So how is the new AD Lyke doing in her first big athletic hire? Epic failure?
- Thread starter CrazyPaco
- Start date
I don't know if KM-M is pulling her weight or not (and I suspect that you don't either), but she was a D1 head coach, not an assistant, a head coach, for 10 seasons, including five seasons at a P6 school. She does have the resume that you look for in a top assistant hire.
The only reason we thought Suzie was so great was because she was a native Yinzer. Had she come from San Antonio with the same resume people would have bitched that the hire sucked and the AD was clueless. But since she has a cell number with a 412 extension she got a pass.
As for Wannstedt, that was a typical Pitt bait and switch, where you end up wanting the big idiot because everyone rumored after him is an even bigger idiot.
I wanted no parts of the man until I saw Paul Rhoads was a candidate....and then Bo Pelini wasn't a candidate...and then Jerry Glanville WANTED to be a candidate. Then it became, "well, Christ, how bad could Wannstedt be?" I was on board with the hire until he retained half of Harris' staff to appease whiny players while hiring Matt f*&^ing Cavanaugh as his offensive coordinator.
Well, thinking about it, can't you say this is exactly what she is doing with the wrestling position. Santoro was the easy, maybe lazy, hire that would play great in the press and with alumni, but she just wants to see what else is out there before committing, especially if she had to commit top dollars and promises to that candidate.
Just playing devils advocate here, as I would have loved the Santoro hire, of course I loved the Suzy hire as well at the time. My wife does think I am a very lazy person, so makes sense.
I know very little about wrestling, but it seems to me that Santoro has a MUCH stronger resume then did Suzie.
Wannstedt was considered for the Steeler job before Cowher as well as many other positions in his career. to call him a "big idiot" at the time of his hire is crazy. As I posted earlier it should have been a slam dunk. But yeah, I also became a little suspect of him retaining all the Walt staff on the DEFENSIVE side especially when the defense was very bad the last 2 years and needed the most improvement. And Cavanaugh, well his stint with the ravens didn't inspire much confidence going into the job but was willing to give it a chance. But either him, Ken Karcher, or Paul Hackett get the award for worse offensive coordinator of all time.
Wanny was not a bad coach, he was just an average one who needed better players then the other team to win. And even then, he still lost too many games with better players. Did he ever pull an upset over a team with better players? I don't count WVU because Pitt recruited better. Defeating Clemson this season was truly an upset because they crush Pitt in recruiting.
exactly. I always said if you hypothetically handed Wanny the 1982 team instead of Foge then Pitt wins a national championship. Wanny is the type whose system requires every player be able to beat his man in order to win. The only team capable of doing that is the 1982 team.
But as you said sometimes that isn't the case as he had way more talent than Cinci or WVU in 2009 and still managed to lose those games.
He had arguably one of the most talented teams in any big conference ever, when compared to the other teams in the conference.
Dude, that was 15 years after he took the Pitt job. By 2005, it was pretty well established he was an average coach who was horrible as acquiring and using quarterbacks. Walt was "considered" for the Alabama and Ohio State jobs at one point too. Doesn't mean he would have been any good at them.
established by who? He probably could have got another NFL gig if he so desired at the time.
His career record as an NFL coach is 84-89. And at both gigs his teams regressed as time went along. Spin that any way you like. 84-89.
how about Pete Carrols NFL record, or Gene Stalllings, or Lou Holtz? Or Saban for that matter. Spin on that one a while
Pete Carroll left the NFL because he knew he was a goner. And he also admitted that he changed his approach when he got the USC job. Wanny changed nothing and said, "I know what I'm doing. I've been doing this 30 years."
Stallings and Saban went to the NFL as successful college coaches who had won national titles, something Wannstedt never sniffed.
Lou Holtz admitted leaving college for the NFL was a mistake.
Are you seriously comparing four guys who have won national titles to this jabroni who didn't even have a winning record against Rutgers? If he was so great someone would have snatched him up after Pitt canned him. They didn't. We're done here.
Stallings won the National title after leaving the NFL, not before. He left coaching after his Alabama stint. His record at St. Louis in the NFL was well under .500 and worse than Wannstedts. And of course in hindsight it is easy to say Carroll was going to adapt and Wannstedt wouldn't. But Carrol's was so bad in the NFL he was fired after one year with the Jets.
Look, I'm not saying Wannstedt was the same caliber coach as the ones I mentioned. I'm saying at the time of hire Wannstedt had a better record than those guys and they were wildly successful in college. Seemed to be that average NFL coaches were doing pretty well in college so I thought we hit a home run with Wannstedt since he was better than average in the NFL, had college experience and was a Pitt alum. Unfortunately didn't turn out to be the case but hey it happens.
no, reading comprehension not a strong point? Or do you work in newspaper and take things out of context?
Reading comprehension check. My post was my opinion. Whether it is right or wrong...nobody is really in a position to say one way or another. That said, I stand by my original opinion. My opinion happens to be shared by some former women hoopsters, not to mention some fans. However, for what objective proof that is available...look at the team's performance with her on the staff.
