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The Difference

Fsgolfdr

Head Coach
Jan 6, 2012
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I was in the camp that felt Pitt was destined to be a middle of the pack team in the ACC forever . Face it there’s a lot of better places to spend four yrs of your life than Oakland ! I should know I spent 8 ( two degrees ! ) years there . I was wrong because really for the first time Pitt now has a head coach that 4&5* kids want to play for . Forget academics , forget weather , forget facilities , forget PT , forget ACC there’s only one thing that matters . THE COACH !
Ps ...I’m not predicting ACC titles anytime soon , but in time Pitt will be in the conversation . Heather deserves her extension for bringing in a coach that will revive Pitt bb . Never thought that Pitt could attract that guy . Good job H !
 
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I was in the camp that felt Pitt was destined to be a middle of the pack team in the ACC forever . Face it there’s a lot of better places to spend four yrs of your life than Oakland ! I should know I spent 8 ( two degrees ! ) years there . I was wrong because really for the first time Pitt now has a head coach that 4&5* kids want to play for . Forget academics , forget weather , forget facilities , forget PT , forget ACC there’s only one thing that matters . THE COACH !
Ps ...I’m not predicting ACC titles anytime soon , but in time Pitt will be in the conversation . Heather deserves her extension for bringing in a coach that will revive Pitt bb . Never thought that Pitt could attract that guy . Good job H !

H2P!
 
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Disagree. I learned more about growing up in and around Oakland than any class I ever took there.

Plus...let's be realistic. Most of these kids feel comfortable in an urban setting.

So yea....while they are coming to play for a coach, i think the environment can only help
 
I was in the camp that felt Pitt was destined to be a middle of the pack team in the ACC forever . Face it there’s a lot of better places to spend four yrs of your life than Oakland ! I should know I spent 8 ( two degrees ! ) years there . I was wrong because really for the first time Pitt now has a head coach that 4&5* kids want to play for . Forget academics , forget weather , forget facilities , forget PT , forget ACC there’s only one thing that matters . THE COACH !
Ps ...I’m not predicting ACC titles anytime soon , but in time Pitt will be in the conversation . Heather deserves her extension for bringing in a coach that will revive Pitt bb . Never thought that Pitt could attract that guy . Good job H !
I realize there are those who prefer to spend their college years insulated from the rest of the world. To each his own.
But I prefer to spend my time in a stimulating environment.
Life can get pretty boring staring at the same mountain every day. At least for me.
 
I was in the camp that felt Pitt was destined to be a middle of the pack team in the ACC forever . Face it there’s a lot of better places to spend four yrs of your life than Oakland ! I should know I spent 8 ( two degrees ! ) years there . I was wrong because really for the first time Pitt now has a head coach that 4&5* kids want to play for . Forget academics , forget weather , forget facilities , forget PT , forget ACC there’s only one thing that matters . THE COACH !
Ps ...I’m not predicting ACC titles anytime soon , but in time Pitt will be in the conversation . Heather deserves her extension for bringing in a coach that will revive Pitt bb . Never thought that Pitt could attract that guy . Good job H !

The ACC is

Duke
UNC

Louisville
Syracuse
Tony Bennett

Everybody else

No reason Pitt can't be the best of the "everybody else" or even leap up into that next group like Bennett has done with Virginia
 
Those of you who want to disagree on the quality of campus life at Pitt are missing the main point and that is it doesn’t matter ....it’s all about the coach and it now appears Pitt has that coach to attract a higher quality of player .
I’m glad some of you had a great experience in Oakland , but I doubt very few students are swayed to attend Pitt for the beauty of its
campus .
 
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I doubt very few students are swayed to attend Pitt for the beauty of its
campus .

Honestly, I don't think you could be more wrong. How many college campuses are also a tourist attraction? Go read the reviews on trip advisor for people who have visited the Cathedral of Learning if you want a real sense of how people view it.
 
Honestly, I don't think you could be more wrong. How many college campuses are also a tourist attraction? Go read the reviews on trip advisor for people who have visited the Cathedral of Learning if you want a real sense of how people view it.
I had plenty of classes in the Cathedral of Learning and honestly I’m not spending any of my free time looking at classrooms from around the world nor do I think most 18 yr olds are either . Do they take a tour of the Towers too !
Take one step onto Miami’s ( fill in most other schools ) campus and tell me you’d rather spend four yrs in Oakland rather then Coral Gables .
I went to Pitt mostly for financial reasons and I got a fine education there , but I didn’t go there because of the beauty or tranquility of the Oakland campus . Every school I visited had a nicer campus . It is what it is .
 
