Look it is a discussion we don’t wan to have but we need to have:
What has happened to Pitt’s grip on the WPIAL. Going back 30-40 years, yes Pitt didn’t get every top kid as Michigan, ND, OSU and PSU have cherry picked some of the best kids over the course of time. But Pitt used to get its fair share too and some schools, like TJ and Aliquippa, were Pitt pipelines. I asked five people - three high school coaches, a former Pitt staffer and a guy who is on the staff, what the issue with WPIAL kids is these days and got some interesting answers.
The most common is “Pitt has not prioritized the WPIAl in recent years” as well as “Pitt isn’t paying what other schools are for the top guys”
Terry Smith gets a lot of credit and rightfully so but Terry Smith without NIL to give is just a guy in recruiting. So I cannot believe his pitch to kids is the only thing in play here.
I know over the years Pitt has missed on some kids in the WPIAL and pissed people off but they can’t take everyone and some of those guys turned out to be busts.
Two guys I can think of from way back that Pitt screwed up with were Dan Mosez from Washington and Sean Lee from Upper St. Clair. Walt didn’t want to recruit Mosez because he was “too small” even though many, including Bob Junko, were begging him to offer the kid. This caused a little rift with Washington. Walt eventually offered Sean Lee but only after PSU did and he was still somewhat lukewarm on dude. The quote I got from Jim Render when I was at the 7 on 7 and Lee hadn’t been offered yet was “everybody knows he is a player except for Walt. And I told Walt, if you don’t offer this one, don’t ever come down route 19 again…..”
Those things have happened but again, for the most part, Pitt has offered the right WPIAL guys in the past and still do.
It is just fascinating to me that they can’t seem to do damage in their own backyard. Any of you have any thoughts on this?
What has happened to Pitt’s grip on the WPIAL. Going back 30-40 years, yes Pitt didn’t get every top kid as Michigan, ND, OSU and PSU have cherry picked some of the best kids over the course of time. But Pitt used to get its fair share too and some schools, like TJ and Aliquippa, were Pitt pipelines. I asked five people - three high school coaches, a former Pitt staffer and a guy who is on the staff, what the issue with WPIAL kids is these days and got some interesting answers.
The most common is “Pitt has not prioritized the WPIAl in recent years” as well as “Pitt isn’t paying what other schools are for the top guys”
Terry Smith gets a lot of credit and rightfully so but Terry Smith without NIL to give is just a guy in recruiting. So I cannot believe his pitch to kids is the only thing in play here.
I know over the years Pitt has missed on some kids in the WPIAL and pissed people off but they can’t take everyone and some of those guys turned out to be busts.
Two guys I can think of from way back that Pitt screwed up with were Dan Mosez from Washington and Sean Lee from Upper St. Clair. Walt didn’t want to recruit Mosez because he was “too small” even though many, including Bob Junko, were begging him to offer the kid. This caused a little rift with Washington. Walt eventually offered Sean Lee but only after PSU did and he was still somewhat lukewarm on dude. The quote I got from Jim Render when I was at the 7 on 7 and Lee hadn’t been offered yet was “everybody knows he is a player except for Walt. And I told Walt, if you don’t offer this one, don’t ever come down route 19 again…..”
Those things have happened but again, for the most part, Pitt has offered the right WPIAL guys in the past and still do.
It is just fascinating to me that they can’t seem to do damage in their own backyard. Any of you have any thoughts on this?
