pittdan77
Athletic Director
Oh, absolutely. Walt Harris went to Stanford. At the time, that was easily a better job. He kind of lost it out there but that's a different story.
Pitt job is attractive
- Thread starter Fk_Pitt
- Start date
You mean the coach that Barry Alvarez help land the job at Pitt and then took him back when he needed a coach? I am not 100% convinced that this would land in the “stepping stone” category. Seemed to me like sending someone off for training and then bringing them back after they learned what they were doing.
And to be quite frank I would LOVE if Pitt became a stepping stone job because it would mean that a new coach had immediate success and people started noticing and want to hire him away from us.
‘Tis true….However I will give you 3 names I believe would do well at Pitt that have had P5 head coaching experience. They were somewhat successful but a couple of them failed due to unreasonable expectations:
Joe Moorhead
Bill O’Brien
Tom Herman
I assumed that would be the rebuttal, which I get.
Personally, I believe that if Barry Alvarez really just wanted Chryst to get some “on-the-job training” before returning to Wisconsin, he would’ve hired him the first time there was a vacancy when Brett Bielema left for Arkansas. At that point, he had two Top 25 victories to his name and nearly upset undefeated Notre Dame. And, if that was the end-game, why would he choose a coach from Utah State over him? Like I said, just my opinion. It’s all water under the bridge at this point.
i mean, they were almost all very bad so there was nowhere to step up to.
but you COULD argue that wlat moved up with stanford and TG at ASU. shaky arguments, i would admit, but you could argue that.
No you couldn't argue Walt left for Stanford, he was pushed out here and needed a job. Graham was taking any P5 program with a pulse he was that anxious to get out of here although I'm sure his grand plan was two or three great seasons here and then bolt for Texas or Texas A&M.
ugh, for like the 1000th time....he called out fans in Houston for empty seats his first or second game there. How do you think he would do at Heinz.
Todd Graham and Paul Chryst? Or do you think their hearts were in Pittsburgh as their dream job that they truly wanted to be at for decades? I think it's likely if Narduzzi had won more, he would have been happy to accept a job back at Michigan State as head coach too.
It's OK to be a stepping stone job, it has served many mid level P5 schools just fine!
Yes, I think Narduzzi, similar to Walt & Dixon, wants to be here. The guy MSU hired certainly doesn't have a better resume than Narduzzi, so I think if he really wanted the job he could have got it. Although I think they were looking for a clean break from the past so he might not have been considered because of that.
Chryst sure wasn't coaching here like he was using this as a stepping stone. More like auditioning for the next offensive coordinator role after he was fired. Luckiest guy in the world that the Wisky job opens up just as soon as his seat starts getting warm here.
I do think generally Narduzzi seems like he wants to be here, though Michigan State probably holds a special place for him too? And MSU a generally considered a better job even if we don't like to say that (D'Antonio won three division titles, four top 10 finishes, six double digit win seasons etc). But yeah I think Narduzzi likes this region, probably likes his kids going to school here, etc.
Jamie was a hard man to read. He was a pretty quiet guy, didn't get to talk to him much. I guess I assumed he stuck around Pitt because he was making the big dance every year, and getting raises, not because he particularly had a love for the city. But no clue honestly!
Wanny is the extreme. He bled blue and gold. I understand wanting a coach like that, but it's the exception for sure and it's hard to find one person like that actually qualified. He was not looking to "step" out of here into any lateral or superior job I am sure.
I don’t believe for one second that if PN wanted the MSU job they‘d have hired him . He’s shown that at best he’s a medicore HC and if you review his progress through the yrs as a HC his teams still makes a lot of strategical mistakes .
Chryst took the Pitt job for on the job training , Walt got shown the door and JD realized he had a sweet thing going on here until Barnes came .
You want better coaches , it boils down to two things , a commitment to winning and money !
Mel Tucker was 5-7 in his only year as a HC and they hired him
KING ALVAREZ loaned him to bucky for a few years , so we could be the farm system for the Big 10, and Bucky still allowed it
To this day I still can't believe ASU hired Graham after one year here.
That’s actually correct.. I can’t think of a single example
Left lane doesn’t count… the guy only moves sideways or down or wherever his wife’s family has currently moved … which explains the sideways or down trajectory
We used to hire head coaches from places like Iowa State, Washington State, and Kansas. Then we hired head coaches from the Big West, Conference USA, and the MAC. In between we tried promoting a few assistants and some of out-of work coaches. Now we're hiring coordinators.
Graham and Chryst used Pitt as a stepping stone. The others were fired or pushed out.
No one without ties to the university or ties to the area is looking at Pitt as a destination job. The bigger question, with all the individuals in the last 30 years that have been fired or pushed out, is whether it is even viewed as a good stepping stone job.