I had plenty of classes in the Cathedral of Learning and honestly I’m not spending any of my free time looking at classrooms from around the world nor do I think most 18 yr olds are either . Do they take a tour of the Towers too !
Take one step onto Miami’s ( fill in most other schools ) campus and tell me you’d rather spend four yrs in Oakland rather then Coral Gables .
I went to Pitt mostly for financial reasons and I got a fine education there , but I didn’t go there because of the beauty or tranquility of the Oakland campus . Every school I visited had a nicer campus . It is what it is .
I suspect exactly 0 athletes selected Pitt because of the Cathedral of Learning. I love it though. Very beautiful building.
 
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Those of you who want to disagree on the quality of campus life at Pitt are missing the main point and that is it doesn’t matter ....it’s all about the coach and it now appears Pitt has that coach to attract a higher quality of player .
I’m glad some of you had a great experience in Oakland , but I doubt very few students are swayed to attend Pitt for the beauty of its
campus .

Because places like K-State or College Station are greaaaaaat places to spend 4 years.
 
Because places like K-State or College Station are greaaaaaat places to spend 4 years.
I think you are agreeing with him. Athletes largely select schools that benefit them because of the coach, playing time, pro prospects, style of play, crowds to play in front of, conference, TV time, possibly academics for some kids, how much money they get for going there, location for kids who want to stay local. What the campus looks like probably doesn't ever make the list. Heck, I have been to campuses that are just stunning, and I wouldn't ever have that as a criteria for where to send my kids.
 
I agree that the coach is what attracts an elite player and not the environment.

Coming from a small town, I chose PITT mainly because of its urban environment and all that the city has to offer. I wanted to learn if I could survive and thrive in a metropolitan, fast paced world.

Others may prefer the tranquility of an isolated campus environment.

Bottom line, to each his/her own...
 
I had plenty of classes in the Cathedral of Learning and honestly I’m not spending any of my free time looking at classrooms from around the world nor do I think most 18 yr olds are either . Do they take a tour of the Towers too !
Take one step onto Miami’s ( fill in most other schools ) campus and tell me you’d rather spend four yrs in Oakland rather then Coral Gables .
I went to Pitt mostly for financial reasons and I got a fine education there , but I didn’t go there because of the beauty or tranquility of the Oakland campus . Every school I visited had a nicer campus . It is what it is .
It's easy to pick out perhaps the most appealing college campus in the US and compare it to anywhere.
And you did.
But using the familiar cliche "let's face it there are better...." you are insulting whatever follows and wrapping a bow around it. If you don't like it, say so.
 
I guess if you like cement and dodging cars on Fifth and Forbes then there’s no better place !

What are you talking about?

Have you ever been to other campuses? I just spent the week at the university of Illinois and the only difference is Oakland is far safer and nicer
 
What are you talking about?

Have you ever been to other campuses? I just spent the week at the university of Illinois and the only difference is Oakland is far safer and nicer

I have also been to the University of Illinois campus and didn't find it a thing of beauty, either. That example aside, you can always compare the Pitt campus unfavorably to campuses of schools in rural or bucolic settings (e.g., UNC Chapel Hill, Miami of Ohio, etc. -- which resemble an idealized movie set location for a college campus) if that sort of setting is what appeals to you.

That being said, IMHO when the Pitt campus is compared to the campuses of other urban schools, it comes out very favorably. It has far more green space and adjacent non-campus green space than most urban schools. Being located in the civic center with museums and the adjacent Schenley Park makes it far nicer than most urban school campuses which are very often located in downtown business districts.
 
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Face it there’s a lot of better places to spend four yrs of your life than Oakland ! I should know I spent 8 ( two degrees ! ) years there .
I spent 35 of 45 years of my working life there. Now nine years into retirement I still miss it as I loved every minute of it. Now that I am in my early to mid 70's, I probably could not handle the hustle and bustle of it. But, it left a lot of fond memories on me.
 
I spent 35 of 45 years of my working life there. Now nine years into retirement I still miss it as I loved every minute of it. Now that I am in my early to mid 70's, I probably could not handle the hustle and bustle of it. But, it left a lot of fond memories on me.


-Ive been to every single state in the entire United States. In fact Ive driven entirely through all of them, including every major city and all the national parks. Pennsylvania is one of the best states to be in, including the Pittsburgh area. There is a ton of stuff to do and see, the food is great, and its just a fun city. It is way better then many other parts of the country. Sure Pittsburgh has some rough areas, but so does every other major city.
 
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Take one step onto Miami’s ( fill in most other schools ) campus and tell me you’d rather spend four yrs in Oakland rather then Coral Gables .
I went to Pitt mostly for financial reasons and I got a fine education there , but I didn’t go there because of the beauty or tranquility of the Oakland campus . Every school I visited had a nicer campus . It is what it is .

