Some hard cold facts for fans of the Pitt football program...

[TheSpecialSauce]

The limited number of teams in super conferences has been discussed as a viable option a lot, and it makes total sense. These kids don't need to be playing 12 regular season games. Let them play 9 or 10, then a few playoff games.

There is way too much money to be made by a lot of different people for them to reduce the regular season schedule to 9 or 10 games.

 

[HailToPitt1985]

There is way too much money to be made by a lot of different people for them to reduce the regular season schedule to 9 or 10 games.

There's more to it than money. These kids are exposed to threats to their health with every game, especially a schedule of 12 or 13 games. CTE is the most pressing issue and a real problem. Let the teams in the super conferences play their 9 or 10 games, like it used to be, and then have a 16 team playoff. That's plenty. This will all come about by necessity, not choice necessarily.

 

[DruidTM]

Any talk of A. College football going away or B. Students being the attendance problem are both blatant old guy nonsense bar stool talk

A. It won’t go away
B. The student section has been the most consistent at Heinz for the last decade

Dothey leave early some games? Yep but leaving early sure beats the hell out of never showing up to begin with

I saw a similar situation at GT this year at the Pitt GT game

 

[TheSpecialSauce]

There's more to it than money. These kids are exposed to threats to their health with every game, especially a schedule of 12 or 13 games. CTE is the most pressing issue and a real problem. Let the teams in the super conferences play their 9 or 10 games, like it used to be, and then have a 16 team playoff. That's plenty. This will all come about by necessity, not choice necessarily.

There are a lot of things in this world that would be different if morality and safety came before money, but that isn’t reality.

 

[Panther_in_Kentucky]

- For those of you wanting to fire Pat Narduzzi, wake up. If you were to some how able to get Nick Saban or Urban Meyer to coach Pitt, the result would be no different. The players that those two normally get, would not even give Pitt an opportunity.
- Heather Lyke has FAILED to address the #1 issue that the Pitt football program and the Pitt athletic department faces...the lack of a home field. Those stupid yellow seats at heinz field makes the lack of fans attending each home game, a huge problem. There are no elite recruits that will want to commit to the Pitt program when the school itself, doesn't seem interested in making a commitment to the football program. Until she addresses this issue, in my opinion, she will have failed to do her job.
- The University of Pittsburgh might as well hire bob nutting to be the AD. They appear to have taken the same "small market approach" that the Pirates have taken. Spend a minimal amount of money to make it look to the public that you want to win, but never fully commit to do the things that will make the program successful.
- Heather Lyke and the ACC did a piss poor job of getting the ACCN up and running in the Pittsburgh area. Nothing should have been signed by any one until all of the ACC teams had an agreement in place to make certain the ACCN would be available to ALL of the local markets.
- I've actually had the "pleasure" to sit through a couple of coaching visits (my nephew is a pretty talented senior football player in the SW Pennsylvania area) and at each of the visits, the visiting coaches pointed out the lack of attendance at the home games.
- Lastly, Pat Narrduzzi, in my opinion, has done a nice job at Pitt. While he is not perfect, I do believe that he truly cares about the Pitt football program. I love the passion he has for the program and believe that he will achieve the success that we all would like to see the Pitt football if Heather Lyke gets off of her rear end and address the #1 issue.
-H2P.

Great post. I agree. Pitt needs a new 45,000 seat stadium with a retractable roof to enclose it for a few games and hoops.

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Heather Luke gets off her ass!
Really? It is that easy?
Maybe you just landed on Earth so let me clue you in a few earthly realities.
1. Money doesn't grow on trees
2. They don't make new land
3. A new stadium requires about 300-400 million in land aquisition and construction costs.
4. Pitt is despised by the city Political machine.
5. Being a nice guy and caring doesn't make a good or successful coach. Plus, he is paid handsomely.
6. Other coaches use lack of attendance against Pitt! Really? I never imagined.
7. Whatever Heather Lyke is, Lazy is not one of them.
8. Mediocre teams (and that is exactly what PN has been) do not create a rabid fanbase. Anyone see the empty seats in Palo Alto, State College and even Ann Arbor yesterday? ND can't sell out and as a road draw the bloom is off the rose.

There are many realities of Pitt football. The OP has none of them.

They are happily spending $300 million for a volleyball arena and a sports performance building. That could have been a football stadium instead.

 

[HailToPitt1985]

WOW, the delusion abounds! LOL!!

 

[HailToPitt1985]

There are a lot of things in this world that would be different if morality and safety came before money, but that isn’t reality.

That's very true. I guess my point was that 95% of the kids now playing a 12 game schedule will never play beyond college. Subjecting them to more opportunities to get hurt is not smart, especially when it permanently disables them, now or in the future. Let the true elite players play in super conferences and let them bash each others' heads in, then go on and play in the NFL. That's their choice and they have every right to ruin their own health.

 

[jtownknowitall]

There's more to it than money. These kids are exposed to threats to their health with every game, especially a schedule of 12 or 13 games. CTE is the most pressing issue and a real problem. Let the teams in the super conferences play their 9 or 10 games, like it used to be, and then have a 16 team playoff. That's plenty. This will all come about by necessity, not choice necessarily.

and yet here in Pennsylvania, twenty-four high school football teams just played their fifteenth game in fifteen weeks this past weekend. Twelve will play a sixteenth game next weekend.