A Pitt official sat down with me in advance of Friday's regular-season finale and mapped out where each of the Panthers' 11 seniors falls on the family tree.
That is, which guys played for which coach over the course of their careers.
The tree quickly became a forest. The official used a green pen for some players, a red pen for others and a purple one for Khaynin Mosley-Smith, the only senior who can say he practiced under Dave Wannstedt.
I probably should have gone with a pie chart instead of a column, but I decided to focus on one senior: Mr. Artie Rowell, a gregarious, 23-year-old center and team captain who has called seven men “coach” — as in head coach — since he verbally committed to Wannstedt in 2010.
Has any player in the 146-year history of college football (besides Mosley-Smith, of course) called seven men “coach”?
Technically, it's eight if you include interim Phil Bennett, but Rowell hadn't yet enrolled in school — and it was an accident he ever did.
Rowell was accompanying a high school teammate — a kid Pitt had been recruiting — to Pitt's prospect camp in summer 2009 when Wannstedt stunningly walked up during drills and said, “Hey, don't take any more reps. We're going to make you a Panther.”
That sounded great until Wannstedt “resigned” Dec. 7, 2010, during Rowell's senior year at Central Dauphin in Harrisburg. Next came Bennett's game (Pitt's soon-to-be annual appearance in the Compass Bowl) and Michael Haywood's 17-day tenure, which ended with his arrest on a domestic violence charge.
Rowell said he and Haywood spoke once. Rowell was in a grocery store with his mother when his new coach called.
“He said, ‘Hey, it's Coach Haywood,' and I asked him what type of offense he ran,” Rowell recalled. “He said, ‘Do you watch pro football? I run the Patriots' offense.' I said, ‘OK, we'll set up a meeting.'
“I was thinking, ‘We'll see where that goes,' and well ... you know the rest.”
At that point, Rowell considered his options. It didn't take long. Pitt was his only major-college offer.
Hello, Todd Graham.
Mr. Hammer Down stayed for 311 days before bolting for Arizona State (he had family there). He alerted players via text message before hopping on a private jet.
Unlike many teammates and pretty much every man, woman and child in Western Pennsylvania, Rowell still holds some affection for Graham.
“He always talked about winning,” Rowell said. “That was something similar with him and Coach Narduzzi. The other coaches I've been around, they didn't always talk about winning. They talked about the process of becoming a winner. Coach Narduzzi and Coach Graham talk like, ‘We will win this game.' ”
But what about the way Graham left? I wondered whether there was a big difference between his departure and that of Paul Chryst (he came next, after Keith Patterson coached a Compass Bowl; email me if you'd like the pie chart).
“I'll be completely honest about this: Coach Chryst never called me, and Coach Chryst did not have a team meeting where he said he was leaving, and Coach Chryst never texted us (as a team),” Rowell said. “Coach Graham texted us.”
Highly regarded assistant Joe Rudolph coached last year's Armed Forces Bowl, post-Chryst. Rowell then marched with a contingent of players to the chancellor's office to plead for Rudolph to lead the program. It fell on deaf ears, which probably is a good thing because that led to Narduzzi. And to the best year of Rowell's career.
Amazingly, on the verge of his final home game, Rowell wouldn't change a thing. He says he learned from every coach who crossed his path. He is working on his MBA. He overcame a serious knee injury. He experienced his proudest moment when teammates named him a captain before this season. He had one of his best games, against Louisville's DeAngelo Brown, last weekend. And the team finally is winning.
I suppose we should end with one more coaching story, though: Rowell's first exchange with Narduzzi, shortly after the latter was hired.
“I left a voicemail and said, ‘Hey Coach, Artie Rowell, center, coming back off a knee injury. I just wanted to say welcome, and I'm looking forward to this year.' He texted back and said, ‘Artie, I appreciate the call. Your fifth year is going to be the best year you've had at Pitt.'
“He was right. We're going for win No. 9.”
Joe Starkey co-hosts a show 2 to 6 p.m. weekdays on 93.7 FM. Reach him at jraystarkey@gmail.com.