That's the thing, though - it's not the campus itself, but the location. There's really nothing special about Miami's campus. It's suburban and contiguous, rather than urban and demarcated, but the real appeal is that it's 10 minutes (well, more like an hour and a half with traffic) from South Beach. Oakland isn't a bad place at all, but almost everywhere is going to pale in comparison to Miami. Fortunately, a lot of places also pale in comparison to Oakland.
 
That's the thing, though - it's not the campus itself, but the location. There's really nothing special about Miami's campus. It's suburban and contiguous, rather than urban and demarcated, but the real appeal is that it's 10 minutes (well, more like an hour and a half with traffic) from South Beach. Oakland isn't a bad place at all, but almost everywhere is going to pale in comparison to Miami. Fortunately, a lot of places also pale in comparison to Oakland.
My point is that there’s just a lot of places much nicer than Oakland and yes there’s a lot of places worse , but none of that matters now because Pitt has a coach that makes it irrelevant .
Ps .. the huge outdoor olympic pool , the outdoor cafes , outdoor spinning classes , the natural beauty that walks around that campus , etc
 
That's the thing, though - it's not the campus itself, but the location. There's really nothing special about Miami's campus. It's suburban and contiguous, rather than urban and demarcated, but the real appeal is that it's 10 minutes (well, more like an hour and a half with traffic) from South Beach. Oakland isn't a bad place at all, but almost everywhere is going to pale in comparison to Miami. Fortunately, a lot of places also pale in comparison to Oakland.
My point is that there’s just a lot of places much nicer than Oakland and yes there’s a lot of places worse , but none of that matters now because Pitt has a coach that makes it irrelevant .
Ps .. the huge outdoor olympic pool , the outdoor cafes , outdoor spinning classes , the natural beauty that walks around that campus , etc

I’ve spent a lot of time in Miami and Coral Gables in particular.

I love Miami for a variety of reasons- the beach and general appeal of a truly international city in a tropical climate being among them.

That said, Oakland is unique in its dense collection of universities , cultural institutions, and open space. Pitt and CMU bring well over 35k students / researchers / faculty / staff from across the globe into a dense urban environment— it’s exciting and unique nationally. Coral Gables is lovely— but it’s not like it’s a private resort on the beach. UM is much smaller than Pitt - it’s closer to CMU in scale.

I just think your selling Oakland short- in many ways it’s an envy of many places in the world to have such density anchored by 2 major universities. Cities from around the globe wish they could replicate what Pittsburgh has in its Oakland district.
 
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I had plenty of classes in the Cathedral of Learning and honestly I’m not spending any of my free time looking at classrooms from around the world nor do I think most 18 yr olds are either . Do they take a tour of the Towers too !
Take one step onto Miami’s ( fill in most other schools ) campus and tell me you’d rather spend four yrs in Oakland rather then Coral Gables .
I went to Pitt mostly for financial reasons and I got a fine education there , but I didn’t go there because of the beauty or tranquility of the Oakland campus . Every school I visited had a nicer campus . It is what it is .

I agree 100 percent that WHO is making the pitch is key variable. But, I don't think anyone is making the case that Oakland is a beautiful campus as THE selling point.

The case people are making is that it is what it is, an urban campus vs a bucolic state school.

Not for everyone, but their IS a pitch to made that it is a unique college setting where you have the metropolitan experience on demand vs having to get in car and road trip every few weeks to get the metropolitan experience.
 
I agree 100 percent that WHO is making the pitch is key variable. But, I don't think anyone is making the case that Oakland is a beautiful campus as THE selling point.

The case people are making is that it is what it is, an urban campus vs a bucolic state school.

Not for everyone, but their IS a pitch to made that it is a unique college setting where you have the metropolitan experience on demand vs having to get in car and road trip every few weeks to get the metropolitan experience.
My opening in the tread was that none of this ( location ,weather , education , etc ) ,really matters and the only thing that does is who the head coach is . In the past I’ve always thought those other issues really mattered and held Pitt back and I was wrong . The reason Pitt couldn’t recruit the players they wanted was the HC and his staffs inability to sell themselves and not the university or its location . These kids are coming to Pitt for no other reason than to play bb for whomever the HC is .
 
My point is that there’s just a lot of places much nicer than Oakland and yes there’s a lot of places worse , but none of that matters now because Pitt has a coach that makes it irrelevant .
Ps .. the huge outdoor olympic pool , the outdoor cafes , outdoor spinning classes , the natural beauty that walks around that campus , etc

I went to Miami for undergrad, btw, so I'm very familiar with the campus. I think I went to that pool once in four years and I don't remember it ever getting particularly crowded. There was one outdoor "cafe" on campus (it was a bar with a very limited menu, the coolest thing about it was that they had an enormous projection screen that they'd show major sporting events on). I don't remember ever seeing anybody taking outdoor spinning classes and, frankly, I can't imagine why you'd want to do that considering how muggy it is 90% of the time. If you're talking about girls when you say natural beauty, I don't want to ruin your illusion, but it was a very average school in that regard. As much as it pains me to admit it, the percentage of attractive girls at FSU was much higher.

