I wasn't totally serious lol. But on a real note, it would be nice to get a staff here that prefers or wants to be at Pitt.
You think beck would come here? I think he's probably one of the better options that we could even possibly get. I don't see any reason why we wouldn't give him a significant raise, not quite what they offered Canada but proabably slightly less.
Zach Azzanni fits that criteria. He is a very good recruiter. He is also very close with Antonio Brown. You would have 2 people working on a recruit once he came into the UPMC Complex.
Agreed. And if Tim Salem gets passed up a 3rd time, does he leave? I'm ok with that if they fill in a fantastic recruiter to fill his spot.
Not sure Azzanni is an accomplished OC, but he has some experience, at least. Very good recruiter, though. I'd be ok with Azzanni just because I feel like there is upside in the recruiting and I don't think we are going to get a sure thing OC, no matter what.
Sure. It depends on how you define it, but Canada was proven to be a capable OC at the P5 level, even if people disagreed on his overall ceiling and potential impact. Obviously he exceeded the wildest expectations in terms of coaching. Canada was a "sure thing" to be at least an average OC, IMO. Azzanni is a position coach and has never been a P5 OC and only has 1 season as an OC, at all. He is a recruiter with at least some exposure to calling plays. He would be all faith on the game planning and play calling sides of the job.
I'm all about someone we can nickname the "Azz Man" joining our staff!
Meh, it isn't the same as QBs. Many teams give the co-coordinator titles out to appease people and make raises more easily justified. 3 of the top 4 teams in the country do it. Two of them do it on both sides of the ball.
That really isn't true. In fact, at a lot of the best schools the coordinators are the best recruiters. That is one reason I would have never worried about losing Canada to Alabama. Saban would never hire someone who wasn't a top flight recruiter.
you don't have to be a top-flight recruiter to recruit at Alabama. All you have to do is say "I'm here from Alabama" and the players sign with you.
That is completely and totally false. You have to be a fantastic recruiter to get the absolute best players, which every school wants. The ability of those guys as recruiters is what makes the difference between Alabama being great or Alabama being just another team in the SEC. Just being from Alabama might get them a top 15-20 class, but guess where that puts you in the SEC? The bottom 1/2 to bottom 1/3.
that might have been true prior to Saban returning Alabama to where it is now...
I don't know how to tell you it any clearer, but you are 100% wrong. They fight tooth and nail for kids because they are going after kids who are #1 targets of every school recruiting them. If you switched our staff for theirs and kept the same HCs Pitt would land a top 10 class and Alabama would struggle to still land a top 10 class, instead of the #1 every single year. The staff, their ability, and their work ethic are monumentally important.
Alabama has had the #1 or #2 rated recruiting class on Rivals for six straight years... despite a lot of turnover of staff under Saban during that time.
"Despite a lot of turnover"? He hasn't had a lot of turnover. He had Kirby Smart the whole time, until this year. He had Kiffin the past 3 years. Burton Burns has been with him since the start. Bobby Williams has been with him since the start. Billy Napier has been there 5 of 10 years. Jeremy Pruitt has been there for 7 of 10 years. Bo Davis was around for 6 of 10 years. Lance Thompson was around for 5 of 10 years. Kevin Steele was around for 4 of 10 years. Cristobal has been there 4 years. That is essentially unparalleled stability when considering the success Alabama has had and how coveted their coaches are.
