When the AD (a former great HC) is basically the coach picking the assistants, it greatly helps
Pitt fans sure know how to pick them
- Thread starter H2P 2003
- Start date
When the AD (a former great HC) is basically the coach picking the assistants, it greatly helps
it's really sad that we are arguing which one of a bunch of mediocre coaches was "the best". They were all incredibly average, with slight variations. Walt slightly better than Wanny. Chyrst totally average, Narduzzi trending to be the worse of the mediocre bunch.
Walt offenses were a joy to watch. Walt things like botched coin tosses, swinging gates, and no huddle spreads used to be good memories, but it's 2018 and Pitt still can't get a coin toss right. Maybe it wasn't Walt? Walt's agent spoke the truth.
Yeah, but if Pederson wasn't here that one year we would have won at least 13 or 14 games and probably won the Super Bowl as well.
Paul Chryst inherited a mess here and did a lot to stop the bleeding. However, Walt Harris basically took this program off life support and had guys like Lee Corso picking them to upset #1 Miami at Miami. Walt showed a lot of warts over time but that was after he rescued Pitt from a coma. Chryst is better than Narduzzi and possibly Wanny but Walt is moderately better than all of them.
Yep.
Funny that.
It took sp forcing the issue to hire a competent offensive coordinator.
Walt-call timeout on first offensive series in more than one game, botch swinging gate to lose game.
Wanny-Kick to one of the best kick returners in the country when up 28 points, then do it again after he takes one in for a touchdown.
Graham-beating a good Iowa team but decides to keep running no huddle and goes 3 and out multiple times to lose game. In another game says Tino's 400 yard passing game was average.
Chryst-Runs ball to right hash against ND to give kicker a very difficult angle to win game.....miss
Who was the best coach? Walt brought us back and gave us life, but he wore out his welcome with his agents statements. Wanny was a PITT guy but was never a good head coach anywhere. Graham needs no explanation. Chryst had us moving in the right direction and in hind sight recruited better than anyone thought at the time.
Narduzzi, better than Graham but not as good as the others.
Wanny-Kick to one of the best kick returners in the country when up 28 points, then do it again after he takes one in for a touchdown.
Graham-beating a good Iowa team but decides to keep running no huddle and goes 3 and out multiple times to lose game. In another game says Tino's 400 yard passing game was average.
Chryst-Runs ball to right hash against ND to give kicker a very difficult angle to win game.....miss
Who was the best coach? Walt brought us back and gave us life, but he wore out his welcome with his agents statements. Wanny was a PITT guy but was never a good head coach anywhere. Graham needs no explanation. Chryst had us moving in the right direction and in hind sight recruited better than anyone thought at the time.
Narduzzi, better than Graham but not as good as the others.
That’s my point. He still managed to do that. While we obviously expected better, nobody has done better, and it was during a time where our administration was a complete joke.
Steve was rehired to force Dave to change or leave .
It’s not a coincidence he was rehired at the end of Wanny’s third consecutive non- winning season.
Wanny was going to get canned at that point because the administration was fed up with his mediocrity.
Why did pederson immediately extend wanny then? The morning before we beat WVU. We were staring down 4-8 until that upset. Why not just go ahead and fire him then?
Not saying you’re wrong or anything, just saying it seems to me that was the start of the administration being a joke. In 2 days wanny convinced smiley those changes were coming and he was so pleased by it he extended him?
Narduzzi started great. Full of pith and vinegar or whatever really old people in cartoons say. Seemed a bundle of fire. Hokey stuff like all multi media tweets. Called daring plays on the field. Most exciting offense ever seen. Coincidentally or not we had two above average seasons. Beat the NC team.
He still lost a couple stinkers; fans still didn't believe yet, still didn't come to most games. Recruits yawned..
The school didn't pony up to keep the phenom OC. Who knows how things have gone behind the scenes, maybe he pushed hard for that, they wouldn't go past a certain figure. Or wouldn't give him squat for a replacement. So he hired a tired retread.
Whatever it is, it appears the past two years since then that he's just going through the motions.
Pitt will do that to most coaches, it's just a matter of when.