It's really easy to take for granted what you've got when you're looking at something else from the outside. I think that an urban campus in a fairly large city would appeal to a lot of basketball players. From what I remember when I visited Pitt, the dorms were definitely nicer than those at Miami. The only advantage Miami has are hurricane shutters which allow you to sleep in year round, but athletes don't have that luxury most of the time. The basketball facilities at Pitt are much nicer. People bemoan the off campus stadium, but it's the same situation in Miami and it's not only an inferior stadium, it's also quadruple the distance from campus. I'm told that there are some people who actually enjoy having four seasons. In Miami, you have two seasons - hot and muggy and warm and muggy.

At the end of the day, I do think that a lot of people would choose a school in a location like Miami over a school in a location like Pittsburgh. However, I think student athletes are different. Choosing a program they like is much more important than choosing a comfortable environment. I guess I just typed a lot of words to ultimately agree with your point about none of that mattering because we have a coach kids want to play for, heh.
 
I went to Miami for undergrad, btw, so I'm very familiar with the campus. I think I went to that pool once in four years and I don't remember it ever getting particularly crowded. There was one outdoor "cafe" on campus (it was a bar with a very limited menu, the coolest thing about it was that they had an enormous projection screen that they'd show major sporting events on). I don't remember ever seeing anybody taking outdoor spinning classes and, frankly, I can't imagine why you'd want to do that considering how muggy it is 90% of the time. If you're talking about girls when you say natural beauty, I don't want to ruin your illusion, but it was a very average school in that regard. As much as it pains me to admit it, the percentage of attractive girls at FSU was much higher.

It's really easy to take for granted what you've got when you're looking at something else from the outside. I think that an urban campus in a fairly large city would appeal to a lot of basketball players. From what I remember when I visited Pitt, the dorms were definitely nicer than those at Miami. The only advantage Miami has are hurricane shutters which allow you to sleep in year round, but athletes don't have that luxury most of the time. The basketball facilities at Pitt are much nicer. People bemoan the off campus stadium, but it's the same situation in Miami and it's not only an inferior stadium, it's also quadruple the distance from campus. I'm told that there are some people who actually enjoy having four seasons. In Miami, you have two seasons - hot and muggy and warm and muggy.

At the end of the day, I do think that a lot of people would choose a school in a location like Miami over a school in a location like Pittsburgh. However, I think student athletes are different. Choosing a program they like is much more important than choosing a comfortable environment. I guess I just typed a lot of words to ultimately agree with your point about none of that mattering because we have a coach kids want to play for, heh.
I’ve been on the campus several times watching Pitt play hoops and I’ll give you the the Pete is a far nicer faculty . Outdoor spinning was being done during bb season and obviously not during the summer and was well attended as was the pool . There were several outdoor cafes to
eat at and there were there were quite a few students hanging out . As far as natural beauty is concerned between the bb and Fb games I’d beg to differ on the quality and quantity . Hard Rock Stadium , like HF isn’t convenient , but it is a great place to watch Fb games . The games I attended the student sections were filled and they didn’t offer freebies to make the students stay .
I don’t spend the summers down here because it’s too frickin hot and humid , but you can have your winters and how’s this spring been for you ? It’s 78 and sunny here !
 
I’ve been on the campus several times watching Pitt play hoops and I’ll give you the the Pete is a far nicer faculty . Outdoor spinning was being done during bb season and obviously not during the summer and was well attended as was the pool . There were several outdoor cafes to
eat at and there were there were quite a few students hanging out . As far as natural beauty is concerned between the bb and Fb games I’d beg to differ on the quality and quantity . Hard Rock Stadium , like HF isn’t convenient , but it is a great place to watch Fb games . The games I attended the student sections were filled and they didn’t offer freebies to make the students stay .
I don’t spend the summers down here because it’s too frickin hot and humid , but you can have your winters and how’s this spring been for you ? It’s 78 and sunny here !

You've been on the campus several times, but I spent four years there. I think I know what I'm talking about, lol.

This spring has been weird, but it hasn't bothered me. Every time I'd come home for winter break, it'd snow maybe once or twice in that month. I feel like I'm catching up on lost snow with the way spring's been up here, so that's actually kind of nice.
 
You've been on the campus several times, but I spent four years there. I think I know what I'm talking about, lol.

This spring has been weird, but it hasn't bothered me. Every time I'd come home for winter break, it'd snow maybe once or twice in that month. I feel like I'm catching up on lost snow with the way spring's been up here.
Just telling you what l’ve seen walking thur the campus , can’t say my reactions were the same walking up Cardiac hill to the Pete !
I’ve seen enough snow in person I’m content on seeing it on tv .
 
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