As for her stint as head coach at the University of Colorado...a sparkling 20-60 conference record is on her resume--which resulted in her being fired! I might also add that there was litigation after her firing at UC--a red flag that many schools would subsequently avoid hiring. Her stint at Tulsa before UC resulted in nothing better than a 3rd place finish in a very average conference. So other than her name and Pittsburgh roots, color me unimpressed. Hail to Pitt!
Pete Carroll really turned out to be the exception and not the rule in recent times. I don't count Saban because he wasn't an NFL coach long enough.
Al Groh had a couple of good seasons but was mostly average.
Mike Sherman was average AF at Texas A&M.
Wanny was Wanny.
Lane Kiffin hasn't shown himself to be anything other than average and obnoxious.
Jim Mora Jr. has shown signs but hasn't put up anything significant at UCLA.
The point being made is she had the chance to hire a top notch coach and botched it. They wouldn't have needed to spend more than a 100k more a year than they have been and could have had a top 5 program. Wrestling is a sport they should spend the extra 100k on because they would have a top 5 program. If they spend a extra 100k on womens basketball they aren't going to suddenly get to that level. If they spend a extra 100k on just about any other non revenue sport they aren't going to get to that level, but because Pitt happens to sit in the best recruiting territory in the country in wrestling they can reach that level rather easily with the correct coach. That's why they should spend the money on that sport, the results are highly likely to be better. I don't think that means they should spend money they don't have on all non revenue sports(which is every sport except mens BB and FB womens BB doesn't make money) but they should be selective and try to compete in the ones that make sense.
My reading comprehension is fine. You ability to construct a well thought out paragraph, on the other hand, not so much.
You make three declarative statements, and then your fourth sentence explicitly says that sentence is your opinion. If it was all just an opinion and not a statement of the facts as you see them then there would be no need to say that it was just your opinion, that would have been obvious from the context. The fact that you had to explicitly state that you were then just giving your opinion in the fourth sentence pretty clearly indicates that what came before wasn't just an opinion. Or at least it does to people who actually have good reading comprehension.
Secondly, well yeah, KM-M didn't succeed as a college head coach. I mean you get that if she had she wouldn't be an assistant coach anywhere, not just at Pitt, right? When Nick Saban was looking for an offensive coordinator who was a great offensive coach he didn't hire Kliff Kingsberry, because since he was a reasonably successful head coach he already had a better job. He hired Lane Kiffin, who had failed as a head coach. Or if you want a basketball example with a Pitt flavor, people weren't hoping that Jamie Dixon would bring back Tom Herrion because he was wildly successful at Marshall. TCU and Georgia Tech didn't hire him because he was a raging success as Marshall's head coach. He was available to be hired because he was a failure as a head coach. You understand that's the way these things work, right? Successful head coaches don't take jobs as assistants, unless it's a head coach at a lower level becoming an assistant at a much higher one. You understand that, don't you? When Bob Huggins hired Ron Everhart to be his assistant at West Virginia it wasn't because Everhart was a raging success at Duquesne, was it?
Its more important than womens tennis in two key areas
Pitt can spend big money for a womens tennis coach and they still won't have a good women's tennis program, in wrestling if they invest enough to be competitive with teams like lehigh they will have a very good program! If WPA and PA in general had great high school womens tennis or volleyball then those programs would be at the top of the non revenue sports for investment because the money would actually produce results.
Second while wrestling isn't a revenue generator it wouldn't be the drag that women's tennis is, wrestling could go from 1k per match(way more than the tennis team) to 2k per match. That's likely not going to make Pitt money on the sport but they can come close to breaking even. Volleyball is popular in CA some of those programs can draw pretty well and almost break even, where as at Pitt or most schools the chances of those teams not being a major drag on the AD is very very slim no matter how much they win.
No one is arguing that Pitt shouldn't be making FB #1 and mens BB #2 but most Pitt fans would like to see the school compete in a few other sports, if the investment isn't outrageous and the chances of getting big time results are there.
Santoro is considered, by pretty much everyone, to be one of the top coaches in the country. He has produced top 10 teams at lehigh, which while it has great local talent and very good support, has a huge negative in that its 55k a year so it makes it hard to get kids there with a %50 ship. Pretty sure wrestling gets 9 full scholarships a year. There are 10 spots so many programs give one or two full rides a year to big time recruits(think 5 star kids in FB) and then %50 ships to 2 or 4 per year. Hard to get a kid that can pay say 13k a year to go to Pitt(assuming a %50 ship) to 27k at lehigh with the same level of benefit.
He had enough talent to win the BE his last 3 season's. His biggest problem wasn't his X's and O's or motivation but his lack of ability to find a QB. Those last few Pitt teams with some one like Tom Savage or Peterman win the conference. He just couldn't find a QB to save his life(or job at multiple stops in the NFL)
Wannstedt won Super Bowls, national championships, coordinator of the year and head coach of the year awards. He also won more games here then we have in over 35 seasons. Anyone that thinks he's an idiot is a stone cold moron.
