I saw Heather Lyke's recent comment about selling 50,000 season tickets. Sadly, I've seen this same statement two years ago when Scott Barnes looked like an utter fool "SEASON TICKET RECORD" while Heinz looked like a yellow morgue the rest of the season even after the signature PSU win everyone was looking for. I'm obviously pro on campus vs off campus however then again who is building a new off campus state of the art facilities or moving off campus to a pro stadium these days? The answer is nobody and why Heinz doesn't work. USF and Temple are the latest schools playing in pro stadiums looking to move to an on campus stadium. Regardless of the situation, I want to see improvement with Pitt football and it appears to me that athletics keeps doing the same thing over and over again regardless of the leadership whether its Pederson, Barnes and now Lyke when it comes to Heinz Field.
The reason Pitt wants to play Penn State so badly is because it helps ticket sales which I get however I have a major problem with how Pitt markets the rest of the schedule. I'm sure the Pitt/PSU atmosphere will be great and they will talk it up, but I'm realist and also a frustrated fan because when I see the same results/marketing plan year after year, I know nothing is being changed to fix the problem. The bottom line is we need a much better atmosphere at Heinz for the rest of the other games to attract 4/5 star recruits. Pitt puts out its marketing/promos a month before the season starts? Hello. Who does that? When MLB announces their schedule, the promo schedule comes with it. Pitt clearly has a ticket/atmosphere problem at Heinz vs other teams excluding PSU/ND/WVU and we saw how embarrassing it was all of last year even against a top 10 team in Oklahoma State. ESPN also exposed Heinz Field last year with Pitt and mocked it on college game day which is terrible for recruiting and you can bet that PSU, UM, ND, OSU (whom we compete with for 4/5 star players) use this to their advantage when it comes to negative recruiting. If I was recruiting a kid to come to my school over Pitt, I would absolutely be using this to my advantage because its legal/clean recruiting.
Pitt needs to sell all of the uppers for less attractive games or probably most games such as Albany for $1. Some might say this is crazy but isn't it better to have people in the building who are buying food, merchandise, etc. and might hopefully enjoy the experience and come back for another game or two. Everyone likes cheap tickets, food/drink specials so why not try it? I remember Buck night as a Pitt student back in the 90's and I'm not even a Pirates fan but I went. $1 tix and hot dogs was a great deal to me and it got people to go. How do you sell elite 4/5 star recruits when they see Heinz Field half empty and then go to UM/OSU/ND/PSU the week later for another visit packed with a great atmosphere. I'm sorry but its an impossible task for the coaching staff and I feel we aren't giving Duzz the tools he needs to really grow the program. Are you happy being 7-5 every year and playing in a stupid meaningless Tire Bowl? I'm not. If you go through the schedule for this season and what do you think our record will be? Yep, same results year after year. We do get a few top recruits each year whether its Ford, Hamlin, Whitehead, Boyd, etc. but if you want to compete for championships the formula shows you need 8 to 10 4/5 stars per class. OK, there will be a few cases where I'm wrong like a Wisconsin, but for the most part if you want to compete for ACC championships to potentially get a playoff shot, the entire Heinz strategy needs to change to help recruiting. If you don't want to change the plan, move back to campus so you can build your own 55K seat stadium in Panther hollow or on the OC lot where there is room for it so we can have on campus atmosphere like the schools we compete for elite players. I want to be also be VERY clear that there will always be 2 or 3 star players who turn out to be stars whether its Donald, Revis, etc. but the bottom line is the recruiting rankings don't lie. You can't rely on recruiting these high ceiling players who usually don't pan out otherwise Pitt would have a much better record. We need sure things like a Shady, Boyd, Whitehead, etc. who make a clear different in your program. There will be some 4/5 busts but if you recruit 8 to 10 per class you will be fine for the long run and build depth especially when key players get hurt which we don't have in certain positions.
