academically. And this also included when kids were caught having someone else take their SATs for them.
But go ahead and believe Smizik et el.
Prop 48 wasn’t even around when Foge took over and he was quoted that the eggheads were raising admission standards for athletes and just wanted to just have a clean program. Foge lied?
Correct. Prop 48 was approved by the NCAA in 83 to begin with incoming Freshman in 86 so it was not around when Foge took over. Therefore, he was not under any restrictions when he was head coach as to who he was recruiting. Please stop and think about it. He brought in players like Iron Head, Brian Davis, Zeke Gadson. I could go on and on. You think these players were academic stalwarts? I loved Foge as a person but he was not cut out to be the head coach and when things didn't work out, you think he was going to admit that he just wasn't a good head coach??
I’m not sure Marino would be as much of a Pitt legend if it were today.
Sure, he was a great college player. And of course a local kid. But he had a poor, and underachieving senior year.
Then his legend grew due to being one of the great NFL QBs of all time. Not sure that happens today. I think a lot of fans would be pissed and never forgive him - lol.
Sure, he was a great college player. And of course a local kid. But he had a poor, and underachieving senior year.
Then his legend grew due to being one of the great NFL QBs of all time. Not sure that happens today. I think a lot of fans would be pissed and never forgive him - lol.
It would have been better if it happened in today’s environment, because he would have left after his Jr. year, and never had the let-down Sr. year.
Or OSU or Bama would offer him $10 million to enter the portal and commit to them!
Bozik is the Hebrew word for all of the biblical plagues descending on one house at the same time. also called the Foge in Italian.
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