That is, which guys played for which coach over the course of their careers.
The tree quickly became a forest. The official used a green pen for some players, a red pen for others and a purple one for Khaynin Mosley-Smith, the only senior who can say he practiced under Dave Wannstedt.
I probably should have gone with a pie chart instead of a column, but I decided to focus on one senior: Mr. Artie Rowell, a gregarious, 23-year-old center and team captain who has called seven men “coach” — as in head coach — since he verbally committed to Wannstedt in 2010.
Has any player in the 146-year history of college football (besides Mosley-Smith, of course) called seven men “coach”?
Technically, it's eight if you include interim Phil Bennett, but Rowell hadn't yet enrolled in school — and it was an accident he ever did.
Rowell was accompanying a high school teammate — a kid Pitt had been recruiting — to Pitt's prospect camp in summer 2009 when Wannstedt stunningly walked up during drills and said, “Hey, don't take any more reps. We're going to make you a Panther.”
That sounded great until Wannstedt “resigned” Dec. 7, 2010, during Rowell's senior year at Central Dauphin in Harrisburg. Next came Bennett's game (Pitt's soon-to-be annual appearance in the Compass Bowl) and Michael Haywood's 17-day tenure, which ended with his arrest on a domestic violence charge.
Rowell said he and Haywood spoke once. Rowell was in a grocery store with his mother when his new coach called.
“He said, ‘Hey, it's Coach Haywood,' and I asked him what type of offense he ran,” Rowell recalled. “He said, ‘Do you watch pro football? I run the Patriots' offense.' I said, ‘OK, we'll set up a meeting.'
“I was thinking, ‘We'll see where that goes,' and well ... you know the rest.”
At that point, Rowell considered his options. It didn't take long. Pitt was his only major-college offer.
Hello, Todd Graham.
Mr. Hammer Down stayed for 311 days before bolting for Arizona State (he had family there). He alerted players via text message before hopping on a private jet.
Unlike many teammates and pretty much every man, woman and child in Western Pennsylvania, Rowell still holds some affection for Graham.
“He always talked about winning,” Rowell said. “That was something similar with him and Coach Narduzzi. The other coaches I've been around, they didn't always talk about winning. They talked about the process of becoming a winner. Coach Narduzzi and Coach Graham talk like, ‘We will win this game.' ”
But what about the way Graham left? I wondered whether there was a big difference between his departure and that of Paul Chryst (he came next, after Keith Patterson coached a Compass Bowl; email me if you'd like the pie chart).
“I'll be completely honest about this: Coach Chryst never called me, and Coach Chryst did not have a team meeting where he said he was leaving, and Coach Chryst never texted us (as a team),” Rowell said. “Coach Graham texted us.”
Highly regarded assistant Joe Rudolph coached last year's Armed Forces Bowl, post-Chryst. Rowell then marched with a contingent of players to the chancellor's office to plead for Rudolph to lead the program. It fell on deaf ears, which probably is a good thing because that led to Narduzzi. And to the best year of Rowell's career.
Amazingly, on the verge of his final home game, Rowell wouldn't change a thing. He says he learned from every coach who crossed his path. He is working on his MBA. He overcame a serious knee injury. He experienced his proudest moment when teammates named him a captain before this season. He had one of his best games, against Louisville's DeAngelo Brown, last weekend. And the team finally is winning.
I suppose we should end with one more coaching story, though: Rowell's first exchange with Narduzzi, shortly after the latter was hired.
“I left a voicemail and said, ‘Hey Coach, Artie Rowell, center, coming back off a knee injury. I just wanted to say welcome, and I'm looking forward to this year.' He texted back and said, ‘Artie, I appreciate the call. Your fifth year is going to be the best year you've had at Pitt.'
“He was right. We're going for win No. 9.”
Joe Starkey co-hosts a show 2 to 6 p.m. weekdays on 93.7 FM. Reach him at jraystarkey@gmail.com.