Lastly, nobody gives a crap about the City of champions, Pitt practicing next to Ben/AB/Bell, playing at the same stadium at the Steelers, etc. We've seen tons of local 4/5 star players who I'm sure grew up diehard Steeler fans (not the Browns) and went elsewhere so that theory clearly doesn't work especially when the Steelers are also a national team. It's beyond frustrating when fans get upset and then strictly want to blame the coaches. Yes, you need good coaching but you need elite players to compete for championships otherwise you get the same results like we are seeing. Unlike the NFL, you can't pay free agents and don't get to draft better players based on having a poor record. That's why recruiting and atmosphere/marketing plays a vital role in Pitt's future success and we've done a terrible job in improving this process. H2P!
The reason Pitt wants to play Penn State so badly is because it helps ticket sales which I get however I have a major problem with how Pitt markets the rest of the schedule. I'm sure the Pitt/PSU atmosphere will be great and they will talk it up, but I'm realist and also a frustrated fan because when I see the same results/marketing plan year after year, I know nothing is being changed to fix the problem. The bottom line is we need a much better atmosphere at Heinz for the rest of the other games to attract 4/5 star recruits. Pitt puts out its marketing/promos a month before the season starts? Hello. Who does that? When MLB announces their schedule, the promo schedule comes with it. Pitt clearly has a ticket/atmosphere problem at Heinz vs other teams excluding PSU/ND/WVU and we saw how embarrassing it was all of last year even against a top 10 team in Oklahoma State. ESPN also exposed Heinz Field last year with Pitt and mocked it on college game day which is terrible for recruiting and you can bet that PSU, UM, ND, OSU (whom we compete with for 4/5 star players) use this to their advantage when it comes to negative recruiting. If I was recruiting a kid to come to my school over Pitt, I would absolutely be using this to my advantage because its legal/clean recruiting.
Pitt needs to sell all of the uppers for less attractive games or probably most games such as Albany for $1. Some might say this is crazy but isn't it better to have people in the building who are buying food, merchandise, etc. and might hopefully enjoy the experience and come back for another game or two. Everyone likes cheap tickets, food/drink specials so why not try it? I remember Buck night as a Pitt student back in the 90's and I'm not even a Pirates fan but I went. $1 tix and hot dogs was a great deal to me and it got people to go. How do you sell elite 4/5 star recruits when they see Heinz Field half empty and then go to UM/OSU/ND/PSU the week later for another visit packed with a great atmosphere. I'm sorry but its an impossible task for the coaching staff and I feel we aren't giving Duzz the tools he needs to really grow the program. Are you happy being 7-5 every year and playing in a stupid meaningless Tire Bowl? I'm not. If you go through the schedule for this season and what do you think our record will be? Yep, same results year after year. We do get a few top recruits each year whether its Ford, Hamlin, Whitehead, Boyd, etc. but if you want to compete for championships the formula shows you need 8 to 10 4/5 stars per class. OK, there will be a few cases where I'm wrong like a Wisconsin, but for the most part if you want to compete for ACC championships to potentially get a playoff shot, the entire Heinz strategy needs to change to help recruiting. If you don't want to change the plan, move back to campus so you can build your own 55K seat stadium in Panther hollow or on the OC lot where there is room for it so we can have on campus atmosphere like the schools we compete for elite players. I want to be also be VERY clear that there will always be 2 or 3 star players who turn out to be stars whether its Donald, Revis, etc. but the bottom line is the recruiting rankings don't lie. You can't rely on recruiting these high ceiling players who usually don't pan out otherwise Pitt would have a much better record. We need sure things like a Shady, Boyd, Whitehead, etc. who make a clear different in your program. There will be some 4/5 busts but if you recruit 8 to 10 per class you will be fine for the long run and build depth especially when key players get hurt which we don't have in certain positions.
Lastly, nobody gives a crap about the City of champions, Pitt practicing next to Ben/AB/Bell, playing at the same stadium at the Steelers, etc. We've seen tons of local 4/5 star players who I'm sure grew up diehard Steeler fans (not the Browns) and went elsewhere so that theory clearly doesn't work especially when the Steelers are also a national team. It's beyond frustrating when fans get upset and then strictly want to blame the coaches. Yes, you need good coaching but you need elite players to compete for championships otherwise you get the same results like we are seeing. Unlike the NFL, you can't pay free agents and don't get to draft better players based on having a poor record. That's why recruiting and atmosphere/marketing plays a vital role in Pitt's future success and we've done a terrible job in improving this process. H2P!