He still lost a couple stinkers; fans still didn't believe yet, still didn't come to most games. Recruits yawned..
The school didn't pony up to keep the phenom OC. Who knows how things have gone behind the scenes, maybe he pushed hard for that, they wouldn't go past a certain figure. Or wouldn't give him squat for a replacement. So he hired a tired retread.
Whatever it is, it appears the past two years since then that he's just going through the motions.
Pitt will do that to most coaches, it's just a matter of when.
The decision to extend Wannstedt prior to the Wvu game was made by Nordenberg. Pederson just happened to be brought back at the same time
Wannstedts numerous failures have nothing to do with Pederson or anyone else who was above him during his time here. But Wannstedt knows how to throw raw meat to his supporters by blaming the Steve the boogeyman
pretty good summary. Not signing Jurkovec & Canada I thought doomed the Narduzzi era to more 7-5 type seasons. Now 7-5 is looking like a stretch.
Blowing the lead against cincy, blowing numerous UConn games, in game failures... those are all 100% on wanny, no doubt. Steve Pederson was an absolute disaster when he was brought back here though. This after he destroyed Nebraska, which was absolutely unthinkable at the time.
Getting rid of wanny wasn’t necessarily the problem, it was the aftermath. You have to be the biggest moron in the world to screw that up as bad as pederson did. It sucked for the fans but that ass clown got exactly what he deserved.
To be fair, everyone, including Matt Canada himself, said that Pitt made an exceptional offer. IRRC, his offer would have made him the highest paid OC in the ACC. He chose a football juggernaut LSU. That's like a kid from Carnegie Mellon turning down a local offer to go work in NYC. We couldn't offer what LSU offered in terms of prestige, recruits, the next step, etc. Which is fine. But we DID offer just as much money to stay.
Interestingly enough, you are one of those "Pitt fans" that are part of the problem. Bitch, moan, fire the coach, probably give less than $1K to the program, and probably don't attend that many games. With a stable of "fans" like you, it is a wonder Pitt is even as competitive as it is. Hail to Pitt!
And they started 9-1 *the loss in a comeback by Russell Wilson/NC State, with us in the lead most of that game), lost The Brawl, then lead 31-10 in the last game with the BCS on the line and lost. 9-3, beat UNC in TIRE Bowl. I think we where ranked as high as #7 that year.
Granted the guy’s GameDay coaching left a lot to be desired. That doesn’t change the fact that our administration was a complete and total joke at the time. I’m just saying I’ve seen very few pitt teams anywhere near that good (this going back to the beginning of Walt, but you could probably go back to even Foge). The guy that had us at least that relevant, I just think would’ve been interesting to see with a fully committed administration.
That was a helluva season, 12-0 was within reach with a few lucky breaks, of course you can't use Pitt and lucky breaks in the same sentence.
10-2 should have been the absolute baseline flr that year. The conference sucked. No way they should have not won it.
which cracks me up that people still hold that season up as proof of the great Wann. WE STILL FINISHED IN THIRD PLACE IN A CRAP CONFERENCE AND WENT TO A TIRE BOWL. That year, 2009, everything was set up for the magical season. Easiest OOC in years. But the three most challenging games we lose.
If we were undefeated going into the Cinci game....it would have been crazy. Would have been top 5 ranking, potential BCS championship game on the line. Whole city would have been talking about it. Steelers might actually be on the back burner for a week.
Yeah, we may have been crushed in BCS, but so was ND when they played. And many others. But we would have made it and that would have been huge.
Yep. That NC State team we lost to was bad. They finished 5-7 and 2-5 in the ACC. Their other wins were Murray state, Gardner Webb, a horrible Maryland team and an average UNC team.
That will probably be pitt’s Best and only chance to make the NT game anytime soon.
Alabama & Texas were both undefeated that year, so chances are we weren't trumping them. But imagine....the talking heads would debating it! They would say Pitt (a traditional power) is getting shortchanged. It would have been national conversation and made us relevant.
That's why I take little satisfaction in 2009 as so many do here. A nice year and it was good to be ranked, but oh what could have been. AND IT PROVES IT CAN HAPPEN HERE (for those who say we are capped out at 7-5)!