Being in the ACC Coastal should be attractive to a young coach looking to move up the ladder. There are no large programs in your way. You notch a couple 9-10 win seasons and a bigger program comes calling. We just need to have a good succession plan in place. JM1 to Jackie or Howland to Dixon.
No. You’re absolutely right. Need to find an up and comer. Ride him as long as possible. Then find another one when he leaves. Cinci did it right starting with Dantonio and the coaches they hired in succession after him.
Bingo! That should be our road map. A young guy who HAS to win. Either a young assistant coach or young HC from a lower level should be our target. You then give them the money needed to assemble a great staff. We are paying Narduzzi and his staff about 7 million dollars altogether. We could absolutely get more bang for our buck elsewhere.
It's easier said than done. For every one works out, how many flame out? I get it, everyone is pissed and has their pitchforks out.
Narduzzi (rightfully so) is going to get a chance to right the ship. If he doesn't then there will need to be a decision made. They aren't going to eat a $12m buyout, and the play roulette hiring some up and comer, because he lost to WMU and fans are pissed.
The Cincinnati comparisons are laughable. They have never performed in a major conference unless you count the watered down Big East. Just wait until they take the step up next year.
BTW, Four of those coaches, Dantonio, Jones, Tuberville, and Fickell had a lousy 4-win season stuck in there. When is the last time we've had a season that bad? 1998?
Dantonio went 18-17 at Cincinnati, fwiw. Their current coach was 6-7 in his one year at tOSU. I don't think he's going to win at a very impressive clip when they move up to the Big 12.
LMAO.
he inherited one of the all time raging dumpster fires there and in the midst of a global pandemic no less. Took him one whole off-season to get it turned around.
he inherited one of the all time raging dumpster fires there and in the midst of a global pandemic no less. Took him one whole off-season to get it turned around.
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He was 5-7 at Colorado.
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He was 5-7 at Colorado.
I would love to have won 9 or more games in 10 out of the last 14 seasons, and made multiple trips to big time bowl games. They have outperformed us and it is laughable that anyone would disagree.
He was 5-7 at Colorado.
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right. In the 13 total months he was in Boulder. He should’ve done better than that in year 1 of inheriting a bad team, without a single one of his own players on it.
Well, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that if Pitt were in the AAC & Cincinnati were in the ACC, Pitt would have easily outperformed them. That tends to make a difference.
Lol. Beating Northwestern (a team that was destroyed by Duke Saturday) Youngstown State, and Miami is hardly a big accomplishment.
No way was Pitt a stepping stone for Graham. He had little to no success at Pitt and he got out of dodge quickly. Again, I don‘t really see Chryst going back to Whisky as a stepping stone act, I could see why some do, but it seemed almost inevitable he would eventually only go to Whisky.
To be completely honest, I’ve always liked Narduzzi. He seemed like a great hire when he was hired. Brings passion, seems to genuinely love his players and the school. And the players seem to love him too. When I saw the clip of his pregame speech against Penn St in 2016; “They don’t f**king respect you! THEY’RE GONNA FIND OUT!!”, I was on his bandwagon. I think extending him after that year was also the right move because there was a lot of potential there after the PSU and Clemson wins, mixed with the big time need of stability. But man, unfortunately after that the pieces never quite seemed to fall into place. Recruiting was ok but not special, too many losses to teams that we should have easily beat. Players were unmotivated at times when they shouldn’t have been, team was undisciplined and lackluster much too often. And as a defensive coach he has failed. I’d seen enough during that bowl game against Eastern Michigan a few years ago. We won the game, but that was when I realized that Duzz isn’t the guy. Like I said, I really like Duzz and think he’s a good guy, but he’s not THE guy. Not for us. Is there a guy? That remains to be seen. But it’s time to move on from Narduzzi. But I’m happy that he coached here and will always consider him a Panther, whatever happens.
I truly think so few people understand what a stepping stone job is. It is not just because you leave a job was the job you left a stepping stone. You take a job as a coach is the first step. You have a surprising level of success at that school is an absolute requirement. Other schools become interested in you and hire you away. THAT IS A STEPPING STONE!!!!
There have been 302 FBS head coach changes since 2008. By many people’s definition here any school that lost their coach to another job must be considered a stepping stone job.
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I agree with everything you said, you summed it up very nicely. I like Coach Narduzzi, but I’m starting to lose the faith. I hope we’re proven wrong soon…
You have a different definition than me, and frankly, I don't understand your definition.
When the people taking a position view it as only one rung up a longer ladder, that is a stepping stone; there is no intent to spend ones' career at that rung. Whether that person is successful and can climb to the next rung doesn't define how it is viewed. Although it may start to be viewed as a rung to be avoided if enough people fail at that point.
Right now, Pitt's job is viewed as in the bottom half in the ACC.
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