I see your points and I am with you when one can't understand the AD's logic on selections on other points, I have not liked an AD since Cas and Jeff Long. I support Heather as a new dynamic selection and she has better background than Pederson or Barnes, but like you say, why no hire of Lehigh is a question and you should email her and ask her why? I have a tough time how Clarion is so good in most years too why wouldn't those guys come to Pitt?
At the same time, the one goal for me is just Rebuild the Football Team Program and money from that will improve all other sports in that too. So would a Smaller 35,000-50,000 Dome Stadium with Four Tower Hotels in each Corner and Luxury Room Lounges Faces the Field in all four Corners the hotels could go to 10 floors and above that Top Dark Glass Cathedral of Learning 6 More Floor each of Academic and Athletic Offices. There is space for it near Fifth and Negley and 3 to 5 underground Parking Floors too for all 4 Hotels that will be used all year around. Set up a Hotel Tourism Curriculum too so Pitt Student Intern there. Even a Track On Top of the Dome would be a great place to run and exercise. Apple, Google, Yahoo could put Innovation office in the other Academic Towers in each Corner too.
Make it a Complete Every Day Used Hotels, Academics, Athletics, and Innovation Dome Stadium where 35,000-50,000 sell it out with loud acoustics and video just like Stanford did.
The Four Hotels could help pay for the building it with Apple, Google, Verizon-Yahoo too with them as Pitt Boosters and Sponsors. The Four Cathy Replica's on Top of Each Hotel would use Self-Cleaning PPG Dark Glass too. Luxury Boxes In The middle for Corporate Sponsors and Hotel Rooms Boxes can he reserved for Game Day.
It would the first of kind using Hotels in each Corner and Track on Top of the Dome and serving Academics & innovation in an Athletic building everyday.
He turned down the Miami Canes Job knowing he wanted to come back to pitt, but Nordenberg undercut him for some reason after choosing him, and stayed with Pederson the dumbest and disloyal Pitt fan ever created who could even hire competent consultants and got a Buyout to leave???
I did not care for all his coaching but he restored ties to High Schools, Colleges and Pro Coaches, and loved Pitt! He had some discipline problems with some Players off the field, but he did beat WVU #2 and ruined their first chance to win their first NCS. I felt if Nordenberg was going to allow Pederson to fired Dave, he should have fired Pederson too on how badly he handled and lied about it publicly and Pederson did a worst job in hiring Haywood & Graham???
I hope Coach PN talks to Dave Wannstedt, Jimbo Covert and Raplh Cindrich often for advice. Pederson's Poison was being cured until Smiley Arrogant Red-Face was hired back at Pitt!
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For clarity- you mean won 1 more game over 3 years than the previous coach.
And he was a good second banana to a great head coach,no doubt.
No shame that didn't thrive or elevate the program beyond Walt Harris levels.. he at least maintained it.
Coaches don't stay good forever .
See how Walt tanked.
I'm optimistic that narduzzi is doing fundamentally sound things and may stick around for a few years.
She came in and absolutely wrecked, either intentionally or through incompetence, two hires that were gift wrapped for her and would been perceived as home runs in the national and local wrestling community. This isn't rumor. This also damaged Pitt's reputation throughout the wrestling community and may have put at least one sizable financial commitment to the program in jeopardy.
It signals a very troubling start to her tenure and s.o.p. moving forward. If she can dig herself out of the absolute poop hole that she dug herself, more power to her. In the mean time, it behooves people that care about Pitt's athletic department to ensure that it is aware that there are boosters and fans paying attention and that a cheap and easy backup plan wouldn't sit well as a fix. The scheduled replacement interviewees were rumor, but one that needed to be addressed based on what had preceded it. The current pause hopefully signals some regrouping and refocus. Maybe the noise will squeeze some more resources loose to fix the damage; it certainly should signal there will at least be some scrutiny with such hires, which is the entire point of bringing this topic to the board with the most traffic before any more unfortunate scenarios play out.
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Go back in his posts to last year he used curse words in so many combinations I was amazed. Miserable nasty guy but theres lots like him on here!
That proves you know something about wrestling.
Would you like the AD's job at PITT pretty much anyone can get it look at the present occupant of the position!
Lyke is a perfect fit for the PTT Gallagher management team!
Incompetents attract incompetents!
A great Jeopardy ? would be:
What Is Eastern Michigan Uuniversity????
Answer: Not much
Incompetents attract incompetents!
A great Jeopardy ? would be:
What Is Eastern Michigan Uuniversity????
Answer: Not much
So that's a no.
Thanks.
So, you are judging a hire who not
Only hasn't been made... but certainly hasn't recruited or coached.
Strong work.
Dial down the drama
Thanks.
Then I too am outraged by this hypothetical!!
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